What Happens After Better Call Saul? Why Jimmy & Kim’s Actors Disagree About The Ending (& Who Is Right)
Better Call Saul leaves Jimmy and Kim’s fates up in the air, and Rhea Seehorn and Bob Odenkirk disagree about whether they’ll see each other again.
The ending of Better Call Saul couldn’t have been more satisfying, but the ambiguity of what happens next has left even the show’s stars disagreeing. Better Call Saul follows the life of lawyer Saul Goodman both before and after the events of Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad has received countless accolades and is often regarded as one of the greatest crime series ever made. Better Call Saul somehow rivals it. However, there’s one big difference between Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. While Breaking Bad has a definitive ending and wraps up every character arc, Better Call Saul concludes somewhat ambiguously.
In Better Call Saul’s ending, Jimmy is finally thrown in jail for his affiliation with Heisenberg and is given an 86-year prison sentence. When he’s working in the prison kitchen, Jimmy gets a visit from Kim (Rhea Seehorn), who is pretending to be his lawyer. They share a cigarette, just like when Kim was introduced in the Better Call Saul pilot, and it feels like a true farewell. However, the show leaves whether Kim and Jimmy see each other again up in the air, and even Odenkirk and Seehorn have wildly different opinions on the matter.
Bob Odenkirk & Rhea Seehorn Disagree Over BCS’ Ending (& That’s The Point)
Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn disagree over what happens after Better Call Saul. Seehorn believes that Jimmy and Kim reunite. During an interview with Vulture, she explained, “I’m going to say she comes back because I’m a hopeless romantic. I don’t think she becomes the Kim she used to be. But you do see her begin to practice law again.” She also suggested Kim might “find a way to reduce” Jimmy’s sentence. Meanwhile, Odenkirk believes they never see each other again. He told Vulture, “I just think it really is a goodbye. The word that comes to mind when I think about the journey of that final episode is surrender.”
Whether Jimmy and Kim reunite will never be answered, and viewers having different opinions is exactly the point. Just as the writers left Jesse’s ending up to interpretation in El Camino, they intentionally made the ending of Better Call Saul ambiguous. Whatever the audience wants to believe is exactly what happens. While viewers might want more closure than that, the ending wouldn’t be as satisfying or widely discussed if it was definitive. It also wouldn’t fit as well with the story. Although Better Call Saul has seemed fantastical at times, its ambiguous ending fits with the realistic and heartbreaking themes of the show.
Bob Odenkirk’s Better Call Saul Ending Theory Is Probably Right
Ultimately, there’s no way Jimmy and Kim can reunite outside of prison, as Jimmy was given an 86-year sentence in the Better Call Saul finale. Seehorn’s suggestion that Kim will find a way to reduce his prison time doesn’t work, either. While the Better Call Saul finale plays fast and loose with legal procedures, there’s no plausible way to reduce Jimmy’s sentence, as he confessed to everything in court. Additionally, even cutting Jimmy’s sentence in half wouldn’t free him until he’s in his 90s.
Sadly, this means Jimmy will almost definitely die in prison. If Kim wants to visit him again, she’ll have to pretend to be his lawyer to get access. This isn’t possible, as Kim no longer wants to break the law or participate in schemes. Plus, Kim was lucky to get away with this lie the first time around. Eventually, her lack of credentials would raise suspicions. Kim would get herself and Jimmy into trouble, and she’d potentially be thrown in jail, something she only narrowly avoided during Better Call Saul season 6.
With all of that in mind, Odenkirk is probably right about Better Call Saul’s ending. Pretending to be Jimmy’s lawyer is likely Kim’s final scheme, and the shared look between the two characters represents a definitive goodbye. This might be the best thing for both characters, as the couple motivates one another to engage in risky behavior and life-ruining pranks. They’ll also feel more pain interacting when they know Jimmy will never actually be free. These are all good reasons for Kim to stay away, and she did so successfully before the Better Call Saul finale.
Of course, not everyone needs to buy into this interpretation of the finale. Better Call Saul leaves Jimmy and Kim’s fates open intentionally. The series doesn’t leave much room for sequels or spinoffs, but it does allow the audience to leave it with an open mind. That’s precisely why Odenkirk and Reehorn have their own beliefs about where things are headed. Even if Odenkirk’s seems like the more realistic outcome for Jimmy and Kim, anything can happen in the Breaking Bad universe.
