[Series-finale spoilers ahead.]

Two days after the finale of his Emmy-winning AMC drama, Vince Gilligan appeared on Breaking Bad’s Insider Podcast this morning to discuss several alternative, and perhaps even more shocking, conclusions to the series that had been seriously considered in the Breaking Bad writers’ room.

Among them, Gilligan said that he was personally in favor of an ending in which Skyler, pushed too far by Walt’s malevolent transformation into a power-crazed meth king, takes her own life. “I was leaning toward that, and the other writers were like, ‘That’s a bridge too far,’” Gilligan revealed. “We talked about a possible version where Skyler and Walt are tied up at a Motel 6 kind of place and he’s talking to her in a bathroom saying, ‘It’s going to be all right. . . I’ve got a plan. Skyler? Skyler?’ And he finally forced the door open and she’s in a bloody tub or something like that.”

The most surprising ending, for your blogger at least, would have killed off Walt Jr. Gilligan said that he’d considered this grim conclusion—which would have echoed a pivotal Season One hostage situation between Walt and “Krazy 8”—more than five years ago, even before filming of the drama’s first season began. In this version of the finale, Jesse would be killed by a rogue drug dealer. To avenge his death, Walt would chain the drug dealer in a basement—like he did to Krazy 8—and torture him. In a new twist, however, Walt would set up a shotgun trip wire in the basement in hopes that the drug dealer would kill himself. But Walt Jr. would discover the drug-dealer hostage and attempt to give him water—again, as Walt did with Krazy 8—and the drug dealer would ultimately use the trip wire to kill both himself and Walt Jr.

Other potential endings included one in which Walt would gun down a prison with his M-60 in order to free Jesse and one in which Walt would use the machine gun on the police.

In comparison, Breaking Bad’s actual finale does not seem so gruesome . . .

Related:Breaking Bad Finale: 10 Behind-the-Scenes Revelations from Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, and Vince Gilligan