Breaking Bad es una franquicia de drama criminal neo-western creada por el cineasta estadounidense Vince Gilligan , basada principalmente en la serie de televisión Breaking Bad (2008-13), su serie de precuelas / secuelas , Better Call Saul (2015-22), y su película secuela, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019), así como otros tipos de medios. La siguiente es una lista abreviada de personajes de las tres.
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Walter Hartwell White (también conocido por su alias Heisenberg ) (interpretado por Bryan Cranston ) es un profesor de química de secundaria sobrecalificado de Albuquerque, Nuevo México . Después de que le diagnosticaran cáncer de pulmón, comienza a fabricar metanfetamina para mantener a su familia después de su muerte. Sin saber nada sobre el tráfico de drogas, solicita la ayuda de su ex alumno, Jesse Pinkman, para vender la metanfetamina que produce. El conocimiento científico de Walter y su dedicación a la calidad lo llevan a producir metanfetamina cristalina que es más pura y más potente que la de cualquier competidor. Para evitar la tediosa recolección de pseudoefedrina necesaria para la producción, Walter diseña un proceso químico alternativo que utiliza metilamina , lo que le da a su producto un color azul distintivo. Su metanfetamina, que recibe el nombre callejero de "Blue Sky", domina el mercado, lo que lleva a enfrentamientos con fabricantes y distribuidores de drogas establecidos.
Walter se opone inicialmente al uso de la violencia, pero poco a poco llega a verla como una necesidad. También llega a encontrar psicológicamente gratificante su nuevo estatus como capo de la droga , lo que le lleva a estar cada vez más dispuesto a recurrir a actos delictivos como el robo, la extorsión , el blanqueo de dinero , la indiferencia depravada y el asesinato. El descenso de Walter, al estilo de Macbeth , [1] al submundo criminal desentierra inmensos niveles de ambición profundamente reprimida, rabia, resentimiento, vanidad y una creciente crueldad que lo aleja de su familia y colegas.
Skyler White ( née Lambert ) (interpretada por Anna Gunn ) es la esposa de Walter. Ha tenido varias fuentes de ingresos exiguas: escribir cuentos, vender artículos en eBay , trabajar como contable y, en última instancia, ayudar a su esposo a lavar dinero . Skyler y Walter tienen un hijo, Walter Jr., y una hija pequeña, Holly. El matrimonio de Skyler y Walt se vuelve cada vez más tenso debido a sus ausencias inexplicables y su comportamiento extraño, lo que finalmente conduce a su separación. En la temporada 3, ella deduce que Walter es un traficante de drogas y decide divorciarse de él y mantenerlo alejado de sus hijos. Sin embargo, cuando Walter le implora que comprenda sus razones para fabricar metanfetamina, Skyler cede en su oposición a su presencia dentro de su hogar. También comienza a involucrarse en la vida criminal de Walter, usando su dinero para pagar las facturas médicas de su cuñado Hank después de un ataque a su vida. Después de conocer a Saul Goodman, Skyler urde un plan para blanquear el dinero de Walter a través de un lavadero de autos en el que había trabajado recientemente a tiempo parcial. El plan tiene éxito y, en las temporadas 4 y 5, Skyler blanquea el dinero de Walter a través del lavadero de autos, aunque sigue estando profundamente descontenta con su situación. En las últimas 2 temporadas, le tiene cada vez más miedo a Walter, dado que poco a poco se está convirtiendo en un criminal más empedernido. Después de que Walter mata a Gus Fring, los temores de Skyler se hacen realidad y ella intenta distanciar a sus hijos de ella y Walter, organizando un intento de suicidio para que Hank y su hermana Marie los acojan temporalmente. Ella le dice a Walter que será una socia cómplice en cualquier capacidad siempre que sus hijos no vivan con ellos. Cuando Walter abandona el negocio de las drogas, él y Skyler comienzan a reconstruir su relación y su vida familiar hasta que Hank descubre que Walt es Heisenberg. En el episodio "Buried", el cuñado de Skyler, Hank , le dice que está tras Walt pero que necesita su ayuda para proporcionar pruebas suficientes para construir un caso exitoso. Skyler responde que necesita un abogado y luego le dice a Walt que deben permanecer en silencio. Cuando Hank es asesinado, ella y Walter pelean, y él secuestra a Holly. Walter usa esto como una oportunidad para exonerar a Skyler ante los ojos de la ley, absolviéndola de cualquier complicidad durante sus operaciones de drogas. Se le permite quedarse con sus hijos; sin embargo, se le dice que debe encontrar información valiosa para que las autoridades la usen en contra de Walter. En el final de la serie, Walter visita a Skyler por última vez, admitiendo que su negocio de metanfetamina era para él y no para la familia; le proporciona las coordenadas del paradero de Hank y Steve Gomez, implorándole que las use como escape de su terrible experiencia.
En el episodio " Breaking Bad " de Better Call Saul , se menciona que Skyler consiguió un acuerdo de culpabilidad exitoso con los fiscales.
