Breaking Bad's Skyler White Finds an Admirer on The Mindy Project

It’s only been on for a season and a half or so, but The Mindy Project has had a smattering of interesting, high-profile guest stars: Common; Ben Feldman (aka Ginsberg on Mad Men); Happy Endings‘ Adam Pally; Chloe Sevigny; James Franco. Tomorrow’s episode features Timothy Olyphant. And coming soon: A character played by Anna Gunn, aka Breaking Bad‘s Skyler White.

As Tierney Bricker writes for E!, Gunn will play Sheila Hamilton, a physician Mindy Lahiri worships and calls “the Tory Burch of Manhattan OB/GYNs.” The synopsis:

A high-profile doctor who treats an exclusive clientele made up of New York’s rich and famous, the glamorous, powerful and philanthropic Sheila will try and poach Mindy from Danny (Chris Messina), Jeremy (Ed Weeks) and the rest of the gang over at Shulman & Associates. Naturally, Mindy loves the attention. Well, at first she does anyway!

Even though there were many, many reprehensible characters on Breaking Bad, a hell of a lot of vitriol was reserved for Skyler White; she became, basically, the most-hated female character on TV. At some point, the line between Skyler White and Ana Gunn blurred, and some (spectacularly idiotic) people just hated Anna Gunn.

It’s smart move for Gunn that her first time back on TV since the end of Breaking Bad comes in the form of a stint on a quirky, light-hearted comedy. A total departure highlights flexibility and range. It could be Gunn’s first step in shedding both the character she’s bound to be associated with for a long time as well as the hate that character stirs up.

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