LOS ANGELES - The wait is almost over.

Since the debut of "Breaking Bad" in January 2008, this drama series - horrifying, funny, twisted and addictive - has kept its audience guessing.

But one thing seemed certain from the earliest days. Walter White - the milquetoast-chemistry-teacher-turned-drug-kingpin - was on a collision course with Hank, his brother-in-law and a Drug Enforcement agent who was soon hot on the trail of the mysterious meth mass-producer known as Heisenberg.

In the final moments of the episode that ended last summer's run, Hank, seated on his toilet leafing through a book of poems, had an epiphany: To his shock, dismay and rage, he realized that Walt is the culprit he's been looking for the whole time.

Now "Breaking Bad" is returning for its eight final episodes starting Sunday at 9 p.m. PDT. (Stop reading if you don't want to hear about it.)

The showdown the audience awaited so long is about to take place, placing Hank in direct conflict with the villainous hero.

And it allows Dean Norris, who has played Hank so skillfully for five seasons, to boldly go mano-a-mano with series star Bryan Cranston in their roles as now-out-in-the-open archenemies.

"All along it was YOU," Hank seethes in the opener. "I will put you under the jail!"

"In six months you won't have someone to prosecute," taunts Walt, who, after all, is dying from terminal cancer. Then he adds as a barely veiled threat: "Maybe your best course would be to tread lightly."

Don't bet on Hank Schrader to tread lightly.

This is a high-profile summer for Dean Norris, who, in June, premiered in "Under the Dome," playing crafty city father "Big Jim" Rennie on the hit sci-fi thriller. Airing Mondays at 10 p.m. EDT on CBS, it's already been picked up for a second season.

But, as Hank on "Breaking Bad" in its final weeks, Norris is about to wrap up some long-unfinished business. It's any viewer's guess how that is gonna go.

With his first appearance, showing off his Glock 22 at Walt's 50th birthday party in the series premiere, Hank seemed a potentially problematic character. With his cocky, macho style, he was perilously close to a stereotype, and his placement as a foil to a brother-in-law heading into the drug business seemed a little too convenient as a storytelling gimmick.

But now Norris, like so many other "Breaking Bad" fans, will be glued to his TV for the final run, which he knowledgeably bills as "the best eight episodes of the entire series."

"I'll be watching it Sunday nights, complete with the commercials," he declares.

And, yes, he's fully aware that most TV-series stars insist they don't watch themselves and the shows they appear in.

Understandable, said Norris: "They're not in 'Breaking Bad.'" And he burst out with a laugh.