Jesse Bruce Pinkman (interpretado por Aaron Paul ) es un consumidor, fabricante y distribuidor de metanfetaminas de poca monta. En la escuela secundaria, era un estudiante indiferente en la clase de química de Walter White. Ahora, a mediados de sus 20 años, Jesse es el socio comercial de Walt en el tráfico de metanfetaminas. Jesse es impulsivo, hedonista y sin educación más allá de la escuela secundaria, pero es ambicioso financieramente y astuto. Habla en jerga juguetona, le gusta usar ropa llamativa que sigue las últimas tendencias en la cultura juvenil, juega videojuegos, escucha música rap y rock, toma drogas recreativas y conduce lowriders . Walt trata a Jesse como un hijo tonto que necesita constantemente una corrección severa. La propia familia de Jesse lo echó de su casa debido a su consumo de drogas. A pesar de la fricción entre ellos, él y Walt tienen un profundo vínculo de lealtad. Como resultado de su relación con Walt, Jesse se convierte en un excelente cocinero de metanfetamina, lo que finalmente lleva a otros a explotarlo. A pesar de su estilo de vida criminal, Jesse es mucho más empático que Walt. Está horrorizado por la brutalidad en los niveles más altos del tráfico de drogas, particularmente durante las últimas temporadas, pero sigue involucrado con Walt por necesidad y lealtad. Es muy protector con los niños; su deseo de mantenerlos fuera del violento mundo de las drogas da lugar a varios eventos clave a lo largo de la serie. Lucha con sentimientos de culpa por las muertes, todas relacionadas con las drogas, de personas con las que ha estado asociado. Hacia el final de la quinta temporada, se siente abrumado por la culpa y su "dinero ensangrentado". Al darse cuenta de cuánto dolor ha causado por dinero, intenta dar fajos de efectivo de su pago final a personas que conoce y luego arrojarlos desde la ventanilla de su automóvil a jardines y porches al azar. En El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie , Jesse parte hacia una nueva vida en Alaska .
Henry R. Schrader (interpretado por Dean Norris ) es el cuñado de Walt y Skyler y el esposo de Marie, que trabaja como agente de la Administración de Control de Drogas de Estados Unidos (DEA). Está involucrado en la investigación de un traficante de metanfetamina conocido como "Heisenberg", sin saber durante más de un año que su presa es en realidad Walter. Hank tiene un exterior arrogante, pero en realidad el lado oscuro de su trabajo lo afecta más de lo que le gustaría admitir, lo que lo lleva a sufrir ansiedad y estrés postraumático. En el transcurso de su trabajo, Hank es promovido a El Paso, Texas desde Albuquerque por un corto tiempo, pero experimenta un evento traumático y regresa a Albuquerque. A pesar de su temeridad, Hank es muy competente en su trabajo y se preocupa profundamente por su familia. Hank finalmente es promovido a Agente Especial Asistente a Cargo de la DEA en Albuquerque, pero aún está decidido a resolver el caso "Heisenberg", lo que finalmente conduce a su desaparición.
Hank también tuvo apariciones especiales en la quinta temporada de Better Call Saul . Cuando Domingo "Krazy-8" Molina es arrestado, Jimmy McGill negocia con Hank para convertir a Domingo en su informante confidencial , lo que le permite a Lalo Salamanca proporcionar información sobre las operaciones de Gus Fring a la DEA.
Marie Schrader ( née Lambert ) (interpretada por Betsy Brandt ) es la hermana de Skyler, la esposa de Hank y la cuñada de Walt. Marie trabaja como tecnóloga radiológica . No duda en ofrecer consejos a los demás, pero a menudo no practica lo que predica. Roba en las tiendas de forma compulsiva (al parecer, un síntoma manifiesto de cleptomanía) , un comportamiento por el que acude a un terapeuta. Parece egocéntrica y superficial, pero se preocupa profundamente por su marido y la familia de su hermana. Casi todos los artículos de su hogar y su ropa son de tonos de color púrpura.
En la temporada 3, Marie se convierte en una importante fuente de consuelo y apoyo para Hank, cuando los primos le disparan y casi lo matan. Con la ayuda de Walt y Skyler, ella organiza que Hank se someta a un programa de fisioterapia agresivo que su seguro no cubre. Cuando Hank decide obstinadamente quedarse en el hospital, alegando que está completamente discapacitado, ella se niega a darse por vencida y le hace una paja para demostrar que todavía tiene sensibilidad de cintura para abajo. Sin embargo, cuando regresa a casa, Hank sigue siendo frío y descarado, a pesar de sus intentos de hacerlo sentir cómodo, y Marie vuelve a caer en la cleptomanía. Una vez que Hank avanza con el caso, su relación con Marie mejora nuevamente. Cuando Walt y Skyler tienen problemas matrimoniales, ella acoge a sus hijos durante un par de días a pedido de Skyler mientras resuelven las cosas.
