Bryan Cranston on How His New 'Your Honor' Character Is Like 'Breaking Bad's Walter White (Exclusive)

The actor opened up to ET about his new show, and whether or not he'd consider appearing on 'Better Call Saul.'

Bryan Cranston truly enjoys playing broken, complex characters. The Breaking Bad star took home four Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for his role as Walter White, and now he's returned to the world of the dark and emotionally devastated with his new role in Your Honor.

"I always looked for damaged characters, I looked for characters that are basically good, but lost their way, perhaps, or have a fatal flaw that connected to their psyche," Cranston told ET's Kevin Frazier in an interview on Tuesday, in which he was joined by Your Honor creator Peter Moffat. "As long as we feel that the character often makes the right decision and tries to be a better person, I think that is what grabs the sentimentality of the audience."

However, that doesn't mean there aren't some major differences between his role as Walter White and his role as Judge Michael Desiato in Your Honor.

"In Breaking Bad, Walter White methodically designed the path he was going to take. In Your Honor, Michael Desiato has to use his impulses and make a decision immediately on what he was going to do to save the life of his child," Cranston shared. "It's clearly different from my standpoint and why I felt I didn't step into any issues."

In Your Honor, Cranston stars as a judge whose own son is involved in a hit and run that entangles his family into the world of organized crime. He becomes a man who is willing to put anything on the line to save his child's life, and must face moral quandaries that dramatically challenge his worldview.

"As a parent... you would go to any length to save the life of your child. And that's what really hooked me when Peter presented this story to me," Cranston shared. "That's what creates the moral dilemma in this, is that a very noble, righteous person -- a judge in this case -- is suddenly on a path of corruption and deceit and lying, and things that are so foreign to him and against his true nature. And I thought, 'Oh, that's a juicy role to play.'"

As for rumors that Cranston might be stepping into the shoes of Walter White once more for a cameo in a future episode of the Breaking Bad spin-off series Better Call Saul, the celebrated star denied that anything had been set in stone.

"I have no knowledge to that... [None] whatsoever," Cranston said, teasingly adding, "You think I'm lying, but maybe I am, and maybe I'm not."

It seems that only time will tell, for sure. Considering the series is set largely before the events of Breaking Bad, there's always a chance.

Your Honor debuts Sunday, Dec. 6 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime.

 

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