Better Call Saul season 6: release date and everything else we know

Unlike its predecessor, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul didn't immediately catch fire with its debut season. A slow-burning character study based in twisty legal drama, the show charts the rise (or fall) of Bob Odenkirk's Jimmy McGill from diligent lawyer to morally-corrupt defense attorney Saul Goodman.

Over five excellent seasons, though, Better Call Saul has proven itself a worthy successor to the series that spawned it – with many even praising it as a superior piece of television. In our, book, at least, it's certainly one of the best Netflix shows.

Now, fans have been waiting a while for Better Call Saul season 6 – and if you've been paying attention to the news lately, you'll no doubt have noticed that a big event affected the production of the show in 2021. Star Bob Odenkirk sadly suffered a heart attack during filming and collapsed. He's subsequently recovered, however, which is great news, and filming resumed in September last year. Netflix has since shared a release date for Better Call Saul season 6, too, which you'll find below.  

Co-creator Peter Gould and the show's writers spent five years carefully developing each complex character, and now the stories of Jimmy, Kim, and the drug kingpins of New Mexico are ready to reach their climax. Speaking to Deadline, Gould says Better Call Saul season 6 is “going to be big, and it’s going to be resolved.” The co-creator has since provided more story hints to tide us over – again, you'll find more on that below. 

We already have a few clues as to who will survive, at least. As he plays a role in Breaking Bad, set six years after the prequel starts, it's essentially confirmed that Jimmy ‘Saul Goodman’ McGill is safe, but there are plenty of characters that are ripe for the chop. So let's get to it and break down what we know about the Better Call Saul season 6 release date, cast, and story. Be warned, season 5 spoilers follow.

Better Call Saul season 6 release date

After much speculation, Better Call Season 6 has finally been given an official release date. Like Money Heist and Ozark before it, the 13-episode climax will be split into two parts, with the first two entries arriving on April 19, 2022. The first half's next five episodes will arrive weekly after that, followed by a final run of six episodes beginning on July 12. 

We know filming has wrapped on season 6, too, after star Bob Odenkirk shared the below tweet, saying he feels "honored to have been part of [the show]." 

Better Call Saul season 6 story: who will survive?

The season 5 finale set up two major storylines: Kim against Howard Hamlin, and Lalo Salamanca versus, well, everyone. In the final scene we left Lalo fuming with rage after Gus’ failed assassination attempt. With his house ablaze and mother dead, “Lalo has vengeance in his eyes and is heading north for revenge,” Tony Dalton told the LA Times. We know Lalo survives, though, since we recall Goodman’s terrified line to Walter White in Breaking Bad: “Did Lalo send you?”

One of the men with a target on his back is Nacho Varga, and Gould told The Wrap he’s “in deep, deep trouble.” Nacho disappears during the assassination, and the extended shot of Lalo fixating on the drinks he shared with Varga moments earlier confirms that he suspects his former colleague’s involvement. Nacho never appears in Breaking Bad, so don’t bet on him making it out alive.

Another central Better Call Saul character missing in Breaking Bad is Jimmy’s wife, Kim Wexler, and she doesn’t seem to be on a danger-free path either. After standing up to Lalo - so she has one foot in the grave already - it seems like the taciturn attorney is getting a taste for chaos: she wants to scam goody-two-shoes Howard out of his illustrious legal career, making the newlyweds millions. 

Gould is also concerned for Wexler: in an interview with The Wrap, he says “The title of the penultimate episode this season was Bad Choice Road. And, certainly, Kim Wexler seems to be on a bad choice road.” In a virtual Deadline panel, Rhea Seehorn reflected on her time on the show so far, explaining that playing Kim was more complex than just "one giant arc of this mask coming off" as her backstory interweaves with Jimmy's present. But while Seehorn claimed to not know where her story is going yet, Gould said "We have a lot of ideas."

In many ways, the roles of Kim and Jimmy have reversed. Following ‘Saul Goodman’s’ near-death experience in the desert, he’s reverted back to the unsure Jimmy McGill. Speaking to Deadline, Bob Odenkirk said “Jimmy is in a vulnerable place. He’s in a weak and uncertain and frightened place inside.”

We know that McGill makes it through Better Call Saul season 6, but will it be worth it? “He is an accessory to just awful, awful things, not just in the Walter White of it, but all the other things that he’s done,” Gould said to Deadline. “I feel that he has a karmic burden. Does this guy earn a happy ending?”

While Gould is naturally keen to keep the upcoming story threads under wraps, he did highlight the kinds of questions we should be asking with EW, pointing us in the direction of season 6's major preoccupations. First is Gene Takovic, McGill's alter ego we see in black-and-white flash-forwards at the beginning of each season. Gould encourages us to consider "What does this man deserve?" as much as " What's going to happen to him?"

Then, when asked for a final cryptic hint, he says we should "Keep your eye on the bottle stopper" Kim took from her office as she resigned her job as a lawyer at Schweikart & Cokely. It's hard to know what he's getting at, but this will certainly be reveal as the complex machinations of season 6 come to a head.

Better Call Saul cast: will more Breaking Bad characters return?

Better Call Saul wouldn’t exist without the man himself, so Odenkirk will return as Goodman. The Better Call Saul season 6 cast list isn’t confirmed, but we’ll certainly see more from Rhea Seehorn (Kim Wexler), Jonathan Banks (Mike Ehrmantraut), Patrick Fabian (Howard Hamlin), Micheal Mando (Nacho Varga), Giancarlo Esposito (Gus Fring), and Tony Dalton (Lalo Salamanca).

But while Gould has already confirmed that we won’t see Jesse (Aaron Paul) or Walter (Bryan Cranston), could we see any other Breaking Bad cameos? We were already treated to the return of Hank (Dean Norris) and his DEA buddy, Steven (Steven Michael Quezada) in season 5...

Will Better Call Saul season 6 outshine Breaking Bad?

Having gained momentum with every season since its 2015 debut, Better Call Saul is now considered a supreme example of how to successfully produce a serialised spin-off that matches  (and occasionally surpasses) the quality of its predecessor. 

Not every Breaking Bad fan returned for more content in this universe. But, as a series that Empire ranked at number 27 on its list of The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, Better Call Saul is an undeniably worthy successor to its trailblazing source material. 

What’s more, Breaking Bad ended after just five seasons – with Better Call Saul season 6, this once-prequel show will exist as a spin-off in name only.

As for what others shows might fill the Bob Odenkirk-shaped hole in your life after Better Call Saul ends in July, Apple TV Plus' The Mosquito Coast and Netflix stablemate Ozark – which ends “later in 2022” – seem like good places to start. 

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