There’s a great new interview out with the actor who plays Hank in AMC’s Breaking Bad.
In it he discusses Walt’s surprising and risky move in the latest episode and tells us whether or not he thinks Hank has a feeling Walt is Heisenberg.
TVLINE: Let’s talk about that dinner table speech of Walt’s. When reading the script for the first time, were you like, “What the hell is Walt doing, blathering on like that and basically reopening this closed case?”
Dean Norris: I don’t know what Bryan [Cranston] was playing, but it’s been a theme throughout the show — going way back to the beginning, where we asked why Walt didn’t continue on with his brilliant career – that there’s a lot going on with his pride. The show is about this kind of reawakening of a man, from this neutered guy that he was in Season 1 to this badass… and now he’s getting a bit crazy! And he’s not one to hold his liquor well. I also think it’s kind of the old theory of “crime and punishment,” that he secretly wants to get caught. These serial criminals like to have the thrill of the chase.
TVLINE: Coming out of that moment, is any tiny part of Hank thinking that Walt could possibly be Heisenberg?
Dean Norris: I think that subconsciously Hank thinks that exactly. I don’t know how much really he wants to allow himself to believe it, but as the season goes on … there’s some sort of a process there, like, “What am I going to do?” There are all kinds of things in play, including Hank being partly culpable and having this guy so close to him, that I don’t know that he wants to come right out and say it, but I think that he’s feeling it. Especially now that we’ve got the end game in sight [with next season announced as Breaking Bad’s last], Vince Gilligan [the series’ creator] has said outright that we’re going to deal with that issue of Hank finding out what Walt’s up to. I don’t think we’ll skirt it.
We’re surprised to hear Norris thinks Walt even has it somewhere in his head that Walt is Heisenberg. He’s been so oblivious for so long and it appears nothing has clicked yet. But we figure he will eventually realize it, and when that happens things are going to get more tense than ever.