Stars of AMC drama series Breaking Bad Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) and Walter White (Bryan Cranston).STRINGER/Reuters
Fare thee well, Walter White. We're going to miss you, but at least now there's a respectable death notice to mark your passing.
TMZ reports that the antihero main character on Breaking Bad has now received a real-life obituary, fittingly placed in the hometown newspaper where the popular cable drama took place for five seasons.
The Albuquerque Journal is drawing online notice for the clever, if entirely fictional, death notice, which ran in the print section of Friday's paper. The obit, in its entirety:
"WHITE, WALTER. Aka 'Heisenberg,' 52, Albuquerque, died Sunday after a long battle with lung cancer and a gunshot wound. A co-founder of Gray Matter, White was a research chemist who taught high school chemistry and later founded a meth manufacturing empire. He is survived by his wife, Skyler Lambert; son Walter 'Flynn' Jr.; and daughter Holly. A private memorial was held by his family. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to a drug abuse prevention charity of your choice. He will be greatly missed."
In a separate article, the Journal reveals the obit was paid for by members of the Facebook group called "Unofficial Breaking Bad Fan Tour."
Group member and Albuquerque native David Layman, who appeared in a crowd scene in the Breaking Bad series opener, said paying for the death notice simply seemed like the right thing to do.
"Putting the obit in the paper was fitting, because the series was filmed in Albuquerque and it provides some of us some closure," said Layman.
Breaking Bad was based and filmed in Albuquerque for six years and ended its five-season run on AMC last weekend. The premise focused primarily on Walter White, played by three-time Emmy-winner Bryan Cranston, on his perilous journey from high-school chemistry teacher to meth-manufacturing drug kingpin.
For those unfamiliar with the show, "Heisenberg" was a fake persona created by White and "Gray Matter" is the pharmaceutical company he co-founded with the duplicitous Elliott Schwartz (Adam Godley).