Henry R. Schrader is the brother-in-law of main character
Walter White, and is a
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. Throughout the series, he leads the investigation of the
methamphetamine cook "Heisenberg"—unaware that the elusive drug kingpin is his own brother-in-law. Hank is also faced with numerous threats from the rival drug cartels, which take a toll on his mental health as the series progresses; and eventually starts taking more extreme measures to find "Heisenberg" and arrest him.
Background Hank was a special agent with the DEA, where he rose through the ranks to become the supervisor of all investigations handled by his
Albuquerque office, under the watchful eye of
ASAC George Merkert (
Michael Shamus Wiles) and
SAC Ramey. He is married to
Marie (
Betsy Brandt), with whom he has no children. He is close to his family-by-marriage, the Whites: Walt, his wife (and Marie's sister)
Skyler (
Anna Gunn), and their son
Walter Jr. (
RJ Mitte). In contrast with the mild-mannered Walt, Hank is extroverted, ambitious, and apparently fearless, eager to take on dangerous investigations to further his career. Beneath his tough, unflappable exterior, however, he struggles with some of his own vulnerabilities: he had cold feet when it came to marrying Marie, and despite his ambition, he is afraid to move outside his comfort zone at work, primarily due to the effects of
PTSD since killing
Tuco Salamanca and subsequent bloody encounters during drug busts in El Paso. As a hobby, Hank
home brews his own beer, which he bottles under the name "Schraderbräu". After he gets shot by the Salamanca
cousins, he spends part of season 4 taking up
mineral collecting, much to Marie's chagrin.
Better Call Saul Season 5 Hank and his partner
Steven Gomez (
Steven Michael Quezada) arrive to interview drug dealer
Domingo Molina (
Max Arciniega), also known as "Krazy-8", who is planning to expose several
dead drops to make a deal with prosecutors. Before he can speak, the meeting is interrupted by
Saul Goodman (
Bob Odenkirk), acting as Domingo's lawyer. Hank becomes suspicious and believes that there are no dead drops, but Saul convinces him to take Domingo under his protection as a personal
CI. Both Hank and Steven leave, unaware that
Lalo Salamanca orchestrated the events to get Domingo out of jail and have a way to manipulate the DEA.
Breaking Bad Season 1 During Walt's fiftieth birthday party, Hank shows off a news report covering a
meth bust that he led. Later, Walt takes up Hank's offer to go on a
ride-along. Based on a tip from Krazy-8, Hank's team raids a
meth lab while Walt stays in the car, where he witnesses his former student
Jesse Pinkman (
Aaron Paul) escaping the bust but does not say anything to Hank. Secretly, Walt engages with Jesse to start to produce their own meth using chemistry equipment from the school Walt teaches at. Due to the precursors they used, the product gains a unique blue tint and has extremely high purity. Walt takes the name "Heisenberg" as he and Jesse sell the blue meth to the local drug trade. The blue meth and "Heisenberg" quickly draw the attention of Hank and the DEA. Hank's initial lead traces back to Walt's school, but Hank wrongly arrests the school janitor. Hank generally teases Walt through this period, then when Walt tells the family that he is suffering from terminal
lung cancer, Hank promises to be there for him, and to take care of Walter Jr. and Walt's unborn daughter. He also takes Walter Jr. under his wing, trying to "scare him straight" when he believes Walter Jr. is smoking
marijuana. Walt explains his association with Jesse to Skyler by falsely confessing to buying marijuana from Jesse. This information soon makes its way to Marie, and then to Hank.
Season 2 After a drug deal goes bad, Walt and Jesse are kidnapped by the unstable
Tuco Salamanca (
Raymond Cruz) and taken to a remote abode with his uncle, retired drug cartel boss
Hector Salamanca (
Mark Margolis). Hank helps with efforts to find Walt, and traces him via Jesse to Tuco's abode. Just before Hank arrives, Walt and Jesse manage to escape, wounding Tuco in the process. Hank kills Tuco in a shootout and arrests Hector. Meanwhile, Walt and Jesse flee back to Albuquerque, where Walt explains his disappearance to Skyler as the result of a
fugue state. Hank questions Hector about the blue meth and Heisenberg, but Hector refuses to answer. Hank also questions Jesse, but Jesse provides no conclusive statements to provide leads to Heisenberg. Hank is promoted and transferred to the
El Paso, Texas DEA office for killing Tuco. Though initially happy, Hank quickly realizes he doesn't fit in with his Spanish-speaking colleagues and also starts having
panic attacks. During a joint DEA/
Mexican police operation, an informant,
Tortuga (
Danny Trejo), is beheaded and his head used to hide an explosive, killing several DEA agents and officers; Hank escapes unharmed as he had fled on having a panic attack upon seeing the head of the informant. Hank develops symptoms of
PTSD and transfers back to the Albuquerque office to continue his investigation into the blue meth. Meanwhile, Walt and Jesse, having lost the Salamancas for selling meth, have engaged with Jesse's friends. One,
Badger (
Matt L. Jones), gets caught in a police sting, and Hank presses hard on Badger to reveal Heisenberg's identity. Walt gets help from the fast-talking lawyer
Saul Goodman (
Bob Odenkirk) to get a
fall guy to act as Heisenberg, but Badger approaches the wrong person while Hank and his team look on. Walt rushes in to obstruct Hank's view to correct Badger in time. While Saul's hired Heisenberg is arrested, Hank suspects the real Heisenberg remains at large.
