The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has been receiving positive reviews across the board, and now we’re learning we have a little influence from AMC’s hit drama Breaking Bad to thank.

In a new interview with the Huffington Post, incoming franchise director Francis Lawrence explains that he became addicted to the now-finished meth show while filming The Hunger Games sequel. His attachment to the show led him to direct Catching Fire with the brilliance of Breaking Bad in mind.

“I like a cliffhanger,” he said. “I became really obsessed with ‘Breaking Bad’ while we were making this and binge-watched the entire series up until these last eight episodes while we were making ‘Catching Fire.’ And the more I watched those episodes, I just became sort of convinced that you can do that kind of stuff with movies, too.”

He added that it used to be that TV would be influenced by film, but the quality of programming over the years has changed that “I know it’s weird because TV people used to always look at movies for inspiration, and now, suddenly, we’re looking at some great TV shows as inspiration. But they opened bold and they end bold, and I just think that that’s fun stuff.”

Those who’ve read Catching Fire know that the book by Suzanne Collins ends on a pretty surprising cliffhanger. That plot twist is carried over to the movie, and the film’s storyline ends in exactly the same place. “We’re not making it up, you know?” said Lawrence. “The story’s already out there; it already exists. The big difference with something like ‘Breaking Bad’ and this is obviously, you’ve got to wait a year, as opposed to just waiting a week.”

At least we only have to wait a year as compared to the 20-month wait between The Hunger Games and Catching Fire!

The new film opens in theaters this Friday, November 22 with some screenings starting as early as 8 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday).