“Breaking Bad” premiered on AMC in 2008 and forever changed the landscape of New Mexico’s film industry.
The neo-western starring Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul went on to win numerous awards and spawned the spin-off series, “Better Call Saul” and the Netflix film “El Camino”. The series put Albuquerque and the state of New Mexico in the global spotlight with its massive success. The economic impact from the series’ direct spend is more than $200 million, but its ancillary impact is far greater than that. Coupled with the cultural identity spawned from the hit series, “Breaking Bad” is arguably the biggest thing to happen to the industry in its more than 100 years of filmmaking in the Land of Enchantment.
This episode of Legendary New Mexico explores just how the Vince Gilligan universe changed the protocols, the incentives, tourist attractions to our state, and what it means for the future of New Mexico filmmaking.
