Its hard to envision AMC’s “Better Call Saul” without Rhea Seehorn and her complex, beloved character, Kim Wexler. Over the past five seasons, Kim has gone from a by-the-books, hard-nosed lawyer to Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk)’s partner in chicanery — and life. Whether she’s a dedicated, caring lawyer trying to do the right thing for her client, falling hard for Jimmy as he turns himself into the ambulance-chasing Saul Goodman, or setting her hopes on some scheme they’ve teamed up to pull off, Kim has succeeded in captivating the audience. And Seehorn’s work has been exemplary enough to garner her two Screen Actor’s Guild nominations and one Television Critic’s Association Award (per IMDb).
Surprisingly, though, it turns out that Seehorn actually had concerns about the part when she first took it on. This, in spite of her acclaimed work in the role? Yes, and thanks to a recent interview, we now know more precisely why she was worried about playing Kim.
Rhea Seehorn had no idea if her role would last beyond the show’s first few episodes
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In an interview with TV Guide, Seehorn explained that had no idea, when she joined up with the “Better Call Saul” crew, that Kim would become the series linchpin that she is now.
“I spent the first couple of episodes praying that I’m not dead in the next episode,” she confessed. The actress then indicated she had no idea how long the role would last. “They didn’t come to me and say, ‘She’s going to turn out to be the girlfriend and the love interest, and appear to be a moral compass, and then be way more complex than we ever thought and have these dark sides,'” Seehorn said.
Of course, it’s worth mentioning that according to a 2020 Rolling Stone article, it was the strength of Seehorn’s performance that had a lot to do with her role on “Saul” growing. A small, subtle smile in Episode 4 of Season 1 of the show set a fresh course for her character: Seehorn had made a choice in playing Kim as attracted to Jimmy because of his wild schemes, versus the more obvious choice of adoring him but hating his rule-breaking tendencies. “The way she played it just felt so right that it gave us a strong feeling for where we were going with her,” co-creator Peter Gould told Rolling Stone. A 2020 Vulture article further expands upon how Kim’s taking on shades of grey broadened the character’s purpose, as Vince Gilligan told the outlet that Seehorn’s work was so good that it “allow(ed) us to do things we never saw coming. She continued to wow us week in and week out until suddenly you say, God, what would this show be without her character?”
