As Better Call Saul approaches its end, one of the most pressing questions remains—the fate of Lalo Salamanca. It was originally theorized that Lalo (Tony Dalton) could have survived his war with Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) in order to potentially reappear in the modern-day, black and white timeline that bookends the series. However, the mid-season finale of Better Call Saul season 6 makes it clear that the character has to die before the events of Breaking Bad for the events of that series to make sense.
Based off a single line in Breaking Bad, Lalo has become one of Better Call Saul's most striking and unnerving characters, due in large part to actor Tony Dalton's performance. The first half of season 6 showed Lalo escaping Gus's attempted assassination attempt, faking his own death by killing his body double, and setting in motion an elaborate revenge plot to bring down Gus's empire. In the Better Call Saul mid-season finale, Lalo returns to Jimmy McGill's (Bob Odenkirk) life with a horrific bang, appearing in his apartment unannounced and shooting Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian) dead.
It is clear that the feud between Lalo and Gus must end with one of them dead. Lalo already had his chance to escape and start a new life, and instead decided to return, looking for revenge. Both men have also shown throughout Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul how ruthless and absolute they are in taking care of loose ends. After everything that has transpired, it is hard to imagine the two of them working out a truce. And since clearly Gus survives to appear in Breaking Bad, that means Lalo must die.
Lalo surviving would also make it hard to explain much of Gus's actions in Breaking Bad. In Better Call Saul season 6 episode 7, Lalo spies on the massive meth "superlab" that Gus is building. A detail-obsessed man like Gus wouldn't continue doing business in a secret location that his most bitter enemy was clearly targeting. Gus also has a relaxed and confident demeanor throughout most of Breaking Bad that would seem strange if Lalo was still active. It also seems unlikely that Walter White would never encounter a living Lalo or at least be warned about him, given his interactions with the Salamanca family throughout the original series.
The death of Lalo would also fit perfectly into the themes and storytelling methods of Gilligan, Gould, and the other creators of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Throughout the series, the drug trade consumes and ultimately kills almost everyone involved in it, with the exception of Skyler White and a few other relative innocents. Even those who don't physically die often have their lives and identities destroyed, such as Jesse Pinkman and Saul himself. So Lalo escaping his violent life alive would be out of line with how the franchise has operated thus far.
It is clear that during the events of Breaking Bad, Saul believes Lalo to still be alive, or at least alive recently enough to send men after him. But Lalo's death would only make Saul's continued fear of him more thematically appropriate. Saul Goodman continually buries his past, changing his identity twice over the course of the Breaking Bad universe's timeline, but finds his history continuing to trouble him, as seen through his viewing of the old Saul Goodman video in the opening scene of Better Call Saul and his failed attempts to leave "Slippin' Jimmy" behind him. Living continually in fear of a dead man would perfectly fit how Saul's buried past haunts him. Lalo thus has to die before the end of Better Call Saul's main timeline and the start of Breaking Bad for both plot and thematic reasons.
Better Call Saul will return on July 11 for the second half of season 6.