'Breaking Bad's much-awaited finale has finally been broadcast, and you can see some of the first reactions here... (SPOILER - DON'T click on this link until you've watched the final episode yourself if you don't want to know!)
A few weeks ago, Huffington Post UK caught up with series creator Vince Gilligan, who last week took home the Emmy Award for Best Drama Series, for his enthralling series centred around Walter White, a man turned to bad things (murderous, meth-dealing) for good ends (family, cancer treatment, redemption).
During our chat, 'Breaking Bad's creator revealed that, in preparing for the finale of the Emmy Award-winning series, he sometimes feared he'd taken a wrong turn in determining the fate of Walter White and company.
'Breaking Bad's dramatic ending has finally been and gone
Vince Gilligan, who previously worked on 'The X Files' before his much-lauded hit show, told HuffPostUK:
"You can be bogged down in a great many ways.
"The writers and I have spent the greater part of a year working on the ending, and you think of everything under the sun, every possible outcome that can occur to the collective imagination of the seven people in that writers' room," he says, scratching his head to demonstrate.
"What's an ending that would satisfy us, the writers? What is the ending that would satisfy the viewers? Is that necessarily the same thing? What's the ending Walt wants? That Skyler wants? You try to play a very deep game of chess, and I'm not a chess player.
'Breaking Bad' recently picked up another Emmy Award for Best Drama Series
Gilligan, whose alter ego Walter White has permeated the consciousness of his viewers in remarkable fashion during his five seasons on screen, admits to some "dark days" when he feared he'd got it wrong.
"I'd have an anxiety attack where I'd say to the other writers, 'We've screwed up, is there time for us to go back and reinvent?' Luckily, my writers would talk me off the ledge and say, 'It's not that bad, we're headed in the right direction. It'll be all right.' And now that we're at the end, I feel very good about the ending, very satisfied about it."
What did YOU want to happen to Walter White? Let us know below...
'Breaking Bad', with its moral maze of a sick man committing increasingly abhorrent deeds for a noble cause, has incited a wealth of commentary, analysis and debate among its many fans, all of which Gilligan explained he tries to stay away from...
"It's not because I'm not interested, but because I fear it would be a rabbit hole I would disappear down forever.
Vince Gilligan (centre) celebrates the final series of his hit show with his leading men, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul
"I would pretty strenuously avoid hearing those things, not because it wouldn't have led to a better ending, but you're on a path at that point, you have to stick it out and get to the end of the trail, and you don't want to get knocked off course.
"People way smarter than me have said a lot of very astute things about this show, a great number of them giving me credit for things that weren't remotely in my mind."
The complete final season of 'Breaking Bad' is available now on Netflix UK. Seasons 1-5 are available on Blu-ray, DVD and Netflix UK now. Watch the trailer for Series 5 below...