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Somewhat related to Why does Jack let Walt go?; why does Jack want to kill Walt in the last episode of Breaking Bad? Walt shows up under the pretense of wanting to make a deal to teach Todd a new method of making meth. Assuming that Jack has no idea about Walt's true intentions to get revenge and kill them all, why does he immediately order his men to kill Walt?

When Walt and Jack last saw each other, Jack let Walt keep some of his money and let him go. All the reasons that he let him go should still apply. He and Walt were not enemies. So why does he want to kill Walt as soon as he hears that Walt asked to make a deal with them?

He provides reasons for why he turned down the deal, but turning down the deal shouldn't make them mortal enemies.

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    Considering that Walt is a wanted man and that there's an active hunt for him by the DEA et al, why would they risk him getting caught and possibly exposing their operation?
    – BCdotWEB
    Mar 19, 2017 at 13:30
  • Related: movies.stackexchange.com/questions/27936/…
    – BCdotWEB
    Mar 19, 2017 at 13:33
  • Expanding on the comment by @BCdotWEB: when Jack let Walt go, he didn't expect Walt to become the target of a nationwide manhunt. He thought that the disappearance of Hank and Steve would remain unsolved, and Walt would quit the meth business and keep a low profile. As it turned out, Walt didn't have that option because Marie knew too much.
    – user6436
    Mar 19, 2017 at 17:41
  • Either of those could make a good answer I suppose. I was hoping there was something else I hadn't thought of, but perhaps that's all there is.
    – GendoIkari
    Mar 21, 2017 at 22:20

2 Answers 2

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Walt was a loose cannon. Jack had a good thing going with the meth empire. Walt was now a world-famous criminal, who had recklessly returned to the lion's den.

Walt was dangerous. Who knows what he might have done if Jack had turned him down? And how could Jack trust/work with someone who had betrayed Krazy-8, Tuco, Gale, Gus, Mike, and Jesse? That's six separate examples of backstabbing. Jack might not have known about all of them, but he knew enough. Jack had already given Walt a chance to go away quietly, and he had failed to take it.

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    Overall this answer makes sense, but there's no good reason to think Jack knows much about Walt's history of betraying people since prior to getting involved with Jack he knew nothing about his Meth business. He knows about Mike since (I recall) Todd helps dispose of him, probably knows about Gus since that was such big news - but going further back to Gale, Tuco and Krazy-8 he probably knows nothing.
    – iandotkelly ♦
    Feb 1, 2018 at 15:41
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    We see them watch Jesse's video confession, which might tell him about those earlier events.
    – Ne Mo
    Feb 1, 2018 at 15:48
  • That is a good point. I'm sure that is true.
    – iandotkelly ♦
    Feb 1, 2018 at 16:32
  • Due to the existence of the other question linked in my OP; I feel that this answer was actually stronger before the edit dealing with why Jack let him go the first time.
    – GendoIkari
    Feb 6, 2018 at 22:10
  • Ok. Since you asked about that I just assumed you wanted that answered too
    – Ne Mo
    Feb 6, 2018 at 23:34
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I always thought it was because Todd knows how to make a good quality of meth, and now Walt is a competitor not an ally. Plus he has so much heat on him that there is no trace of the communication between Walt and Jack. I also think there was still lingering tension with Jack killing off Gomez and Hank.

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