Why The Sopranos' Version Of Skyler White Got Nowhere Near As Much Hate

Image via MovieStillsDB Published Aug 29, 2026, 12:30 PM EDT Casey Duby is an avid TV writer, watcher, and reviewer. She graduated from Emerson College in 2021 with a focus in Writing for Film and Television, where she wrote several pilots and watched countless more. She's been working in television ever since. Casey loves thoughtful content that makes her ponder our world and the people in it, and she's learned that any genre can surprise her. With favorites in every genre from horror to politics, family to action, nothing is off limits. Casey has experience working in TV development and writing scripted shows. Currently working as a Writer/Critic in Los Angeles, with an AMC A-List membership to boot, she is always hunting for the next good story and great theme song. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Throughout the show's run, Breaking Bad's Skyler White was largely hated, considered, at best, irrelevant, and at worst, strongly unlikable. On the surface, this seems like a harsh critique of a (mostly) innocent woman who was blindsided by her husband's cancer, his drastic personality shifts, and, eventually, his family-destroying life of crime. Yet TV's first iteration of an anti-hero's wife, Carmela Soprano in The Sopranos​​​​​, Breaking Bad's spiritual predecessor, didn't face any such backlash. In fact, Carmela rivals Tony himself as one of the show's fan-favorite characters, and this is a major reason The Sopranos has the edge over Breaking Bad as TV's best crime drama. The striking difference between the two characters' likability isn't a question of performance. Both Edie Falco and Anna Gunn delivered career performances in their respective roles. It's not even about how pleasant or unpleasant the characters are as people, though Carmela and The Sopranos as a whole often have a refreshing playfulness compared to the melancholy of Breaking Bad. The success of Carmela Soprano and Skyler White's lack thereof ultimately comes down to the long-standing nature of their relationships with their husbands, a dynamic that plays out through the events of the shows, but also existed long before both shows' respective opening episodes. Carmela bears a burden of complicity for much of The Sopranos that Skyler is, to some extent, spared, but this ethical murkiness also opens the character up to an unparalleled level of depth, complexity, intrigue, and even empowerment. The Sopranos' Carmela Was Morally 'Worse' Than Breaking Bad's Skyler White Skyler White spends most of Breaking Bad unaware of her husband's rapidly deteriorating ethics. While Walter falls into a life of crime, Skyler is home with their children, feeling unhappy but doing little about it. By the time she does finally learn the truth about Walter, the situation has escalated so far that Skyler's character becomes little more than a symbol of Walt's destruction of his former domestic life. From The Sopranos' very first moment, Carmela, meanwhile, is well aware of what her husband does for a living. Though she goes through pockets of guilt, she ultimately finds great joy in the beautiful house and the luxurious gifts paid for by what she is told, in no uncertain terms, is "blood money." Even as she grows closer to other women whose husbands have met the ugly end of Tony Soprano, she turns a blind eye, acting like any other supportive friend and willfully ignoring the fact that her own husband put them in this position. A step beyond even this, Carmela does, at times, take a page out of Tony's book herself. Though she often attempts to gloss over the most devastating effects of Tony's work, Carmela doesn't simply turn a blind eye to all of her husband's flaws. Carmela has grown accustomed to getting her way in the world, and she knows why that happens. She might put on a happy face and bring a pie, but she, like Tony, knows exactly what her presence implies when she drives into the city to bully a woman into writing Meadow a college recommendation letter. Not only does Carmela tolerate her husband's day job, but she knowingly utilizes his reputation to her own advantage, enmeshing her even further into the mafia's corruption. Carmela Being Complicit Made Her More Popular With Viewers Carmela's knowledge of Tony's work is the pivotal element that gives her character so much more value than Skyler White. For one thing, it gives the character so much more latitude in the story. By not knowing what Walter is up to, the character of Skyler is immediately relegated to the outskirts of the action. She can't participate in the main story or engage with the new person Walter White is becoming. Carmela, on the other hand, is an active participant in the show's plot. She knows where Tony's money comes from, and she still desires it and him. Though Tony generally spares Carmela the grisly details, this is more for her own safety than an attempt to deceive her, and when he truly needs support, she's able to provide it. Her inside knowledge also adds a level of intrigue to the Soprano marriage itself. Very early on, a major disconnect is established between the lives being led by Breaking Bad's Walter and Skyler, making it difficult to picture a happier time in their marriage or understand what once drew the couple to each other. By the time Skyler learned the truth, their marriage became a matter of survival, with love seemingly long out of the question. On the flip side, Carmela and Tony have palpable chemistry throughout the series, and by seeing her husband for who he truly is, it's clear that she is and always has been attracted to even the unsavory elements of Tony's personality. More than anything, though, Carmela's complicity gives the character a level of agency that Skyler is deprived of. Carmela isn't a victim, and the wool hasn't been pulled over her eyes. She faces struggles, but they are all challenges of, at least partly, her own making. There's something empowering about a character in her position being given the agency to choose, and something undeniably interesting about the fact that she chose to walk into this life with both eyes open. By making her own choices, Carmela became a compelling individual in The Sopranos' world, taking her beyond Skyler White's role as simply a reminder of what Walter White has at stake. Throughout the show's run, Carmela was among the most entertaining and interesting characters in a show so entertaining and interesting that it defined an entire generation of television. Simply put, fans of The Sopranos enjoyed watching a wife who let her husband be bad. Release Date 1999 - 2007-00-00 Network HBO Showrunner David Chase Cast James Gandolfini Tony Soprano Directors Tim Van Patten, John Patterson, Alan Taylor, Jack Bender, Steve Buscemi, Daniel Attias, David Chase, Andy Wolk, Danny Leiner, David Nutter, James Hayman, Lee Tamahori, Lorraine Senna, Matthew Penn, Mike Figgis, Nick Gomez, Peter Bogdanovich, Phil Abraham, Rodrigo García Writers Michael Imperioli, Jason Cahill, Lawrence Konner, David Flebotte, James Manos, Jr., Salvatore Stabile, Toni Kalem, Mark Saraceni, Nick Santora Creator(s) David Chase