The 22 Characters You Need to Know Before Watching Netflix’s Breaking Bad Movie

First seen: S1, Ep1 ("Pilot")

JESSE PINKMAN

We meet Jesse as a 20-something drug dealer who bookends sentences with a tepid "yo" or an enthusiastic "bitch!" Then a visit from his former teacher, Walter White, turns into a gig cooking New Mexico's finest meth. Jesse spirals into doomed relationships, relapses, and (finally) pure misery as a captive laborer for neo-Nazis. In the finale, Jesse gets free, hitting the gas in an El Camino toward who knows where.

First seen: S1, Ep1 (“Pilot�)

Walter White

Jesse’s one-time chemistry teacher-turned-partner in manufacturing high-grade meth (played by Bryan Cranston). Cancer-stricken and desperate to provide for his family, Walter (a.k.a. Heisenberg) becomes increasingly egomaniacal and manipulative, and his influence over Jesse proves ruinous.

First seen: S1, Ep1 (“Pilot�)

HANK SCHRADER

Walter’s DEA agent brother-in-law (Dean Norris), who also happens to be pursuing the elusive Heisenberg. Hank nearly beats Jesse to death in season three, but eventually recruits him as an asset in bringing Walter to justice. It doesn’t work out well.

First seen: S1, Ep4 (“Cancer Man�)

Skinny Pete

One of Jesse’s three amigos (along with Badger and Combo) and on-again/off-again drug-slinging accomplice (played by Charles Baker). He’s a primary connection to the lethal Salamanca clan, and along with Badger (though not Combo), manages to survive Breaking Bad. As we know from the trailer, Skinny lives to (not) tell.

First seen: S1, Ep4 (“Cancer Man�)

The Pinkmans

Jesse’s parents (Michael Bofshever and Tess Harper) want little to do with him, particularly once he turns his late aunt’s basement into a meth lab. They’re also in denial about the fact that his goody-two-shoes teen brother, Jake (Benjamin Petry), isn’t as perfect as he seems. Jesse ultimately buys his aunt’s house from under them. The Pinkmans are never seen again, but mom and dad definitely wouldn’t like what he’s done to the place.

First seen: S1, Ep5 (“Gray Matter�)

Badger

Badger (Matt Jones) is a loyal friend, but he is gullible and repeatedly gets seduced into abetting Jesse’s schemes, putting him squarely in the DEA’s sights and jeopardizing his own sobriety.

First seen: S2, Ep5 (“Breakage�)

Jane Margolis

Jesse’s season-two girlfriend (Krysten Ritter) is a fellow struggling addict. Walter watches as Jane chokes on her own vomit and dies while Jesse sleeps by her side, setting off a chain reaction of tragedy and trauma.

First seen: S2, Ep8 (“Better Call Saul�)

Saul Goodman

The only Albuquerque attorney crooked enough to act as Walter and Jesse’s on-call counsel. Saul (Bob Odenkirk) is loyal to none and eventually skips town as both legal and criminal elements close in on their operation.

First seen: S2, Ep11 (“Mandala�)

Gus Fring

Chilean-born, self-made drug kingpin and owner of regional fast-food franchise Los Pollos Hermanos. Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) employs Walter as his primary meth cook, reluctantly abiding Jesse as his sous chef. Like Walter, Gus both terrorizes Jesse and takes him under his wing. And like Walter, he winds up dead.

First seen: S2, Ep13 (“ABQ�)

Mike EHRMANTRAUT

Gus’s go-to fixer (Jonathan Banks) and, eventually, an unlikely mentor and quasi-father figure to Jesse. Still, like almost everyone who gets close to Jesse, Mike inevitably meets his demise.

First seen: S3, Ep6 (“Sunset�)

OLD JOE

Joe (Larry Hankin) possesses a scientific mind to rival Walter’s, which comes in handy when Walter and Jesse need help destroying their RV and, later, a piece of damning police evidence. To quote Jesse: “Yeah, bitch! Magnets!�

First seen: S3, Ep6 (“Sunset�)

Gale Boetticher

An erstwhile chemist eager to please Gus, Gale (David Costabile) was primed to take over for Walter as primary meth cook. Unfortunately for him, his tenure is brief, as Walter — vying for leverage over Gus — successfully compels Jesse to murder Gale in cold blood.

First seen: S3, Ep11 (“Abiquiu�)

ANDREA & BROCK CANTILLO

Andrea (Emily Rios) is a recovering addict and Jesse’s on-again/off-again girlfriend. Jesse grows close with her 6-year-old son, Brock (Ian Posada), whom Walter near-fatally poisons. Jesse breaks up with Andrea at Walter’s behest, but Andrea is later gunned down at her doorstep by neo-Nazi nemesis Todd Alquist.

First seen: S4, Ep1 (“Box Cutter�)

HUELL BABINEAUX

Saul Goodman's nimble-fingered bodyguard Huell (Lavell Crawford) lifts the ricin cigarette that Jesse mistakenly believes nearly killed Brock. Later, Huell succumbs to DEA pressure for info on Walter’s money, which leads Hank and his partner to an eventual death trap, which is not what Huell had in mind. Poor Huell.

First seen: S5, Ep2 (“Madrigal�)

LYDIA RODARTE-QUAYLE

A Texas-based executive for global importer-exporter Madrigal Electromotive and, much to her chagrin, the object of Todd Alquist’s affections (more on him next). Lydia (Laura Fraser) used to deliver methylamine to Gus, but winds up working directly with Walter, Jesse, and Mike. Lydia is an anxious mess, and at different points suggests having all of them killed. Mike, in turn, nearly kills her, though Walter appears to have followed through.

First seen: S5, Ep3 (“Hazard Pay�)

TODD ALQUIST

A Walter White acolyte (Jesse Plemons) whose neo-Nazi uncle, Jack — with help from his merry band of white-supremacist monsters, like Kenny — helps Walter sew up some loose ends. Unfortunately, Todd’s also a child killer who ultimately subjects Jesse to untold torture and guns down Andrea, orphaning Brock in the process. Todd sucks.

First seen: S5, Ep15 (“Granite State�)

THE DISAPPEARER

Vacuum salesman by day and one-man criminal-protection mastermind by night (and, also, by day), The Disappearer (Robert Forster) helps Saul sort out a new life in Nebraska and stows Walter in hiding in remote New Hampshire. He had instructions to jettison Jesse as well, but Jesse was a no-show.