En la temporada final, Hank le cuenta a Marie sobre las actividades criminales de Walter, y Marie confronta a Skyler. Cuando se entera de que Skyler sabía la verdad antes del tiroteo de Hank, Marie abofetea a su hermana y sale furiosa de la habitación. Intenta llevarse a Holly con ella, pero Hank le ordena que devuelva al bebé. Luego insta a Hank a capturar a Walter. Marie ayuda a Hank a tratar de detener a Walt y Skyler, pero Walt los frustra cuando hace un DVD enmarcando y chantajeando a Hank. Marie se ofrece con entusiasmo a ayudar a Hank cuando Jesse acepta confesar sobre los crímenes de Walt. Inicialmente, no sabe que Hank está muerto y se reconcilia con Skyler con la condición de que este último le cuente todo a Walt Jr. Marie se entera de que Hank está desaparecido cuando Walt secuestra a Holly y finalmente recibe la confirmación de que ha muerto. Más tarde se la ve dos meses después en su casa, advirtiendo a Skyler que tenga cuidado con Walt.
Marie reaparece en el final de la serie Better Call Saul , presente como testigo en el juicio de Saul Goodman. Antes del juicio, castiga a Saul por su papel en los crímenes de Walt y las muertes de Hank y Steve, pero Saul afirma haber sido obligado a trabajar para Walt bajo amenaza de muerte. Saul luego cambia de opinión durante el juicio al admitir que ayudó voluntariamente a Walt a expandir su imperio criminal.
Walter Hartwell White Jr. (interpretado por RJ Mitte ) es el hijo adolescente de Walter y Skyler y el hermano mayor de Holly. Tiene parálisis cerebral , que se manifiesta en dificultades del habla y un control motor deteriorado, para lo cual usa muletas (que Mitte, que tiene una variación más leve de parálisis cerebral, no requiere [2] ). Enfadado por las constantes peleas de sus padres, Walter Jr. intenta establecer una identidad independiente, insistiendo en que lo llamen Flynn y pidiéndole a su mejor amigo Louis que le enseñe a conducir. Cuando descubre que Walt tiene cáncer, Walter Jr. cambia su actitud y crea un sitio web, "www.savewalterwhite.com", que solicita y recauda donaciones en un esfuerzo por ayudar a pagar el tratamiento contra el cáncer de Walt. El abogado de Walt, Saul Goodman, organiza una ola de "donaciones" ficticias extraídas del dinero de la droga de Walter, con el fin de blanquearlo y también hacer que los esfuerzos de Walter Jr. parezcan exitosos. Cuando Skyler y Walt se separan, Walter Jr., sin ninguna explicación por parte de ninguno de los padres, solo ve que su madre ha (desde su punto de vista) echado inexplicablemente de la casa a su padre enfermo terminal, y se pone del lado de su padre y deja de responder al nombre de Flynn. Al llegar siempre "tarde al juego" (como lo define Mitte en un episodio de Talking Bad ), Walter Jr. permanece ajeno a la vida de narcotraficante de su padre hasta " Ozymandias ", cuando Marie, segura de que Walt está bajo la custodia de Hank, obliga a Skyler a revelar toda la verdad a su hijo. Al enterarse de la conexión de su padre con la muerte de Hank, Walter Jr. concluye erróneamente que Walt mató a Hank. Sintiéndose traicionado, Jr. llama al 911 cuando Walt se defiende del ataque con cuchillo de Skyler, lo que obliga a Walt a irse y finalmente terminar en la lista de los más buscados . En " Granite State ", Walt intenta hablar con él por teléfono y pedirle que recupere los 100.000 dólares que Walt planeaba enviar a la dirección de Louis; sin embargo, Walter Jr. se niega enojado y cuelga. En " Felina ", Walt visita a Skyler por última vez y observa desde lejos cómo Walter Jr. regresa a la casa segura desde la escuela.
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Gustavo Fring (interpretado por Giancarlo Esposito ) es el propietario nacido en Chile de Los Pollos Hermanos , una cadena de restaurantes de pollo frito de gran éxito. También es un promotor público de la oficina local de la DEA y miembro de la junta del hospital. A pesar de las apariencias externas, Gus es un importante capo de la droga inicialmente afiliado al cartel de la droga mexicano en Ciudad Juárez, que usa sus restaurantes como fachada para la distribución de metanfetamina en todo el suroeste de Estados Unidos , con el apoyo de los propietarios corporativos de Los Pollos, Madrigal Electromotive. Al igual que Walter White , Gus es un criminal que "se esconde a plena vista", utilizando su filantropía antidrogas para ocultar su verdadera naturaleza.
Como se muestra en un flashback en el episodio de Breaking Bad " Hermanos ", Gus y su socio comercial/romántico Maximino Arciniega se habían acercado al cartel con la oferta de producir y vender metanfetamina para el cartel, pero Don Eladio hizo que Héctor Salamanca matara a Max como castigo por ir a espaldas de Eladio, luego obligó a Gus a participar en la distribución de cocaína del cartel. Al emigrar a los Estados Unidos, Gus parecía consentido, pero en secreto conspiró para vengarse y eliminar su dependencia del cartel produciendo su propia metanfetamina a través de un "súper laboratorio" escondido debajo de una lavandería industrial.
