‘Better Call Saul’ & ‘Breaking Bad’ Universe: The Characters’ Final Fates

Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk)

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Thanks to one wheelchair-bound old lady from Omaha — played by guest star Carol Burnett — the one-time Albuquerque underworld lawyer’s career on the run comes to an end in an Omaha dumpster. Facing decades behind bars for a litany of crimes, Goodman/Jimmy McGill/Gene Takavic almost strikes a generous plea deal with prosecutors but ends up intentionally taking a large fall. Now incarcerated for 86 years, king of the joint Saul has a one last meeting with lover Kim Wexler in the series finale where the duo seemingly bury the hatchet and their mutual crimes and traumas.
Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn)

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Having walked away from Saul and her legal career after Howard’s demise in the midseason finale, Kim has been wilting in boredom down in Florida and trying to put the risks and responsibilities of her old life behind her. A decision to come clean about the death of Howard and return to Albuquerque to give a deposition on what really went down finds her in the legal crosshairs in the series finale. At first betrayed by Saul Goodman in his attempt to make a plea deal, Kim witnesses her ex cook up one more court drama and absolve her of all liability. Now if only she can stay away from that legal aid clinic in the Sunshine State.
Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito)

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The fastidious, soft-spoken and likely OCD Los Pollos Hermanos owner and hands-off drug mastermind crosses the Salamancas hard and (barely) survives ‘Better Call Saul’ after a harrowing run-in with Lalo Salamanca. The “Chicken Man,” as the Salamancas derisively dub him, sees his influence grow exponentially but ultimately meets his well-dressed demise in a brilliantly executed suicide bombing by Hector Salamanca in Season 4, Episode 13 of ‘Breaking Bad.’
Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks)

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The tougher-than-nails doer of dirty deeds — and, often, subsequent “cleaner” — was employed as Gus Fring’s Head of Security and, later, by Saul Goodman. A notorious cheater of death — and, often, bringer of same — the ex-Philly cop is at the center of just about everything, but his number finally comes up when he’s shot dead by Walter White in Season 5, Episode 7 of ‘Breaking Bad.’
Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian)

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The Hamlin Hamlin & McGill partner is Jimmy McGill’s nemesis and later becomes the victim of a smear campaign by him and Kim Wexler that involves coke, hookers and more. He ultimately calls out the pair at their apartment but ends up in the worst place at the worst time — when a presumed-deceased Lalo Salamanca comes to call in Season 6, Episode 7 of ‘Better Call Saul.’
Nacho Varga (Michael Mando)

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A gangster with a soft spot for his overly honest father, Ignacio works for Hector Salamanca and later tries to kill but only disables him when the kingpin wants to use Dad’s shop as a front. Once he’s found out, myriad close calls are followed by a showdown with the Salamancas — but moments before his execution, Nacho snatches a gun and kills himself in Season 6, Episode 3 of ‘Better Call Saul.’
Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton)

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The wisecracking, grinning-but-badass nephew of Hector Salamanca –- and high-profile Saul Goodman client — discovers Gus Fring’s secret underground lab, survives a wild assassination attempt and becomes a one-man vengeance squad. After tracking down Nacho Varga and literally setting his sights on Fring, he appears to have the drop on “the Chicken Man” but ultimately takes a bullet from said fowl fellow in Season 6, Episode 8 of ‘Better Call Saul.’
Don Hector Salamanca (Mark Magolis)

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The cartel kingpin is making huge cash but runs afoul of underling Nacho Varga when he tries to use the store run by the latter’s father as a drug front. An assassination attempt leaves him able to communicate only by means of a small bell; when Gus Fring visits him at his care facility, Don Hector kills them both with a bomb in Season 4, Episode 13 of ‘Breaking Bad.’
Chuck McGill (Michael McKean)

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Once a respected partner at Hamlin Hamlin & McGill, Jimmy McGill’s older brother becomes a housebound recluse who’s convinced that he is “allergic” to electricity, can’t abide his kid brother’s antics and cuts ties with him. Entrapped by real or perceived electromagnetic hypersensitivity and needing to illuminate his home by lantern light, he dies after setting fire to his house in Season 4, Episode 1 of ‘Better Call Saul.’
Francesca Liddy (Tina Parker)

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What appeared to be a minor character — Saul Goodman’s often off-put secretary/receptionist — turned into a key player in the final episodes of ‘Better Call Saul.’ She went on to be a semi-willing participant in the oily attorney’s shenanigans and ultimately makes it through ‘Breaking Bad’; a flash-forward in Season 6, Episode 11 of ‘Saul’ shows that she covered for Goodman, took a payoff and survived.
Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul)

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An already bad-broken former student of Walter White, he is blackmailed into helping the now-terminally ill former high school chemistry teacher cook meth to help care for the latter’s family post-death. One of the main characters in ‘Breaking Bad,’ he makes a late-series appearance in ‘Better Call Saul,’ but his fate is finalized in the spinoff movie ‘El Camino’: He gets a new lease on life — in Alaska.
Walter White (Bryan Cranston)

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A meek high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, Walter White uses his lab skills to cook Grade A-plus meth, with a plan to sell it to provide for his family after his death. The main character of the mothership series becomes increasingly influential after perfecting his recipe, transforms into the respected and feared Heisenberg and dies in a fusillade of machine-gun fire in the Season 5, Episode 16 series finale of ‘Breaking Bad.’