Vince Gilligan
George Vincent Gilligan Jr. is an American screenwriter and filmmaker. He became widely known as the creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the AMC crime series Breaking Bad and its spin-off prequel series Better Call Saul. He has received numerous accolades, including four Primetime Emmy Awards, six Writers Guild of America Awards, two Critics' Choice Television Awards, two Producers Guild of America Awards, a Directors Guild of America Award, and a BAFTA Television Award.
Gilligan's other work includes writing, directing, and producing some episodes of the Fox science fiction series The X-Files and co-creating its spin-off series The Lone Gunmen, co-writing the screenplay for the superhero film Hancock, and writing, directing, and producing the Breaking Bad sequel film El Camino. He is also the creator, primary writer, and executive producer of the Apple TV science fiction series Pluribus.
Early life
George Vincent Gilligan Jr. was born in Richmond, Virginia, on February 10, 1967, the son of grade school teacher Gail and insurance claims adjuster George Vincent Gilligan Sr. He was raised Catholic but later described himself as "pretty much agnostic". His parents divorced in 1974. He and his younger brother Patrick were raised in Farmville and Chesterfield County, where they attended J.P. Wynne Campus School, the laboratory school run by Longwood College where their mother also taught; Gilligan later used the J.P. Wynne name for the fictional high school where Walter White teaches in Breaking Bad.Growing up, Gilligan was a close friend of Angus Wall, who became a film editor and title designer. His interest in film began when Wall's mother Jackie, who also taught at J.P. Wynne, loaned Gilligan her Super 8 film camera. He used the camera to produce amateur science fiction films with Patrick. One of his first films was entitled Space Wreck, starring Patrick in the lead role. One year later, he won first prize for his age group in a film competition at the University of Virginia. Jackie took Wall and Gilligan to Richmond and dropped them off at Cloverleaf Mall to see films, encouraging both of them to pursue a career in the arts. Gilligan later said, "I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for Jackie. She was a wonderful lady and a real inspiration."
Gilligan was recognized at an early age for his talents and creativity. His father described him as a "kind of a studious-type young man, and he liked to read, and he had a vivid imagination". He introduced Gilligan to film noir classics, as well as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood Westerns on late-night television. Gilligan won a scholarship to attend the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts. After eighth grade, he moved back to Chesterfield to attend L. C. Bird High School. After graduating in 1985, he went on to attend NYU's Tisch School of the Arts on a scholarship, receiving a BFA in film production. While at NYU, he wrote the screenplay for Home Fries and received the Virginia Governor's Screenwriting Award in 1989 for the screenplay, which was later turned into a film. One of the judges of the competition was film producer Mark Johnson, who was impressed by Gilligan and called him "the most imaginative writer" he had ever read. Gilligan also studied holography under Jason Sapan at Holographic Studios in New York City.
Career
''The X-Files'' and ''The Lone Gunmen''
Gilligan's big break came when he joined the Fox television drama The X-Files. He was a fan of the show and submitted a script to Fox, which became the second-season episode "Soft Light". He went on to write 29 more episodes, in addition to being co-executive producer of 44 episodes, executive producer of 40, co-producer of 24, and supervising producer of 20. He also co-created and became executive producer of the spin-off series The Lone Gunmen, which ran for one season of 13 episodes.''Breaking Bad'', ''Better Call Saul'', and ''El Camino''
Gilligan created, wrote, directed, and produced the AMC drama series Breaking Bad, which premiered in 2008 and concluded in 2013. It gave rise to the wider Breaking Bad franchise. He created the series with the premise that the hero would become the villain, stating, "Television is historically good at keeping its characters in a self-imposed stasis so that shows can go on for years or even decades. When I realized this, the logical next step was to think, 'How can I do a show in which the fundamental drive is toward change?'" He added that his goal with Walter White was to turn him from "Mr. Chips into Scarface". While pitching the show to studios, Gilligan was initially discouraged when he learned of the existing series Weeds and its similarities to the premise of Breaking Bad. While his producers convinced him that the show was different enough to still be successful, he later said he would not have gone forward with the idea had he known about Weeds earlier.Breaking Bad received widespread critical acclaim and has been praised by many critics as being among the greatest television dramas of all time. Gilligan won numerous awards for his work on the series. The Writers Guild of America awarded him four times in straight succession, from 2012 to 2014: three as a part of the Breaking Bad writing team and one individually for writing the episode "Box Cutter". He also received two Primetime Emmys in 2013 and 2014 for producing the show. In 2014, he won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series for directing the show's final episode "Felina".