Durante los eventos de Better Call Saul , Gus se alía con Mike cuando Mike encuentra a su propia familia en riesgo por los Salamanca, y convierte a Nacho en un topo dentro de la organización Salamanca después de descubrir que Nacho causó que Héctor tuviera un derrame cerebral al reemplazar secretamente la medicación para el corazón de Héctor con falsificaciones. Queriendo ser el agente de la muerte de Héctor, Gus paga por la recuperación de Héctor, pero solo hasta el punto en que haya recuperado sus facultades mentales y pueda mover su dedo índice derecho. Gus se apodera de más del tráfico de drogas de los Salamanca, pero cuando el cartel envía a Lalo para reemplazar a Héctor, Gus se ve obligado a hacer sacrificios para proteger el laboratorio de metanfetamina en desarrollo y el estado de Nacho como su topo. Gus organiza un intento de asesinato contra Lalo, pero Lalo sobrevive en secreto y comienza a buscar evidencia de la culpabilidad de Gus. Gus se da cuenta de que Lalo está vivo y toma medidas de seguridad extremas para protegerse. Finalmente mata a Lalo en un tiroteo en el sitio de construcción del laboratorio y lo entierra (a él y a Howard Hamlin ) debajo de los cimientos del laboratorio.
En los eventos de Breaking Bad , Gus produce y distribuye metanfetamina en lugar de cocaína, pero aún busca independizarse del cartel. Ha completado el súper laboratorio y planea que Gale sea su cocinero, pero cuando descubre la calidad superior de la metanfetamina azul de Walter, contrata a Walter y, de mala gana, permite que Jesse sirva como asistente de Walter. Esto conduce a una serie de enfrentamientos y peleas que culminan con Jesse matando a Gale por instigación de Walter, salvando la vida de Walter al hacerlo irreemplazable para Gus. La relación entre Jesse y Walter falla como resultado de la culpa de Jesse, lo que le permite a Gus atraer a Jesse como aliado. Gus ofrece los servicios de Jesse al cartel como parte de una artimaña para matar a Eladio y eliminar el cartel. Sabiendo que su vida aún está en riesgo porque Jesse ha demostrado ser casi tan capaz como Walter en el laboratorio, Walter incita a Jesse a proporcionar información que Walter usa para tenderle una trampa a Gus. Durante una visita a Héctor en su asilo de ancianos, Gus planea acabar con la vida de Héctor, pero se da cuenta demasiado tarde de que lo han engañado. Héctor hace sonar repetidamente la campana que está atada a su silla de ruedas para activar la bomba que Walter colocó, que mata a Héctor, Tyrus y Gus.
Saul Goodman (interpretado por Bob Odenkirk ), cuyo nombre real es James Morgan McGill , es un abogado sórdido y sin escrúpulos que actúa como el abogado de Walter y Jesse y proporciona parte del alivio cómico de la serie . Utiliza el nombre "Saul Goodman" porque cree que sus clientes se sienten más seguros con un abogado judío; este nombre también es homófono con la expresión "[todo] está bien, hombre". [3] Vestido con trajes llamativos, Saul mantiene amplias conexiones dentro del submundo criminal y sirve como intermediario que conecta a distribuidores de drogas, reparadores, imitadores y otros criminales a sueldo. A pesar de su apariencia extravagante y sus gestos, acentuados por sus escandalosos anuncios de televisión de bajo presupuesto, Saul es un abogado muy competente que puede resolver problemas y encontrar lagunas legales para proteger a sus clientes. También es reacio a que lo asocien con la violencia o el asesinato.
Los orígenes de Saul se exploran en Better Call Saul , cuyos eventos comienzan unos seis años antes de Breaking Bad . Originalmente un estafador apodado "Slippin' Jimmy", había sido arrestado en Chicago después de que una broma saliera mal, pero su hermano mayor Chuck McGill, socio de un bufete de abogados de Albuquerque, obtuvo su liberación con la condición de que Jimmy consiguiera un empleo legítimo. Jimmy trabajaba en la sala de correo del bufete de Chuck, y el éxito legal de Chuck inspiró a Jimmy a convertirse en abogado. Chuck no consideraba a Jimmy un abogado "real" y conspiró subrepticiamente para evitar que se uniera a su bufete, relegando a Jimmy a casos de bajo nivel y al trabajo de defensor público. Después de la muerte de Chuck y la suspensión de un año de la licencia de abogado de Jimmy, Jimmy volvió a ejercer bajo el alias de "Saul Goodman", aprovechando la clientela criminal que había ganado a través de su negocio paralelo de venta de teléfonos celulares desechables. Durante el período de suspensión de su licencia de abogado, el negocio paralelo de Jimmy hace que, sin darse cuenta, se involucre en el negocio de las drogas de Albuquerque como socio de Mike y representante legal de la familia Salamanca.
