A Conversation with ‘Better Call Saul’ Cast and Creator About Final Season

*The final sixth season of AMC’s “Better Call Saul” has been an amazing ride, and if you’re a fanatic like myself then you’re likely to be experiencing a mix of emotions in anticipation of the series finale episode set to air tonight.

“Better Call Saul” is a spin-off prequel of “Breaking Bad,” both created by Vince Gilligan. The series follows the story of small-time lawyer James Morgan “Jimmy” McGill (Bob Odenkirk), six years before his appearance on “Breaking Bad” as Saul Goodman. The series co-stars Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut (reprising his “Breaking Bad” role), Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler, Giancarlo Esposito as Gus Fring (reprising his “Breaking Bad” role), Patrick Fabian as Howard Hamiln, Tony Dalton as Lalo Salamanca and Michael Mando as Nacho Varga.

When I caught up with Bob and Rhea in 2017 at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour to talk about season three of the series, I asked about the dynamic between Saul and Kim and her potential influence on his transformation from small-time attorney Jimmy to larger-than-life con-man Saul.

“There are clearly a few things in Jimmy’s life that he loves a lot. And Kim is one of those people. And obviously, his brother’s respect is something that drives him and pulls him,” Bob said at the time. “So when I think about Saul, I think about a guy who probably doesn’t have those things in his life. He seems to be very self-serving, only, and not trying to achieve much beyond his — just money, and power, maybe. But I guess when you think about what does Kim have to do with that equation, I wonder how he doesn’t have someone like Kim in his life anymore, because I don’t think Saul has anyone in his life who he’s trying to be good for, or be a great, better person for.”

READ MORE: Director Baltasar Kormakur Talks His Pulse-Pounding New Thriller ‘Beast’ | Watch EUR Exclusive

Three seasons after my initial conversation with the cast and crew, fans have seen Kim and Jimmy go through it and ultimately call it quits after their wild hijinks led to deadly consequences. As I predicted back when the series first started, Jimmy’s destructive relationship with Kim was a factor in him adopting the Saul persona that fans came to love in “Breaking Bad.” 

When I posed my Kim/Saul theory to the show creators at TCA in 2017, here’s what showrunner Peter Gould had to say: “When we started the show. It was sort of a puzzle in some ways. How does a guy who is so decent — I think Jimmy — I don’t know if you agree with this. He has a core of decency. He’s doing things, really, always for the best of reasons. He’s doing them out of love, really more than anything else. How does he become Saul Goodman? For the first two seasons, I think it seems almost an insoluble problem. “

He continued, “Sometimes we thought to ourselves, “Is this guy ever going to become Saul Goodman?” But I have to say, this season, as it progressed, I started to understand it a little bit better. I think we all started to understand it a little bit better. And, I, of course — you’ll see that it’s like — it takes a lot of pressure to turn a lump of coal into a diamond, and it turns out a hell of a lot of pressure to turn a Goodman — or at least a decent man like Jimmy McGill into Saul Goodman.”

Fans of the “Breaking Bad”/”Better Call Saul” universe have seen many beloved characters meet an unfortunate demise. When I caught up with Peter and Vince this month at the 2022 TCA Summer Press Tour,  I asked about killing off characters and whose death, if any, stayed with them long after the scene ended. The pair joked that they don’t get emotional about it because “it helps that we know they’re not really dead,” said Vince.

“When you’re looking at it from the other end of the telescope, so to speak, we’re looking at it through the wrong end of the telescope because we were there making it. And it just makes me so happy when — God bless you — when people have a reaction like you do, like feeling gutted.,” said Vince in response to me noting that I was “gutted” by the deaths of certain characters. 

“..the good news is we’re still in touch with one another. We’re still friends with one another, get together as often as we can, and I just don’t think of it that way. I think of it as I just I’m so delighted when people get emotional about it. I tend not to,” he added. 

Thanks for everything, Albuquerque. We’ll miss you. #BetterCallSaul pic.twitter.com/Mn7GkeUSGV

— Better Call Saul (@BetterCallSaul) August 15, 2022

Peter noted that “the thing that’s been great up to now is that even the characters who die on the show can come back. And that’s always a thrill.”

“I hope we get to work together. I wanna work with everybody who worked on the show again, and I really hope it happens,” Vince added. 

During TCA last week, Rhea explained that while Kim is not seen or mentioned during the Breaking Bad era, she still loved Saul from a distance.

“I absolutely think that she still has love for Jimmy. I think even in the heartbreaking episode where they break up, it was never because she didn’t love him. That is not how she came to the decision she made,” the actress told EUR.

That’s Saul, folks.

The series finale of #BetterCallSaul premieres tonight at 9pm on @AMC_TV and @AMCPlus. pic.twitter.com/Ua1QwtPuSI

— Better Call Saul (@BetterCallSaul) August 15, 2022

When I asked Bob if exploring the world of Saul/Jimmy had been transformative in any way, he explained, “I learned that acting can be challenging.”

“I didn’t used to think that. In fact, I used to poopoo that notion. I’d say, “You’re an idiot.” But now, I think that’s not true. Acting can be hard. And just an addition to that lesson is acting is rewarding when it’s hard,” he said. 

“And that those days that were the most difficult where I had to really lose myself or connect with something inside myself kinda deeply felt, those are the days where I came home from work thinking that was really cool what I got to do today. So I learned a lot about the job of doing this which is not something I thought about before I had the opportunity,” Bob added. 

The final episode of “Better Call Saul” airs Monday, August 14, at 9 pm ET on AMC.

We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!