Exclusive: Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul's last day on 'Breaking Bad'

A road sign for To'hajiilee, a Native American reservation about 40 miles west of Albuquerque, N.M., where the 'Bad' team spent their final day shooting the hit series. Vince Gilligan

To'hajiilee was found by location scouts for 'Bad' back in 2007, when the pilot was shot. "It was a very cinematically striking place," Gilligan says of the red-rock formations and white, puffy clouds. "As soon as I saw it, I wanted to shoot there." Vince Gilligan

"It was in the script that Walt cooked in his underpants," says Gilligan of the character's iconic garb, painstakingly recreated for 'Ozymandias.' The apron and green shirt he wears in that scene were found by costume designer Kathleen Detoro. Vince Gilligan

'Ozymandias' director Rian Johnson, left, and Cranston on set. "Tiger Woods always made golfing look easy, and Rian is kind of that guy when it comes to directing," Gilligan says. "He's so happy and relaxed, and it's infectious." Vince Gilligan

Moira Walley-Beckett, who wrote the 'Ozymandias' episode and has gone on to write Netflix's 'Anne with an E.' Vince Gilligan

For Paul, returning to Walt and Jesse's mobile lab on the last day of shooting was "surreal. We had shot out in the desert many times since the pilot, but knowing it was the last day to perfectly bookend the series was very special to us. I was stuck inside the RV dreading (they would) say, 'Check the gate," he says, using film lingo for when a shot is finished. "All I wanted was to keep rolling." Vince Gilligan

"When we first started this show, no one could have anticipated it would become the phenomenon that it did," says Cranston, pictured here between takes. "It was just a little show in the desert in New Mexico that was telling a very compelling human story." Vince Gilligan

Paul, left, and Cranston read their final script over dinner, and later, got tattoos to commemorate five seasons of working together. "It was six years of intimacy and developing a family," Cranston says. Paul "was really dreading that last day because he's a very emotional guy." Vince Gilligan