After the wild success of Break bad, it was deemed almost impossible for Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould and the rest of their crew to catch lightning in a bottle for the second time. Despite the odds, fans were gifted You better call Saul, which is thought to not only carry the torch, but even surpass its predecessor in certain areas, while redefining traditional legal drama at the same time. A prequel to the team’s previous AMC program, the fan-favorite drama features a good chunk of it Break bad alumni, as well as many new faces who brought in-demand backstories and add context to a world viewers have already been sucked into.
Having recently been named TV Guide’s “Best TV Show of 2022” and nominated for several Critic’s Choice Awards, now is a good time to look back at the cast and characters that helped bring it to life. of the critically acclaimed show.
Jimmy McGill / Saul Goodman / Gene Takovic (Bob Odenkirk)
A man of many personas and even more tacky suits, Jimmy McGill grew up on the streets of Cicero, Illinois, where he made a habit of running low-level street scams. After finally being bailed out of jail by his brother and respected lawyer Charles McGill, Jimmy agrees to work in the mailroom of his brother’s company, HHM.
He later practiced law on his own and was heavily criticized by colleagues for his sense of “showmanship” and moral flexibility, Bob OdenkirkThe character’s range is on full display as viewers watch Jimmy slip into his new persona Saul Goodman, a brand change/tragic coping mechanism. After the events of Break bad turns out, Jimmy goes into hiding and takes on yet another name, Gene Takovic, working at a food court Cinnabon in a Nebraskan mall as he anxiously awaits the day when his luck finally runs out.
Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn)
Kim Wexler, a highly intelligent and hard-working attorney, started out in the mailroom at HHM and showed great promise as she passed the bar and rose through the ranks. Growing up in a small town with an indifferent mother, Kim soon became her own parent and vowed never to let herself live a meaningless life where she can’t make a difference.
After meeting Jimmy in the mailroom, the two began a friendship that would later blossom into love as they forged an incredibly close bond. Of Rhea SeehornKim’s expert performance, Kim’s journey of wanting to help others and being by Jimmy’s side through the good and the very, very bad is one of heavy emotion, but provides some of the most heartwarming scenes in the series.
Mike EhrmantrautJonathan Banks
Few people can track down Mike Ehrmantraut, the retired dirty Philadelphia cop turned Albuquerque hit man. Fans are allowed to operate a courthouse toll booth at the start of the series Break bad favorite Jonathan Banks reprises his role from an earlier point in the character’s life, as he succumbs to the pressure he feels to provide for his family by taking on less-than-legal extracurricular activities.
Mike can’t face his pent-up emotions over the tragic loss of his son and the self-blame that comes with it. “Probably threatened someone before breakfast.” A man of few words, “The Cleaner” always stays one step ahead of the crooks he faces, at least until a local fried chicken restaurateur and would-be employer sends him running for his money.
Ignacio “Nacho” Varga (Michael Mando)
While he may seem like a cold-blooded cartel member on the surface, the more time viewers spend with Ignacio Varga, known as “Nacho,” the more his unfortunate story becomes apparent. Nacho teams up with the notorious Salamanca crime family to sell drugs and begins to resent his colleagues’ unpredictable and self-destructive nature, especially when it seems his law-abiding father’s safety is being compromised due to his criminal associations.
Michael Mando plays Varga with a quiet, methodical intelligence as he and Mike Ehrmantraut conspire against the Salamancas from within, hoping to save himself and his father from their tyrannical control. But the more the young drug peddler tries to get out, the more he’s drawn back in, eventually forced to be a puppet for more than one crazed meth kingpin.
Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian)
Often found under the thumb of Charles McGill, a fellow partner at the law firm of HHM, Howard Hamlin can be seen as the antithesis of Jimmy McGill, despite both of them practicing the same profession. Where Jimmy works out of a nail salon and isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, Howard is wildly successful and keeps his firm, as well as his personal morality, at a high level.
Howard, a cufflinks and coffee kind of guy, was let into his firm by his father, deciding it was safer than becoming a lawyer on his own. Always living a life under the watchful eyes of those he looks up to, there is a hint of remorse in the lawyer’s demeanor, subtly intertwined by Patrick Fabianand a sense of wanting to do what’s right for everyone, even if it doesn’t always seem that way.
Gustavo FringGiancarlo Esposito
Revenge is the gray fuel that propels Gustavo “Gus” Fring, a Chilean-American restaurant owner/drug kingpin. Having started his restaurant Los Pollos Hermanos and his drug business with his former partner Max years before, the duo had managed to secure a meeting with the head of the cartel, Don Eladio. Unfortunately for both of them, only Gus left that day, with a savage inhuman desire for revenge.
After his partner was killed by Hector Salamanca, Fring would quietly build his drug empire for the next two decades, waiting patiently for his chance to destroy the Salamanca family and leave Hector for the last. Giancarlo Esposito commands attention in every scene, with Gus’ calculated and distinguished approach defining his character, both in the world of restaurants and violent crime.
Charles McGill (Michael McKean)
One of the most respected and admired attorneys among his peers, the name Charles “Chuck” McGill carries a lot of weight, perhaps most for his brother. Chuck has helped Jimmy out of legal trouble in the past and always assumes the worst when it comes to his sibling, despite his little brother just wanting respect.
The public loves to hate Michael McKean for while he may rightfully call out Jimmy for his theatrical and absurd antics to gain attention, his manner is despicably condescending and shows a deep jealousy of his little brother’s ability to reach people on a personal level. The elder McGill has also recently begun to suffer from self-diagnosed “electromagnetic hypersensitivity”, rendering him unable to work or live near electronic devices, falling deeper into his anti-social tendencies. Chuck is an incredibly complicated character for McKean, who is best known as a comedic actor in Christopher Guest mockumentaries.
Eduardo “Lalo” Salamanca (Tony Dalton)
While he may be the newest addition to the main cast, once Eduardo “Lalo” Salamanca appears, it’s almost impossible to imagine the show without him. After notorious drug kingpin Hector Salamanca suffers a stroke that leaves him confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak, Lalo is the next Salamanca in line to watch over the family business. While he’s a bit cooler than his relatives, it’s his laughing demeanor that makes the murderous cartel boss all the more creepy.
Lalo draws Jimmy McGill with fear as a motivator and is able to evade criminal offenses while working, setting his sights on his rival, Gustavo Fring. The pleasure of watching Tony Dalton‘s performance as a gleeful yet conniving killer is unparalleled as he slowly uncovers the covert lab operation of Fring, the only person to ever truly instill fear in the ‘Chicken Man’, and puts into action some of the show’s most intense storylines.