Star of Better Call Saul Rhea Seehorn first believed Kim Wexler would pass away. It was always reasonable to presume that the close confidant of Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill would not survive the events of the program given the timeframe of the Breaking Bad prequel. The tension was further increased in the latter seasons of Better Call Saul as Kim often meets paths with the ruthless murderer and cartel boss Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton).
Seehorn admitted that even she anticipated a grim outcome for Kim during a recent interview with Empire magazine for their February 2023 edition. The Better Call Saul actor assumed Kim would pass away as soon as she was introduced in episode 1. Seehorn didn’t want to get her hopes up in case Kim was doomed to an early death even if the character “started having stories that weren’t just peripheral to Jimmy,” like Mesa Verde and Gatwood Oil. Read what she said below:
I had no idea. I definitely thought I had no idea. I definitely thought she could die. At some point, started having storylines that weren’t just ancillary to Jimmy, and I was thrilled, but I honestly didn’t dare to dream. Patrick [Fabian] and I would laugh and flip through the scripts immediately and be like, “I’m not dead!” It just became a thing of, “I don’t want to get out of this sandbox.” It’s the best writing, the best character, and the best people.
What kept Kim alive in Better Call Saul?
Kim did not pass away and is still alive in Florida during the Breaking Bad events, as made clear by Better Call Saul season 6. Kim gives up her legal license and separates from Jimmy after realizing that she and Jimmy were responsible for the death of Howard Hamlin (Patrick Hamlin). She believes they are too destructive of a pair. The choice encourages Jimmy to adopt his Saul Goodman persona to deal with the heartache.
Kim has been living a simple life in Florida working for a sprinkler manufacturer, it is revealed following the time jump in Better Call Saul season 6. Kim is instead resigned to a fate that matches her unique character arc after Better Call Saul claimed the lives of many of its characters, including Howard, Lalo, and Chuck McGill (Michael McKean). As proven by her emotional breakdown on the bus, her fate is undoubtedly worse than death because she must carry the burden of Howard’s murder on her conscience.
It would have been sloppy writing on the Better Call Saul writers’ side to just eliminate Kim. Instead, she has decided to accept a far more poetically sad fate that would see her compelled to spend the rest of her days in Florida without Jimmy, whom she still loves, and unable to practice law. Better Call Saul would not have had the brilliantly bittersweet conclusion in which Jimmy and Kim finally come to grips with their past transgressions if Kim hadn’t been allowed to meet Jimmy for one more time in prison.