En el momento de Breaking Bad , Saul ha establecido una oficina en un centro comercial y hace publicidad por toda la ciudad. Cuando Walter y Jesse comienzan a producir metanfetamina, Saul les presenta a Gus como un potencial comprador para su producto. Posteriormente ayuda a Walter y Skyler a lavar su dinero de la droga y brinda asistencia legal a Jesse y sus amigos traficantes de drogas. Después de que Hank descubre la identidad de Walter como Heisenberg, Saul utiliza los servicios de "desaparición" de Ed Galbraith para mudarse a Omaha, Nebraska bajo el nombre de Gene Takavic (como se muestra en flash-forwards en Better Call Saul ), donde dirige una tienda Cinnabon mientras permanece paranoico de que alguien de su pasado pueda identificarlo. Gene finalmente es identificado por un taxista reubicado que recuerda sus anuncios de Saul Goodman, pero Saul mantiene al hombre callado ofreciéndole hacerlo rico mediante un plan de estafa. Saul fue finalmente capturado por las autoridades y encarcelado durante 86 años en una prisión federal, pero después finalmente se aceptó como Jimmy McGill y expió su papel en las muertes de Chuck, Howard y otros.
Michael Ehrmantraut (interpretado por Jonathan Banks ) es un ex oficial de policía de Filadelfia que trabaja para Gus —y, en ocasiones, para Saul— como investigador privado, jefe de seguridad, limpiador y sicario . En el episodio de Better Call Saul " Gentles Off ", se da a entender que Mike es un veterano del Cuerpo de Marines de la Guerra de Vietnam . Mientras estaba en Filadelfia, se casó y tuvo un hijo, Matt, quien más tarde tuvo su propia familia, esposa Stacey e hija Kaylee. Mike se vio envuelto en actividades corruptas dentro de la policía de Filadelfia, y después de que Matt se uniera a la fuerza, dudó cuando dos policías corruptos se le acercaron, por lo que lo mataron. Después del funeral de Matt, Mike asesinó a los dos policías, luego huyó a Albuquerque para estar cerca de Stacey y Kaylee. Aceptó un trabajo como asistente de estacionamiento en el juzgado local y también realizó trabajos criminales a sueldo.
En Better Call Saul , Mike se convierte en socio de Jimmy después de que Jimmy lo ayuda a encubrir cuando los oficiales de Filadelfia que investigan las muertes de los dos policías que Mike mató se enteran del paradero de Mike. A través de uno de sus trabajos secundarios, Mike también se involucra con Nacho. Nacho le pide a Mike que ayude a eliminar a un Tuco cada vez más inestable de la organización de Salamanca, pero Mike en cambio diseña el arresto a largo plazo de Tuco fingiendo una confrontación frente a la policía. Héctor sospecha de Mike, por lo que Mike intenta llamar la atención de la policía sobre el tráfico de drogas de Salamanca. Cuando este esfuerzo falla, Mike planea asesinar a Héctor, pero Gus lo detiene, quien quiere ser el que decida cuándo muere Héctor, y le ofrece a Mike un puesto dentro de su organización. Mike supervisa la construcción del "súper laboratorio" dirigido por Werner Ziegler . Cuando Werner escapa e inadvertidamente revela algunos detalles sobre el laboratorio a Lalo Salamanca, Gus ordena que maten a Werner para proteger el secreto, y Mike le dispara a Werner. Mike se deprime después de eso, hasta que Gus le ofrece un papel más importante para ayudar a vengarse de los Salamanca. Sabiendo que Nacho está operando como el topo de Gus en la organización de los Salamanca, Mike trabaja para mantener a Lalo fuera del rastro de Gus y salva a Jimmy de un intento de asesinato del cártel.
Mike sigue siendo el socio de confianza de Gus en el momento de Breaking Bad , ayudando a mantener a Walter y Jesse a raya después de que Jesse mata a Gale, y elaborando un plan para abrir una brecha entre Walter y Jesse. Finalmente, Gus confía en Jesse lo suficiente como para llevarlo a él y a Mike a México como parte del plan de Gus para matar a Don Eladio y otros miembros del cártel. Mike resulta gravemente herido y se ve obligado a quedarse en México para curarse. Durante este tiempo, Walter convence a Jesse para que ayude a Walter a vengarse de Gus, y la información de Jesse le permite a Walter atraer a Gus a una trampa fatal. Mike se entera de la muerte de Gus y corre de regreso a Albuquerque para enfrentarse furiosamente a Walter y Jesse. Mike les recuerda que para mantener el secreto, Gus había estado pagando discretamente a varios miembros de la organización de Gus. Walter inicia un nuevo sistema de producción de metanfetamina con Jesse y Mike como socios de pleno derecho, y Mike usa parte de su parte para seguir pagando a los miembros de la antigua organización de Gus. Después de que Todd mata a un niño durante un robo de metilamina, Mike y Jesse venden su parte de la metilamina, pero Mike promete usar parte de sus ganancias para seguir pagando a la antigua banda de Gus. La DEA conecta a Mike con Heisenberg, y antes de que Mike pueda huir, Walter intenta obtener los nombres de la antigua organización de Gus de Mike para que Walter pueda matarlos. Mike se niega y reprende a Walter, lo que lleva a Walter a dispararle, pero antes de que Mike muera, Walter dice que se dio cuenta demasiado tarde de que podría haber obtenido los nombres de Lydia.
