Kim’s Better Call Saul Role Even Surprised The Writers
The significance of Kim’s role in Better Call Saul surprised even the show’s writers. As the Breaking Bad spinoff prepares to conclude its run, Rhea Seehorn’s portrayal of attorney Kim Wexler has proven to be just as significant as Bob Odenkirk’s main character. Many viewers have spent the bulk of the AMC series speculating over Kim’s fate, wondering why she never makes an appearance on Breaking Bad and what that could possibly mean. On a more immediate level, however, fans of Better Call Saul have been engrossed in Kim’s journey — watching as she becomes more invested in the elaborate schemes of Jimmy McGill (Odenkirk), risking her career and potentially her life in the process.
This risk is clarified in a terrible way during the Better Call Saul season 6 midseason finale, as Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian) gets shot and killed by a vengeful Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton). Howard’s in the wrong place at the wrong time, meeting a gruesome demise as a result. Still, Howard is there partially to confront Kim over the fact that she has been going along and even instigating Jimmy’s shady ways of winning on behalf of his clients. It also illustrates how central Kim has become to the overall narrative, with how she imbues the spinoff with a sense of urgency and offers a complexly sympathetic protagonist.
Related: Better Call Saul Season 6's Big Deaths Are GOOD News For Kim
In a feature on Seehorn for The New York Times, showrunner and Better Call Saul co-creator Peter Gould reflected on the fact that the writers initially didn’t realize how important Kim would be. Gould, who created the spinoff alongside Breaking Bad‘s Vince Gilligan, pointed out that Seehorn’s character had a relatively minor role in the series’ first episode.
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