Inside RJ Mitte's Life After Breaking Bad

When casting the role of Walter White Jr. in Breaking Bad, creator Vince Gilligan was looking for a young actor with cerebral palsy, not a kid who could believably act like he had the condition.

"It's unbelievable," the 34-year-old said on the Oct. 5 episode of The Joe Vulpis Podcast of how new audiences continue to find Breaking Bad and discover his character. "Back then, we really didn't realize how impactful the show was going to be."

But the Emmy-winning series now comes laced with tragedy, as Mitte died Oct. 12 in Brownsville, Texas. No cause of death was shared.

Born in Jackson, Miss., Mitte moved to Los Angeles with his mom and sister to pursue acting. Prior to Breaking Bad, his experience consisted of being an extra on the likes of Hannah Montana and Weeds—and, full circle, his first-ever audition was for an anti-meth PSA—so it was while working on the critically acclaimed AMC series that he decided he actually wanted to do that for a living.