Season 3 Hank remains committed to finding the identity of Heisenberg, but his superiors start to believe the case is unsolvable and want him to move on to other investigations. He picks up a lead on the case after Jesse uses some of the blue meth to pay for gas for the
recreational vehicle he and Walt use to cook the product. Hank investigates all RVs in Albuquerque through the
DMV and finds an RV without a renewed registration. Hank tracks the RV down to the mother of Jesse's deceased friend
Christian "Combo" Ortega (Rodney Rush), who had been killed while selling blue meth on a rival gang's territory. As he surveils Jesse, Hank calls Walt for information on his former student, giving Walt the opportunity to get the RV to a junkyard before he can find it. Hank follows Jesse to the junkyard, where Jesse and Walt hide in the RV. Walt gives instructions to Jesse to prevent Hank from entering the RV legally and gets Saul to lure Hank away from the junkyard by phoning him with a fake claim about Marie being hospitalized. He abruptly leaves, allowing them to crush the RV in the meantime, destroying the evidence. After learning that the accident was a hoax, an infuriated Hank goes to Jesse's home and assaults him. Jesse is hospitalized and threatens to sue, while Hank is suspended from the DEA without pay. As Hank is leaving his disciplinary meeting, he receives an anonymous call from
Gus Fring's henchman
Victor, warning him that he is about to be killed by
Leonel and Marco Salamanca (
Daniel and Luis Moncada) in revenge for killing Tuco; though Gus has told the brothers to target Hank instead of Walt, Gus's intention is the destruction of the Salamancas and their cartel. Hank is able to kill one brother and mortally wound the other, but he himself becomes temporarily paralyzed from the waist down after the gunfight, with the doctors fearing he may become
paraplegic without physical therapy. Marie finds their insurance will not cover this, and Walt and Skyler agree to help cover the costs, unbeknownst to Hank.
Season 4 Hank struggles through his recovery due to his helplessness, harshly lashing out at Marie, and tries to collect minerals to pass the time. His interest is piqued when the
Albuquerque Police Department asks him to help with looking over evidence from the murder of
Gale Boetticher (
David Costabile), who had been Walt's lab assistant at Gus's meth superlab under an industrial laundry. Gale was killed by Jesse on Walt's orders to prevent Gus from having them replaced with Gale. Among the evidence is a lab notebook with Gale's notes on the construction of the lab, the synthesis of meth, and other details that lead Hank to believe Gale was Heisenberg. During a shared dinner, Hank talks about Gale's notebook, and Walt drunkenly suggests Gale was merely copying the real Heisenberg's work. Hank is curious at this comment, and reviewing the evidence again, makes a connection between Gale and Gus. Hank, only just starting to physically recover, leans on Walt to help him investigate Gus's activities, the Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant chain and its
parent company, Madrigal Electromotive, and properties they own in Albuquerque, including the industrial laundry. Walt panics knowing that this not only may lead Hank to discover that he is Heisenberg but may lead to Gus taking deadly action to end Hank's investigation, as his relationship with Gus was already strained over Gale's murder. Walt has Saul fake a threat on Hank's life, and the DEA arranges for around-the-clock protection for Hank's and Walt's families, temporarily halting Hank's investigation. This also allows Walt to operate without interference to take out Gus by working with Hector after learning he and Gus are nemeses. Hector claims to want to talk to the DEA, and Hank is brought under protection to help with the interview, but Hector then refuses to cooperate and is returned to the nursing home. This was part of Walt's plan as Gus, learning of Hector's interview, goes to see Hector, upon which Hector triggers a pipe bomb Walt had planted on his wheelchair, killing them both. Walt and Jesse subsequently destroy the superlab.
