HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Breaking Bad fans were duped into thinking the series was returning for a sixth season this week. All thanks to a satirical news article.
On Monday, National Report published an article with the headline, “Vince Gilligan Announces Breaking Bad Season 6; Begins Shooting Jan. 2015 – Walt Did Not Die!”
The article quoted the show’s creator Vince Gilligan as saying:
Walter White is not dead, and neither is Breaking Bad. We’ve kept it under wraps for months, now the cat’s out of the bag. Season 6 is coming, and it’s going to be epic and true to the fans that have followed the show so incessantly.
It went on to outline the supposed premise of season six, namely that the series would open with Walter White waking up in a hospital bed and realising that he had fans on the outside.
That would be all well and good except for the fact that it’s a total hoax.
But that didn’t stop people from sharing it. In fact, the post spread like wildfire.
As of today, it has been shared on Facebook 495,000 times and liked 323,000 times. A cursory glance at the comments reveals that there’s a whole load of gullible people out there.
For its part, National Report claims that it is purely a satire site – albeit a very subtle one – and says that disclaimers saying as much are buried deep within the website if readers do their research.
The website explained to Mashable that the article was written simply because they are huge Breaking Bad fans.
I know Vince Gilligan is never going to do a season 6, so I did one.
Sorry about that one, Breaking Bad fan. You’ll just have to make do with Better Call Saul.
