AsBetter Call Saulheaded into its homestretch, fans were abuzz with how the acclaimedBreaking Badprequel would end.
What would happen toSaul-only characters like Kim Wexler and Lalo Salamanca?
I talked to his wife, Naomi.
Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman in the final season, having returned to set after suffering a heart attack.Photographs: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
I spoke to Rhea Seehorn, and she was as upset as Ive ever heard anybody.
It was a great feeling of helplessness, of not knowing what was going to happen next.
He was in the room with Naomi and he said, Peter, I have nothing to do here.
yo send me a script so I can study up.
I know you dont like to send them too early.
And Naomi was off mic going, No, no, you dont send him anything!
And it felt so completely irrelevant, because its when you realize its just a fucking piece of entertainment.
That was an awful time.
Rosa Estrada was our medical advisor, and then she was in charge of all of our Covid stuff.
And because she was there, thats one of the reasons hes alive today.
That was the experience.
And then bit by bit, Id hear from him on the phone.
I hadnt seen him.
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And he prepares like crazy for those.
He knows all the dialogue.
He knows all the beats.
Hes worked with the other actors before he gets to the set.
We had to really think about how we were going to handle that.
I was in Albuquerque for when he came back.
I think he was more worried about what everybody else was feeling than anything about himself.
And its a miracle, but it was very emotional.
It was very tough for everybody.
Or if he could come back, but in a very limited way?Not really.
Most of our conversations were, What can we keep shooting right now?
And they were shooting the scene that comes immediately after Lalo has shot Howard.
Theres no rewriting to get around that.
Thats about all I can say.
We were ready to dump the whole thing.
I mean, I wasnt thinking about that.
It was too big to really kind of think it through.
Writing-wise, we didnt change a thing and we didnt have to.
The whole season was [filmed during] Covid.
Everythings going to be two, three people in a room.
You cant do this.
You cant do that.
We cant lower our standards or change the way the storys told because of this external circumstance.
We have to find a way around it.
So it was more about giving him breaks than giving him different material?Yeah.
And scheduling so that he didnt have too many consecutive big days.
Bob was the one, hed always say, Oh, I can stay.
I can stay a little longer to finish this.
How were Bob and Rhea doing at the end there?
They get to share their final scene together, and then the experience is over.
We all made speeches to the crew.
Were all wearing masks, making speeches with a microphone.
They did a fantastic job in that scene.
Theres very few words, but they found the beats, and I was so proud of it.
I was so excited by what we had done.
Also, I was directing.
It was just a really rough time as rough as it could be with everybody being a good person.
Shes a magical, magical person.
Shes so freaking smart about everything, and about people.
Shes just very perceptive, but also generous.
But I think everybody was mostly feeling good and we were proud of what wed done.
That was something I added as I was writing.
What excited me about that was the sadness of it and the ambiguity of it.
My hope and desire would be that the characters live on in the heads of the audience.
So, a little bit of ambiguity is good.
In my mind, I could go back and forth, depends on what day you ask me.
I find it hard to believe that shes done with him.
Hes in one of the most awful situations a human being can be in.
Now having shot in a real prison, its a dire, dire place.
Its just awful, and its terrible that we have to have them.
She knows hes there.
Text copyright 2025 Alan Sepinwall