Season 5 Part 1 The destruction of the superlab leads to evidence directly tying to Gus and the drug trade, and Hank is heralded as a hero. They secure a laptop from Gus's office and put it into police evidence. On learning of this, Walt and Jesse with help from
Mike Ehrmantraut (
Jonathan Banks) use a giant electromagnet to try to wipe the laptop, making a mess of the evidence room. The police find nothing on the laptop but from a picture frame broken in the destruction, the numbers to several accounts of Gus's that point to Mike's informants that have been helping to keep the drug trade secret. By this point, Hank's superiors have concluded that Gus was Heisenberg and tell Hank to drop the case, but Hank still believes there is more and wants to pursue the informants tied to the accounts. Walt gets the informants' names and arranges for their murders before they can be questioned. Several months pass, in which Walt has accumulated around $80 million and has left the drug trade. Despite blue meth still being on the streets, Hank has no leads and therefore has given up his investigation and moved on. At dinner at the Whites, Hank goes to the bathroom and while there, pages through a copy of
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman that Gale had given Walter. He recognizes the handwriting from Gale's notebook, and from Gale's dedication to Walt, referring to him as his "other favorite W.W.". Hank is shocked to conclude that Walt is Heisenberg.
Part 2 Hank feigns a stomach bug to leave early, taking the copy of
Leaves of Grass with him and suffering another panic attack. Later, he sneaks a GPS onto Walt's car. Walt discovers the copy of the book missing and the GPS device, similar to the one used to track Gus, and confronts Hank. Hank asserts Walt is Heisenberg, but Walt neither confirms nor denies, only that his cancer has returned and by the time Hank can prove anything, he will be dead. Hank demands Walt to tell Skyler and the children to stay with him, but Walt refuses. Hank tries to talk to Skyler, but she stays silent about what she knows. Marie learns some details through Skyler, but Hank still has insufficient evidence to go forward against Walt. Jesse is arrested and Hank tries to convince him to turn against Walt, but Jesse refuses, still angered over Hank's prior assault. In an attempt to dissuade Hank from investigating him further, Walt creates a fake confessional videotape claiming Hank is Heisenberg and that Walt was blackmailed into making meth for him. Hank also realizes that his post-shooting physical therapy was paid for with Walt's drug money, making him an
accessory after the fact. Walt and Jesse have a falling out after Jesse learns Walt poisoned the son of his girlfriend Andrea (
Emily Rios) to enlist his help in eliminating Gus. Jesse attempts to burn down Walter's home in retaliation, but Hank stops Jesse and convinces him they should work together to take down Walt. Hank initially tries to have Jesse meet with Walt while wearing a
wire, but Jesse backs out at the last minute, fearing Walt will kill him. Instead, Jesse suggests they target Walt's money, which they know has been hidden as cash somewhere locally. After tricking Saul's bodyguard
Huell Babineaux, Hank has Jesse call Walt pretending to have found the money and preparing to destroy it. Walt takes off to the money, buried on the
Tohajiilee Indian Reservation, but when he arrives there, he realizes Jesse has tricked him. Walt then orders a hit on him through
Jack Welker (
Michael Bowen), the leader of a
neo-Nazi biker gang that sells Walt's meth. Jesse soon arrives with Hank and Gomez, and Walt tries to call off the hit, preparing to surrender himself to Hank. However, Jack's gang arrives anyway and a firefight breaks out, in which Gomez is killed and Hank is critically wounded. Walt pleads to Jack to spare Hank's life, offering his entire fortune to Jack. Hank refuses to beg for his life and chastises Walt for not realizing Jack already made his decision. Accepting his fate, Hank is shot by Jack. Jack's men bury Hank and Gomez's bodies in the hole Walt had stored his money, stealing most of it but leaving one barrel containing around $11 million for Walt. Several months after Hank's and Gomez's deaths, Walt returns to Albuquerque from hiding in
New Hampshire. He meets Skyler and provides her a lottery ticket with the GPS coordinates of their bodies to negotiate a deal with the authorities. Walt avenges Hank's death by killing Jack and his men with a remote-activated machine gun before dying of a gunshot wound from a bullet that
ricocheted into him during the attack.
Post-Breaking Bad During the final episodes of
Better Call Saul, taking place in 2010, it is revealed that Skyler was successful in making a deal with the prosecutor and that the bodies of Hank and Gomez were successfully recovered. In the
final episode, Marie accuses Saul of enabling Walter and the events that led to Hank's murder. During his trial, a repentant Saul forgoes a plea deal and confesses the full extent of his involvement in Walt's drug empire. Acknowledging the role he played in causing the deaths of those associated with Walt, including Hank and Gomez, Saul shocked the courtroom but gave Marie and Blanca closure in their husbands' deaths. == Casting and creation ==