Breaking Bad: Charles Baker Asked To Keep This Skinny Pete Prop (But Was Rejected)
In "Breaking Bad," the characters that occupied the periphery around Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman's (Aaron Paul) drug operation provided the drama with some of its best episodes. White's daily unit of Skyler (Anna Gunn), Hank (Dean Norris), and Marie Schrader (Betsy Brandt) provided complexity to the show's thematic material. Then there were characters like Jesse's longtime friends Badger (Matt Jones) and Skinny Pete (Charles Baker) to provide much-needed humor and camaraderie.
Both of the latter characters would go on to appear in 2019's "El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie." For Baker, reprising his role would have likely included a replica of one of his character's trademark accessories during "Breaking Bad's" run from 2008-2013. In a 2013 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor revealed that executives rejected him when he asked to keep Pete's hat.
Like Walt's signature shaved head, Skinny Pete's beanie was a prominent aesthetic reference point of the show, so it is only natural the actor would want to hold on to it. But there is a very prestigious reason why he was denied keeping the prop after the show wrapped.
Baker says Skinny Pete's trademark hat was slated to go into the Smithsonian
There were scant few moments in "Breaking Bad" where we saw Skinny Pete not wearing his beanie. Whereas Badger wears a variety of hats, Pete is dedicated to keeping his head and ears wrapped no matter the season in Albuquerque. The accessory was so familiar to Charles Baker that he requested to keep it when the series finale finished shooting.
When asked by The Hollywood Reporter if he took anything from the set as a keepsake, Baker replied, "I asked for Skinny Pete's hat at the end of the run. I didn't want to just steal it. They said 'Oh, sorry, it's slated to possibly go into the Smithsonian.' OK, nevermind. What can you say to that? It's not a guarantee, but they are holding on to stuff because of the impact it has had on TV. They are holding on to a lot of the props and costumes."
Variety reported in 2015 that Sony Pictures Television donated some props to the artifact institution's National Museum of American History. Among the items were Walter White's fedora hat and the suits and gas masks he and Jesse wore in the RV scenes. Unfortunately, there was no mention of Skinny Pete's beanie. But the hat did reappear in "El Camino" when Pete gifted it to Jesse early in the film to help conceal his appearance.