For family and friends of Calabasas teen Kevin Cordasco, watching the first episode of “Breaking Bad”’s final season Sunday night — dedicated in his memory — was a bittersweet experience.

Cordasco, who died in March after a seven-year battle with a rare cancer, was a huge fan of the Emmy -winning AMC series about a chemistry teacher with cancer who becomes a crystal meth kingpin. He would shush anyone talking as he watched it from his hospital bed.

The teen, who family members say harbored a wisdom beyond his years, had hung out with the series’ cast members and crew on several occasions. Sunday’s episode, which the ailing 16-year-old had hoped to see, was followed by the words “Dedicated to our friend Kevin Cordasco.”

“It was just heartwarming; I know my son was sitting there, watching it (saying) ‘Mom, Look, I made it!’,” said Kevin’s mother Melodie Cordasco, a hairstylist. “It was overwhelming — the feeling, the love and support.”

Show co-executive producer Melissa Bernstein said the dedication to Kevin was the idea of series creator Vince Gilligan, who was “devastated” when he passed away and wanted to find a way to express his respect for him and condolences to the family. It was only the fourth time the show had dedicated an episode.

Gilligan “thought he was such a smart, thoughtful young man and thought he had truly interesting insights on the show,” Bernstein said. “He thought that it would be a fitting tribute and hopefully, something that Kevin would get a real kick out of.”

On one occasion, Kevin brought up a question to Gilligan that he had about a set of characters on the show he was intrigued by.

“Ultimately, the writers thought about it and I think they found a way to address his question,” Bernstein said. “I don’t want to go any further than that because it would be a spoiler. Kevin truly had an impact on the way the story played out in the final eight (episodes.)”

Kevin, a junior at Calabasas High School, died March 11, after a seven-year battle with neuroblastoma. He had been diagnosed at age 9 and went through a series of difficult experimental treatments that included surgeries, transplants and other procedures.

At high school, the honors student was known for involvement in music — he played piano and drums — and sports, and his school basketball team named him its “Most Inspirational Player” in 2011. The city of Calabasas also declared Feb. 11, 2011 “Kevin Cordasco Day” and named him honorary mayor for 2013.

The teen met series star Bryan Cranston last September when the actor and his wife visited him at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for about three hours on a Saturday night.

Kevin’s relationship with the show was established through his godmother, Mary Anderson of Valencia, who has connections in the entertainment industry and reached out through a chain of friends-of-friends to make it happen.

Anderson said she called up her good friend Kim Byrd, who works for the talent agency Innovative Artists; she in turn, told her colleague Cher Van Amburg. Cher’s husband, Chris Van Amburg, works for Sony Pictures Television and forwarded an email about Kevin and some photos with his request to Cranston. By the next day, they had received an email from Cranston’s assistant and within two days, Cranston had visited Kevin at the hospital, Anderson said.

Kevin “loved Bryan because he was real,” Melodie Cordasco said. “Meeting him, you don’t think ‘Oh my gosh, he’s larger than life’. He’s normal. He’s loving and kind. He was just a great guy to Kevin. Every time Kevin would email him, Bryan Cranston within half an hour would respond back to Kevin.”

Cranston then approached Gilligan and persuaded him to meet Kevin as well. Gilligan visited the family’s Calabasas home in October, and then Cranston, along with Anna Gunn, who plays Cranston’s on-screen wife Skyler White, and Bob Odenkirk, who plays attorney Saul Goodman, also visited Kevin later that month.

“It meant the world to him; they have no idea how they impacted my son,” Melodie Cordasco said. “He talked about it all the time…He had a bucket list; one of (his wishes) was to meet ‘Breaking Bad’.”

Cordasco’s father, also named Kevin, had never seen the show when he first met members of the cast last year but his son convinced him to watch every episode of all past five seasons with him.

“From the first episode, I realized he connected with the main character. Bryan Cranston is diagnosed with what could have been a terminal illness, a cancer in the first episode,” he said. “He then began to live his life. I think that Kevin connected with that character, moving forward and never looking back, never asking why…(Kevin) didn’t let his cancer stop him from doing anything.”

In November, Kevin also met with the writers of the show for about five hours, another “amazing” experience for him, his mother said.

The cast and crew invited Kevin out to Albuquerque, N.M., in February to watch filming of the series. However, Kevin was too sick to go.

“He tried so hard; he wanted to so bad,” she said.

They even offered Kevin a copy of the script of the last episode as long as he signed something saying he wouldn’t reveal the details to anyone, Melodie Cordasco said. But Kevin declined, she said, for two reasons, she said: “He said ‘Mom, I want to see it myself and I don’t trust myself — I might tell people’.”