Aaron Paul Reveals He Doesn't Get Paid for 'Breaking Bad' Streaming on Netflix

Aaron Paul is the latest actor to shock fans with revelations about his pay amid the SAG-AFTRA strike. The 44-year-old spoke to Entertainment Tonight on the picket line outside of Sony Studios last week, saying that he did not make any money for the success of Breaking Bad on Netflix. He hopes that a new deal for his union will change that for himself and other actors.

"I don't get a piece from Netflix on Breaking Bad to be totally honest, and that's insane to me," Paul said. "Shows live forever on these streamers and it goes through waves. And I just saw the other day that Breaking Bad was trending on Netflix, and it's just such common sense, and a lot of these streamers, they know they have been getting away with not paying people just fair wage and now it's time to pony up."

Paul was rallying outside of Sony Studios with his fellow Breaking Bad alumni Bryan Cranston and Jesse Plemons. Actors may have different terms in their contracts on the same show, but in general the fight for streaming residuals is one of the major points in the SAG-AFTRA strike as well as the WGA strike. Both unions argue that the rapid rise of the streaming industry has left some of their common-sense practices in the dust. They are calling for new language in their contracts to ensure the kind of protections and payments they got for decades with linear television.

Breaking Bad was a critical and commercial success when it premiered on cable from 2008 to 2013. The show grew from an average audience of 1.41 million viewers in Season 1 to 5.92 million viewers in Season 5. A report by Esquire credits this rise in popularity to Netflix, where the previous seasons became available to stream as Season 4 premiered. This allowed new viewers to get on board and catch up before watching the final season or two in real time. Afterward, many shows tried to imitate this means of success.

Breaking Bad remained one of the most-binged shows on Netflix for years, so much so that many fans associated it more with the streamer than with its original network, AMC. Netflix even struck a deal to host the series' sequel and epilogue, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. It had a limited theatrical run with a simultaneous premiere on Netflix in October of 2019, followed by a TV debut on AMC in February of 2020. Netflix has also licensed the spinoff series Better Call Saul.

For Paul and other SAG-AFTRA supporters, the fact that the actors were not paid for their part in bringing this success to Netflix is wrong. SAG-AFTRA and the WGA remain on strike while the AMPTP representing the studios has only returned to the negotiating table a handful of times. Right now, there is no end to the strikes in sight.