Hannibal Lecter Loved 'Breaking Bad'

The Breaking Bad finale aired two weeks ago, but if you're anything like us, you're still having trouble processing that it's actually all over. It's hard to believe that we'll never see Walt, Jesse, and the others (unless Jeffrey Katzenberg has his way) ever again, and we'e already prepping to re-watch the entire series after a few more weeks of mourning. Some fans, though, are lucky enough to be just discovering the series for the very first time. One surprising viewer? Sir Anthony Hopkins, who wrote a fan letter to Breaking Bad 's Bryan Cranston after binge-watching the show in two weeks.

Yes, you read that right. Hannibal Lecter himself watched and loved Breaking Bad just like the rest of us, and he was apparently so moved by what he saw that he felt the need to write the guy behind Walter White a letter telling him exactly that. The entire letter is worth a read, but highlights include Hopkins calling Cranston's performance "the best acting I have seen – ever" and describing the show "as a black comedy, descended into a labyrinth of blood, destruction and hell. It was like a great Jacobean, Shakespearian or Greek Tragedy."

Hopkins goes on to compliment the performances of the rest of the cast, even mentioning Steven Michael Quezada, aka the criminally underrated Gomey.

"If you ever get a chance to – would you pass on my admiration to everyone... everyone gave master classes of performance," he writes. "You and all the cast are the best actors I’ve ever seen."

It's high praise from anyone, let alone an Oscar-winner widely considered one of the best actors working today. If we were Cranston, Quezada, or the others, our egos would be through the roof right now.

What makes the letter great, though, is that it proves that Breaking Bad, and the passion it ignites, is universal. Everyone from random bloggers to A-list actors has fallen in love with the show, whether six years ago when it first began or, like Hopkins, just two weeks ago on Netflix. Not all of us have the means to send a personal letter to one of its stars, of course, but if we could, we undoubtedly would. There's so much we would love to say to the series' cast and crew, if we had the chance. Luckily, Hopkins sums it up nicely.

"Thank you," he says. "That kind of work/artistry is rare, and when, once in a while, it occurs, as in this epic work, it restores confidence. You and all the cast are the best actors I’ve ever seen. That may sound like a good lung full of smoke blowing. But it is not. It’s almost midnight out here in Malibu, and I felt compelled to write this email."

You said it, Tony (hey, it's how he signed it... ) Anyone who has seen the series understands how its greatness makes you feel the need to talk about it right now to anyone who'll listen. In Hopkins' case, that "anyone" happens to be Bryan Cranston, not a couple dozen Twitter followers like the rest of us, but we can still relate. Breaking Bad affected all of us, and if Hopkins needs a shoulder to cry on, we're ready.