Commissions Unit: Superfan Role Reversal| Breaking Bad

How a Teenage Cancer Patient Changed the ending of 'Breaking Bad' - Role Reversal Example

As expected, it is more than always the audience who are the fans of a programme - the ones who may become inspired by anything which the programme creates, etc. However, the successful and popular TV programme 'Breaking Bad' (produced/directed by Vince Gilligan) instead shows an example of the programme in general becoming inspired from a member of the audience, which initially CHANGED some parts of the narrative in the programme. 

Following a similar illness compared to the main character 'Walter White' (played by Bryan Cranston), a young 16 year old teenage boy named Kevin Cordasco suffered from an illness called 'neuroblastoma' - a rare form of brain disease, for around 7 years. He, who is a huge fan of the programme, was soon visited by the star Bryan Cranston and the producer (Vince) plus a couple of other members of the programme, once Kevin's mum contacted the programme.

Usually when a massive TV programme (or any stars in general) go to meet a terminally ill person, you would expect it to be a 'bitter sweet say goodbye' and making the teenagers dream, however this turnt out to be very different.

After Kevin greeted the celebrities and received some rare props from the show, he spent numerous occasions with the stars where him and the producer Vince gained a special friendship. Vince one day asked "What would you like to see on the show?"

The response surprised the producers and the programme in general. What Kevin said actually changed the narrative in 8 episodes, as Vince quotes "we added something to these final eight episodes that we wouldn't have otherwise if Kevin hadn't mentioned that."

The "number one fan" (which Vince also quoted) even asked if the boy wanted to know what happened at the end of the final series (as it hadn't finished then - this article was made in September 2013) and the boy simply replied "No I'm going to watch it" even though he would be the only person on the planet to find out, despite people involved in the programme.

Sadly, Kevin died in mid March and unfortunately never made it to see what happened at the end of the series. His inclusion with the programme was so significant that he even received a mention in the credits for the 8 episodes he was involved in, saying "In memory of Kevin Cordasco".

Below is the link to an article based on this story, which also goes into detail on what exactly Kevin changed in the final 8 episodes:

How a teenage cancer patient changed the ending of 'Breaking Bad'

Kevin (bottom right) with producer Vince (left), starring act Bryan
(middle) and Walter's wife Anna Gunn (right)

Conclusion

This article to me shows how in some very minor cases even the biggest celebrities and TV programmes can inspire considerably just from their fans. The producers and Bryan even went on to discuss how he understood Walter White's characters almost perfectly and how he related to the character's illness as well as personality. 

Such example is extremely rare and perhaps even one of kind, however it shows how even one singular fan can have a major effect on the programme itself and even changing the narrative.