In September 2013, Sony Pictures Television announced a deal with AMC to produce a Breaking Bad spin-off prequel entitled Better Call Saul, focusing on Breaking Bad supporting character Saul Goodman before he became Walter's lawyer, and to star Bob Odenkirk reprising his role as Saul. Gilligan co-created the series with Breaking Bad writer Peter Gould, with both of them acting as showrunners. The first episode "Uno", which Gilligan directed and co-wrote, premiered on February 8, 2015. He left the Better Call Saul writing staff early in the third season to focus on other projects, resulting in Gould becoming sole showrunner, a transition which had been planned since the show's debut. Gilligan remained involved in Better Call Sauls production in a reduced role, directing episodes in the fourth and fifth seasons before returning to the writers' room in the sixth.
In July 2018, it was announced that Gilligan had agreed to stay with Sony TV on a new three-year deal. His deal with Sony via his own production company, High Bridge Productions, was renewed in 2021.
Gilligan quietly developed the script for El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, which wraps up the story of Breaking Bad co-protagonist Jesse Pinkman following the events of "Felina", ahead of the show's tenth anniversary. He subsequently directed and produced the film, which was released in a limited theatrical screening and on Netflix in October 2019.
Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and El Camino, along with various short-form web series associated with these series, have been described informally by the shows' staff and fans as the "Gilliverse". Following the finale of Better Call Saul, Gilligan said that he does not plan to create any more works related to Breaking Bad.
''Battle Creek''
In September 2013, Sony struck a deal with CBS to produce a new series created by Gilligan and David Shore called Battle Creek. Based on a script written by Gilligan a decade prior, the show follows two police detectives who must compete with a seemingly perfect FBI agent. Gilligan co-wrote the first episode with Shore, who served as showrunner of the series. CBS ordered 13 episodes and the series aired on CBS starting March 1, 2015, but it was not renewed for a second season.''Pluribus''
After Better Call Saul finished, Gilligan began working on a new show titled Pluribus, a science fiction series that has been compared to The X-Files and The Twilight Zone. The show, initially under working title Wycaro 339, received a two-season order from Apple TV+ in September 2022, with confirmation that Rhea Seehorn, who played Kim Wexler on Better Call Saul, would star. The series premiered in 2025.Other work
Film
Gilligan first had a screenplay produced in 1993 for the romantic comedy film Wilder Napalm. While working on The X-Files, one of his early screenplays was produced in 1998 as Home Fries, which starred Drew Barrymore and Luke Wilson. He also rewrote the screenplay for the 2008 Will Smith film Hancock, which was originally written by Vincent Ngo.Television
Gilligan was hired by The X-Files creator Chris Carter to be a consulting producer on his new series Harsh Realm. After The X-Files, he wrote an episode of the short lived police procedural series Robbery Homicide Division and an episode of the ABC series Night Stalker.In 2014, Gilligan had a cameo role in the "VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing" episode of the NBC comedy series Community as a cheesy actor hosting Pile of Bullets, a fictional 1990s VCR-based video game.
Unrealized projects
In 2007, Gilligan and fellow X-Files producer Frank Spotnitz wrote a sci-fi pilot entitled A.M.P.E.D., which was not picked up for a full series.In 2016, it was announced that Gilligan would develop an HBO limited miniseries about Jim Jones and the 1978 Jonestown tragedy. The series would be based on the 1982 non-fiction book Raven, and would be co-produced by Octavia Spencer and Gilligan's longtime collaborator Michelle MacLaren. However, in 2018, Gilligan said that he had slowed down on developing the project.
Personal life
Gilligan has been in a relationship with Holly Rice since 1991, and referred to her as his wife in 2022. They have no children.Gilligan was raised Catholic but is now agnostic, and has said that he finds it "hard to wrap head around" both Christian fundamentalism and atheism.
Gilligan has denounced the use of AI in the arts, calling it "the world's most expensive and energy-intensive plagiarism machine". In a 2025 interview with Polygon, he said, "I have not used ChatGPT, because as of yet, no one has held a shotgun to my head and made me do it. I will never use it."