‘Gossip Girl’ star Penn Badgley could have landed the role of Jesse Pinkman on ‘Breaking Bad’ – why it didn’t happen

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Penn Badgley, best known for playing Dan Humphrey in the original Gossip Girl and Joe Goldberg in the psychological thriller You, has revealed that he almost landed the role of Jesse Pinkman on Breaking Bad. He reached the final stage of the casting, in which he competed only with Aaron Paul, who eventually got the role.

We did test runs. And, in fact, it was the best television script I had read to that point. But the role eluded me,” says the actor.

Paul himself, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, also spoke about competing with Badgley for a role in the project. This confrontation was not easy for him:

As soon as he walked in, I thought, “My God, this guy looks like a drug addict.” That’s how he was in the role. I decided that he would steal my character from me, – the artist admitted.

Breaking Bad premiered in 2008, just months after the first season of Gossip Girl, the first major project of Badgley’s career, premiered. In a recent interview, Penn, among other things, spoke more about his ex-girlfriend and co-star Blake Lively, who played the role of Serena van der Woodsen in The CW’s cult series.

Blake Lively and Penn Badgley split in 2010. Now the actress is happily married to Ryan Reynolds. Pair raises three daughters — 7-year-old James, 5-year-old Ines, 2-year-old Betty and a recently born child whose gender and name have not yet been disclosed by the spouses.