Penn Badgley has revealed that he made it to the final two for a role in Breaking Bad, describing the part as “the one that got away”.

The You star was asked in a new interview with Buzzfeed to name a role fans would be surprised that he auditioned for but didn’t get.

“One I got close on was Breaking Bad,” Badgley said. “It was between me and Aaron Paul, we tested.” Paul ended up getting the role of crystal meth cook and dealer Jesse Pinkman in the hit series, which aired for five seasons between 2008 to 2013.

Actually, that was the best television script I’d read at that point,” added Badgley. “That was the one that got away.”

Penn Badgley is currently starring in the fourth series of You, in which his character Joe Goldberg relocates to London and starts a new life as a university professor following the events of season three. The second instalment of the series is set to arrive on Netflix on March 9.

Elsewhere, Badgley recently revealed he requested to have no unnecessary sex scenes in the recent season of You, due to his marriage to singer Domino Kirke.

Speaking on the podcast Podcrushed, Badgley said: “I asked Sera Gamble, the creator of the show, ‘Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?’

“This was actually a decision I had made before I took the show. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it publicly, but one of the main things is, ‘Do I want to put myself back on a career path where I’m always [the] romantic lead?”

In a four-star review of season four’s first instalment, NME wrote: “Yes, it’s all very silly, but it’s also surprisingly gripping and consistently witty. ‘I’m in the West End revival of Mean Girls,’ Joe’s internal monologue deadpans at one point. By the end of episode five, you’ll be craving the season’s second half more than you might care to admit.”