Many are continuing to mourn the loss of RJ Mitte, the actor best known for his role as Walter White Jr. on the iconic drama series Breaking Bad. It was reported earlier this week that Mitte died by suicide at the age of 34 and, since then tributes have been pouring in from fans across social media. At the same time, a number of cast members from the show have also been sharing their remembrances of Mitte. One of the series alums to do so was Luis Moncada, who spoke about spending time with Mitte shortly before his passing.
Luis Moncada – who’s known for playing Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul character Marco Salamanca – hung with Mitte earlier this month at the Mitte at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. While Moncada may be known for playing one of the most intense people within Vince Gilligan’s fictional TV universe, the actor wore his heart on his sleeve while discussing the late Mitte. The Get Shorty alum spoke to TMZ and stated that his former castmate was was through an undisclosed personal hardship:
No, that one’s too personal, but let me just tell you, he was being pulled in all kinds of directions. He was very conflicted with that. I can’t say what it is. That is not my place to do, I’m not going to say that. But, yeah, he was just struggling at the time.
After learning about Mitte’s death, Moncada took to Instagram to share a tribute video filled with photos. What starts the post off, however, is a sweet clip of the two BB alums riding on the balloons and sharing a tender moment. Later in his conversation with TMZ (which was shared on X), Moncada explained that it was actually his late buddy’s personal struggles that prompted him to bring him on the air trip:
I was already aware of it — that’s the reason I brought him on the balloon. He doesn’t like heights, and [I] just invited him to have a good time and forget about things, put his mind somewhere else, for a little bit at least. This is just a little portion of the video, the video’s a lot longer. I was trying to cheer him up, my friend, Eliza, was trying to cheer him up the whole time, because we knew he was in his head with things, thinking about life and stress of life, the pressure and all that stuff.
What’s more is that during that sweet hangout, the Dexter guest star also apparently made a lovely gesture towards Mitte. Moncado explained:
I offered him [the chance] to stay at my house with my son, just him and I. And I told him, ‘Just come to my house, bro, and just reset yourself.’ Think clearly without people pulling you in every way, all this pressure that you have outside of all of this.’ …. And he had already been on the road for over a month, and he said he had to go home. So I made him promise to call me if he needed to talk, and he did [promise]. And I never got a call.
Details regarding the circumstances surrounding RJ Mitte’s death have not been divulged by his team. Just recently, Mitte had been promoting his new 2026 movie release, Total Strangers and, during his interviews, he’d been discussing working on episodes of Breaking Bad, which ran for five seasons on AMC from 2008 to 2013 and is streamable with a Netflix subscription. Among the topics discussed was his financial standing, with Mitte saying he’d lost most of his money due to costs accrued while keeping his career afloat.
It’s honestly still hard to fathom the notion of Mitte no longer being with us, and the comments from Luis Moncada arguably make the loss feel that much more palpable. Nevertheless, it’s heartwarming to hear Moncada speak so fondly of Mitte and to know that he attempted to lend support to his friend during his time of need. It’s my hope that Mitte’s legacy – which also included advocacy for the disabled community – will not be forgotten.
