Read This: Dean Norris shares excerpt of RJ Mitte's interviews from Breaking Bad oral history

In the interviews, conducted over the past several years by Norris (who played DEA agent Hank Schrader on the series), Mitte recalls his tough upbringing as a child with cerebral palsy who got into extra work on shows like Hannah Montana, Everybody Hates Chris, Weeds, and Seventh Heaven to help support his single mother and younger sister. Noting that his first ever audition was for a statewide anti-meth campaign, Mitte recalls seeing the Breaking Bad casting call that changed his life. “The description of the role literally said, ‘dark hair, big eyebrows, and mild cerebral palsy,’ Mitte told Norris, “And I was like, ‘that’s me!'”

Other Breaking Bad figures like Rian Johnson, who directed the pivotal episode “Ozymandias,” says of Mitte’s work in the scene where Walt Jr. finally turns on his father, “I think RJ also did a terrific job in that moment—­ he’s kind of the linchpin of the whole thing.” Series creator Vince Gilligan laments that there wasn’t enough room for a final goodbye scene between father and son in the series finale, noting, “We were sad we couldn’t have a goodbye scene with his son, Walt Jr., because RJ is a wonderful actor.” Norris himself calls Mitte “bright, talented, and a real sweetheart,” and closes out the piece with a quote from Mitte that can’t help but hit hard: “I will be eighty years old in a nursing home and there will probably be someone looking at me through a window, saying, ‘There’s Walt Jr.’ And I’m okay with that.”

Do What You’re Gonna Do: The Definitive Oral History of Breaking Bad is set for release on November 17. You can read the entire excerpt over at Vanity Fair.