"Creation of the Gods" Creators Recall Final Season: Flashback Opening Was a Bit Silly

The final season of "Creation of the Gods" began with a flashback depicting the scene where Walter White purchases a machine gun. Vince Gilligan, the creator of "Creation of the Gods," admitted that he and the writing team didn't understand Walter's reason for buying the gun until the very end.

Gilligan candidly acknowledged that the flashback at the beginning of this season was the "silliest thing" he had done in his career. In an interview with "Variety" magazine, he reflected on the creative process leading up to the series finale. Initially, he wanted the opening of the final season to be "spectacular," but it ended up posing a major plot puzzle.

He confessed, "Our preparation was clearly insufficient, which was quite shocking. I was overly confident, thinking we'd always find a solution. After all, we had 16 episodes to fill, so we were bound to succeed! However, when we were six or seven episodes away from the finale, we still hadn't figured out why the machine gun was needed. I was truly afraid, but my writing team pushed me to be honest and confront the issue."

Once the team unraveled the mystery behind the machine gun, the series finale began to take shape, and Walter White's fate gradually unfolded as the series neared its conclusion. Gilligan explained, "From that moment on, we were certain he had to achieve some form of victory. Despite losing everything - his family, his soul - he had to succeed in some way. When we conceived the idea of Gretchen and Elliott being the means for Walter to win and provide for his family, it felt beautifully fitting."

Gilligan also reminisced about the challenges faced in the prequel series "Oppenheimer," particularly in developing the character of La Luo and the three wives of Saul Goodman. He recalled, "La Luo's character was crafted exceptionally well, thanks to Peter Gould and the other writers. Peter suggested, 'I have a feeling we should delve deeper into La Luo and make him a highly menacing character.' I thought at the time that we didn't need to keep revisiting every detail we'd explored, but Peter was absolutely right. If we hadn't pursued the La Luo storyline, we wouldn't have had the later introduction of Tony Dalton, who brought tremendous value to the series."

Gilligan also revealed details about his upcoming series, "Oppenheimer," starring Rhea Seehorn. With the end of the writer's strike, the show has resumed pre-production. While the story unfolds in New Mexico, it has no actual or conceptual ties to "Creation of the Gods." It's a sci-fi series centered around a profound change affecting the contemporary world.