Better Call Saul star Rhea Seehorn thought Kim Wexler would die at first. Given the Breaking Bad prequel's timeline, it was always safe to assume that the close confidant for Bob Odenkirk's Jimmy McGill would not survive the events of the show. And then on top of that, the sense of dread was ratcheted up during the later seasons of Better Call Saul when Kim crosses paths with the cold-blooded killer and cartel leader Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) numerous times.
During a recent interview with Empire magazine for their February 2023 issue, Seehorn revealed that even she expected a dark fate for Kim. From the moment she was introduced in episode 1, the Better Call Saul star thought that Kim would die. Even as the character "started having storylines that weren't just ancillary to Jimmy," such as Mesa Verde and Gatwood Oil, Seehorn still didn't want to get her hopes up in case Kim was headed towards an early grave. 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.
Why Kim Couldn't Die In Better Call Saul
As revealed by Better Call Saul season 6, Kim does not die and is living in Florida during the events of Breaking Bad. Racked with guilt over how her and Jimmy's actions resulted in the death of Howard Hamlin (Patrick Hamlin), Kim relinquishes her law license and leaves Jimmy, deciding they are too destructive as a couple. The decision spurs on Jimmy's transformation into his Saul Goodman persona as a coping mechanism for the heartbreak.
After Better Call Saul season 6's time-jump, it is revealed that Kim has been living a modest life in Florida at a sprinkler manufacturer. With Better Call Saul claiming the lives of so many of its characters such as Howard, Lalo, and Chuck McGill (Michael McKean), Kim is instead resigned to a fate that better fits her particular character arc. Her fate is arguably worse than death, as she must live with the weight of Howard's death on her conscience, evidenced by her emotional breakdown on the bus.
Simply killing Kim off would have been lazy writing on part of the Better Call Saul creative team. Instead, she is resigned to a much more poetically tragic fate, forced to live out her days in Florida, unable to practice law and without Jimmy, whom she still loves. If Kim had died, she would have been unable to reunite with Jimmy in prison for one last time, thus robbing Better Call Saul of its perfectly bittersweet ending in which the two ultimately come to terms with the sins of their past.
Source: Empire