Lydia Rodarte-Quayle (interpretada por Laura Fraser ) es una ejecutiva de Madrigal Electromotive GmbH y trabaja en la oficina de la empresa en Houston , Texas. Lydia, retratada como un personaje muy nervioso y algo problemático, es socia de Gus en las actividades relacionadas con las drogas, y Gus a menudo trabaja directamente a través de ella para asegurar en secreto los recursos de Madrigal para sus necesidades.
Durante Better Call Saul , ella ayuda a Gus a conseguir que Mike se convierta en consultor de seguridad de Madrigal como tapadera para blanquear el dinero que Mike robó de los Salamanca. Cuando Mike se toma su trabajo en serio, Lydia se queja con Gus, pero Gus le asegura que se puede confiar en Mike. Cuando Lalo llega más tarde e interfiere en las operaciones de Gus, Gus informa a Lydia y Peter Schuler, el jefe de la división de alimentos de Madrigal, sobre Lalo estancando la construcción de su superlaboratorio, pero les asegura que tiene un plan para lidiar con Lalo.
En Breaking Bad , Lydia continúa proporcionando discretamente productos químicos a Gus para la producción de metanfetamina de Walt en el superlaboratorio de Gus. Después de la muerte de Gus y la destrucción del laboratorio, Walt establece una nueva línea de producción de metanfetamina con Jesse y Mike, con Lydia proporcionando los productos químicos. La DEA vincula a Gus con Madrigal, y nerviosa de que ella sea expuesta, Lydia le pide a Mike que mate a 11 co-conspiradores que formaban parte de la organización de Gus. Mike se niega, por lo que Lydia le paga a uno de los co-conspiradores para eliminar a Mike junto con los otros 10 en la lista, pero Mike mata al asesino primero, descubre el papel de Lydia y la chantajea para que continúe proporcionando la metilamina para la operación de Walt. La DEA continúa investigando a Madrigal y Lydia descubre que están rastreando sus envíos de metilamina a Walt. Ella le proporciona a Walt información sobre un envío de metilamina en un vagón cisterna de ferrocarril, lo que le proporcionaría a Walt suficiente material para ganar millones de dólares en metanfetamina para vender a los contactos de Lydia en la República Checa .
Walt, Mike y Jesse reclutan a Todd para que los ayude a robar la metilamina. Durante el robo, son observados por un niño pequeño, a quien Todd mata. Mike y Jesse deciden vender su parte de la metilamina a Walt y dejar el negocio, con Mike usando una parte de sus ganancias para seguir pagando a los miembros de la organización de Gus por su silencio. Cuando la DEA conecta a Mike con Gus, Walt intenta que Mike proporcione los nombres de las personas a las que está pagando, pero Mike se niega. Walt le dispara a Mike, luego se da cuenta de que podría haberle pedido los nombres a Lydia. Mike muere y Lydia luego le proporciona los nombres a Walt. Walt luego le paga a Jack para eliminar a las personas a las que Mike estaba pagando.
Walt finalmente vende la metilamina restante a Declan y abandona el negocio de las drogas. Todd trabaja inicialmente como cocinero de metanfetamina de Declan, pero cuando Declan lo despide, el reemplazo no es tan bueno y los clientes checos de Lydia están insatisfechos. Declan se niega a volver a contratar a Todd, por lo que Lydia organiza que Jack mate a Declan y su pandilla y se haga cargo del negocio. Después de que Hank descubre que Walt es Heisenberg y usa a Jesse para atraer a Walt al sitio de su dinero enterrado, la pandilla de Jack llega, mata a Hank y Gómez, toma la mayor parte del dinero de Walt y secuestra a Jesse para poder obligarlo a ser su cocinero de metanfetamina. Walt se ve obligado a esconderse, pero un año después regresa a Albuquerque para vengarse antes de morir de cáncer. Se encuentra con Lydia y Todd en una cafetería y les ofrece un nuevo método para la producción de metanfetamina sin metilamina. Todd se niega, pero Lydia finge interés para que Walt se reúna con Jack, luego le dice a Todd que se asegure de que Jack mate a Walt en la reunión. Walt usa la reunión para matar a Jack y su pandilla con una ametralladora escondida en su auto, y Jesse mata a Todd. Una Lydia enferma llama al teléfono celular de Todd para preguntar si Walt está muerto. Walt responde y revela que pronto estará muerta porque le puso ricina en su stevia en la cafetería. En El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie , Jesse escucha un informe de noticias de radio que indica que una mujer de Houston, presumiblemente Lydia, está gravemente enferma después de haber sido envenenada. El informe indica que se están investigando sus presuntos vínculos con Walt y que no se espera que sobreviva.
