Penn Badgley says he was almost cast as Jesse Pinkman in 'Breaking Bad' and calls the part 'the one that got away'

• Penn Badgley almost got the role of drug dealer Jesse Pinkman in the megahit "Breaking Bad."
• Badgley lost the part to actor Aaron Paul, who played Pinkman for five seasons on the AMC show. 
• Badgley said the show's script was the best he'd read, and called the role "the one that got away."

In an episode of BuzzFeed's "The Puppy Interview" on Thursday, "You" star Penn Badgley spoke about losing out on the role of Jesse Pinkman in "Breaking Bad."

"One I got close on was 'Breaking Bad,'" Badgley said in the interview. "It was between me and Aaron Paul, we tested. And actually, that was the best television script I'd read at that point. That was the one that got away."

Instead of playing the smart-mouthed crystal-meth cook and dealer, Badgley went on to play booksmart Dan Humphrey in the CW series "Gossip Girl" from 2007 to 2012.

Paul ultimately got the "Breaking Bad" part and portrayed Jesse Pinkman for five seasons on the AMC show that ran from 2008 to 2013. In 2019, he reprised his role in the Netflix film "El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie."

Badgley is currently promoting the fourth season of "You" on Netflix, wherein he plays serial killer Joe Goldberg. This season, Joe is on the run once again and finds himself across the pond in London where he works as an English professor under the pseudonym Jonathan Moore. In typical Joe Goldberg fashion, love, stalking, and murder ensue.

In his interview with BuzzFeed, Badgley discussed what would happen if Dan from "Gossip Girl" and Joe from "You" were put in a room together.

"That's not a room I want to be in," Badgley said. "Joe wouldn't speak and Dan wouldn't shut up. I wonder if Joe would've read Dan's book? He probably would want to kill Dan. Dan deserves it."

Part one of the fourth season of "You" began streaming on Netflix on February 9, and part two will become available on March 9.