Betsy Brandt On Playing Marie & ‘Breaking Bad’s Ending [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO]

Betsy Brandt played Marie Schrader on all six of Breaking Bad’s critically acclaimed seasons, which she calls an “embarrassment of riches.”

Betsy Brandt On ‘Breaking Bad’

Looking back on playing Marie – Skyler’s sister, Walt’s sister-in-law and Hank’s wife – Brandt can’t help but feel fortunate for having the opportunity to take on a character that was given so much room to evolve over the show’s six-season run.

“I was lucky enough to be on a show where you could learn more, and your character could continue to evolve as the show developed,” Brandt told uInterview exclusively. “Vince [Gilligan] and the writers were just so amazing. It’s almost an embarrassment of riches to be an actor on a show like that. And, on top of that, everyone was just so lovely.”

Marie, like most of the characters on Breaking Bad, was somewhat of a divisive character. And, also like many of the shows characters, Marie experienced a shift within her – her generally sunny and open disposition replaced by a far more severe and ruthless nature. For Brandt, Marie’s surprising changes were something she loved to play out.

“I loved seeing how she responded to certain situations. She surprised me sometimes. I can tell you, hands down, the hardest day for me on Breaking Bad was the “Awkward Guacamole” scene, when I had to tell Walt all day that he should just go and kill himself,” Brandt revealed. “For me, there was just so much loss there. And the scene where I slap Skylar.”

“I loved that we had that in this show, where there’s so many dark things going on at the center and around everything. It was that loss. It made me grieve for what Marie was losing,” Brandt explained, adding, “But, you know, God, I felt lucky to be able to play that, and that they gave me that much.”

Breaking Bad‘s finale, as soon as it aired, sparked commentary that suggested that it was one of the best finales in TV history. Brandt wouldn’t disagree with that. “I thought it was perfect,” she said. “When I read that lost script, I saw [Gilligan] and I said, that is the perfect ending for this show.”

“I thought it just was such great storytelling. And so true,” Brandt added. “Most people liked the show, but even if you don’t, you can’t say… It was very honest storytelling. Everything that happened was so true to the person that they were in season 1, or whenever we first meet these characters, and I respect and love that.”

Brandt’s new movie, Claire in Motion, premiered at the SXSW film festival. In the film, Brandt plays the titular character, whose husband disappears under suspicious circumstances. As she leads the search for them, she uncovers a number of surprises about the husband she thought she knew.