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Todd Alquist [4] (interpretado por Jesse Plemons ) es un exterminador de Vamonos Pest, una empresa de fumigación utilizada por Walt , Mike y Jesse como fachada para su negocio de metanfetamina después de la muerte de Gus Fring . Todd y los otros empleados de Vamonos también son ladrones, que recopilan información de las casas en las que hacen carpas y la venden a terceros. Todd se da cuenta y desactiva una cámara de niñera en el primer sitio de cocina de Walt y Jesse después de Gus Fring, atrayendo su atención como alguien que creen que podría ser útil en el futuro. Ayuda en el robo de metilamina de un tren de carga y saluda amistosamente a un niño que se tropieza con la escena del crimen, pero luego le dispara sin previo aviso. El equipo mantiene a Todd empleado a regañadientes después del asesinato, aceptando su explicación de que asumió que no podía haber testigos del crimen y todos corrían el riesgo de ser arrestados. La explicación de Todd, además de sus afirmaciones de que su tío (Jack Welker) dirige una pandilla con conexiones que podrían ser valiosas para la operación de metanfetamina, convencen a Walt y Mike de mantenerlo con vida, aunque Jesse se muestra reacio.
Después de que Jesse y Mike se marchan, Todd se convierte en el asistente de Walt en el proceso de cocina. Todd se refiere respetuosamente a Walter como "el Sr. White", y después de estudiar con Walt, pasa sus descansos repasando sus notas, pero se niega a aceptar el pago hasta que cumpla con los estándares de Walt. Después de que Walt mata a Mike, Todd ayuda a deshacerse del coche y el cuerpo de Mike, y Walt utiliza las conexiones de Jack en la prisión para eliminar a los nueve ex empleados vivos de Gus y a su abogado para evitar que expongan a Walt.
Después de que la pandilla captura a Jesse, Todd convence a su tío para que lo obligue a cocinar para ellos en lugar de matarlo. Jesse crea un lote con un nivel de pureza comparable al de Walt. Pensando que merece una recompensa por un trabajo bien hecho, Todd le trae helado y lo elogia por su habilidad. El lado malo de Todd vuelve a mostrarse cuando dispara y mata a la exnovia de Jesse, Andrea, para castigarlo por un intento de fuga, pero se disculpa antes de dispararle. Meses después, Walter mata a la pandilla de Jack disparando a distancia una ametralladora M60 instalada en el maletero de un coche. Todd sobrevive, pero Jesse lo estrangula con las cadenas de sus esposas, ahogándolo con la fuerza suficiente para romperle el cuello.
Los cambios impredecibles de Todd entre una cortesía encantadora y gestos respetuosos hasta actos repentinos de violencia extrema llevaron a que su personaje fuera llamado el villano más peligroso de Breaking Bad , e IGN lo nombró el mejor villano de televisión de 2013. [5] [6]
En El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie , Todd aparece en flashbacks que tienen lugar después del fallido intento de escape de Jesse y la muerte de Andrea. Todd, Kenny y Neil Kandy atormentan a Jesse mientras Neil construye sus nuevas ataduras. Más tarde, Todd solicita la ayuda de Jesse para agregar un dosel a su El Camino y enterrar el cuerpo de la señora de la limpieza de Todd, a quien asesinó después de que ella encontrara accidentalmente su dinero escondido. Después de la fuga de Jesse del complejo, regresa al apartamento de Todd y recupera el efectivo para usarlo en su escape de Albuquerque, pero se ve obligado a lidiar con dos criminales, Neil Kandy y Casey, que quieren el dinero para ellos mismos.
Kimberly Wexler (interpretada por Rhea Seehorn ) es la amiga de Jimmy, su pareja romántica y, en la quinta temporada, su esposa. En su juventud, ella y su madre se mudaron con frecuencia por Nebraska y, a menudo, ella tuvo que cuidar de sí misma debido a la borrachera de su madre, lo que la llevó a volverse autosuficiente. Mientras asistía a la facultad de derecho, Kim fue pasante en Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill, donde conoció a Jimmy, que trabajaba en la sala de correo. Su éxito al completar la facultad de derecho y convertirse en asociada en HHM inspiró parcialmente a Jimmy a convertirse en abogado.
La intuición de Jimmy sobre la actividad en un asilo de ancianos local, Sandpiper Crossing, da como resultado una demanda prolongada. Kim intenta defender las manipulaciones legales poco éticas de Jimmy ante Howard y Chuck, lo que amenaza su carrera. Incluso cuando logra asegurar el gran banco regional Mesa Verde como cliente de HHM, Howard minimiza sus contribuciones. Kim y Jimmy comienzan a trabajar en bufetes de abogados en el mismo lugar y Kim lleva a Mesa Verde con ella. Chuck logra persuadir a Mesa Verde para que regrese a HHM. Jimmy falsifica el papeleo en una presentación de Mesa Verde, lo que hace que Chuck parezca incompetente y hace que Mesa Verde regrese a Kim. Kim está contenta de tener la cuenta, pero las maquinaciones de Jimmy conducen a una confrontación con Chuck que da como resultado la suspensión de la licencia de abogado de Jimmy, Chuck se ve obligado a retirarse de HHM y Chuck se suicida.
Kim se aburre de la ley bancaria y comienza a aceptar casos de defensa criminal pro bono . Posteriormente, le propone a Rich Schweikart, el socio gerente de la firma que defiende a la cadena Sandpiper, que se lleve a Mesa Verde con ella y se convierta en socia a cargo de una nueva división bancaria. Al verse atraída por los planes de Jimmy, Kim decide más tarde dejar Schweikart & Cokely y representar a Mesa Verde mientras continúa manejando casos de defensa criminal pro bono . Howard sugiere que Kim está tirando su carrera a la basura por instigación de Jimmy; Kim se siente insultada y se burla de la creencia de Howard de que no puede pensar por sí misma.
Después de que Jimmy recupera su licencia de abogado y comienza a ejercer como Saul Goodman, se involucra cada vez más con el cartel de la droga de Salamanca. Kim propone que se casen para poder invocar el privilegio conyugal , lo que le permite a Jimmy hablar libremente sobre sus clientes. Lalo Salamanca es arrestado bajo un nombre falso y acusado de asesinato. Cuando Jimmy desaparece después de conducir hasta un lugar remoto del desierto para recoger el dinero de la fianza, Kim intenta sin éxito averiguar su ubicación revelándole a Lalo que ella es la esposa de Jimmy. Mientras Jimmy está atrapado en el desierto con Mike Ehrmantraut, admite que Kim sabe sobre su participación con los Salamanca, lo que hace que Mike le advierta a Jimmy que la vida de Kim está en riesgo tanto como la de ellos.
Después de pagar la fianza de Lalo, Jimmy oculta la participación de Mike mintiéndole a Lalo. Lalo localiza el auto abandonado de Jimmy cerca del lugar de la camioneta y lo encuentra acribillado a balazos, un detalle que contradice la historia de Jimmy. Lalo confronta a Jimmy y Kim, pero Kim reprende a Lalo por no confiar en Jimmy. Lalo parece satisfecho con la explicación de Kim y se va. Kim y Jimmy se registran en un hotel para que Lalo no los encuentre si regresa. Todavía enojada con Howard, Kim le sugiere a Jimmy que resuelvan la demanda de Sandpiper saboteándolo intencionalmente, lo que resultará en que Jimmy reciba más de $1 millón como su parte del acuerdo o sentencia. Jimmy está desconcertado por la insensibilidad del plan de Kim, pero acepta participar.
El plan contra Howard tiene éxito después de que se avergüence a sí mismo en una conferencia de conciliación de Sandpiper, obligando a HHM y Davis & Main a aceptar una cantidad menor a la que buscaban. Howard reconstruye la estafa y se enfrenta a Kim y Jimmy en su apartamento esa noche, pero Lalo llega y mata a Howard. Lalo hace que Kim conduzca hasta la casa de Gus para dispararle, pero Mike la detiene, a quien le explica la situación. Cuando le dice a Gus que Jimmy convenció a Lalo de que la enviara a ella en lugar de a él, Gus deduce que el intento de asesinato fue una artimaña. Kim se reúne con Jimmy en su apartamento a la mañana siguiente; Mike hace que la muerte de Howard se presente como un suicidio y les ordena que nunca hablen de los eventos de esa noche. Kim se siente abrumada por la culpa, entrega su licencia de abogada y deja a Jimmy poco después del servicio conmemorativo de Howard.
Kim se muda a Florida , acepta un trabajo en Palm Coast Sprinklers y vive una vida sencilla y mundana. Un día, recibe una llamada de Jimmy; ella le dice que se entregue, pero él reacciona enojado y burlonamente le dice que haga lo mismo. Kim toma sus palabras en serio y vuela a Albuquerque, donde presenta una declaración jurada a la oficina del fiscal de distrito detallando el papel de Jimmy y ella en el asesinato de Howard. También le da una copia a la viuda de Howard, Cheryl, lo que le da motivos para presentar una demanda civil por muerte por negligencia. Kim regresa a Albuquerque después del arresto de Jimmy, pero Jimmy admite durante su juicio que la implicó en sus crímenes solo para que estuviera presente para escuchar su confesión. Admite el alcance de su papel en el imperio criminal de Walter White, su parte en arruinar la reputación de Howard y su sabotaje a la carrera de Chuck. Recibe una sentencia de 86 años; Kim lo visita en prisión para despedirse.
Howard Hamlin (interpretado por Patrick Fabian ) es socio de la exitosa firma de abogados Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill de Albuquerque. A primera vista, Howard parece ser uno de los ganadores de la vida. Su origen privilegiado, su imperturbable apariencia bronceada que parece inalterable con el paso del tiempo y su amplio encanto resultan ser una fuente constante de frustración para Jimmy, al igual que su relación positiva con el otro socio de HHM, Chuck McGill.
Después de que Chuck se aleja de la empresa debido a su afirmación de hipersensibilidad electromagnética, Howard se convierte en el socio gerente y le permite a Chuck trabajar desde casa mientras Jimmy se ocupa de las necesidades personales de Chuck. Sin que Jimmy lo sepa, Chuck usa a Howard para impedir que Jimmy avance en la profesión legal. Jimmy cree que Howard es el que inhibe su progreso profesional, lo que hace que se resienta con Howard. Cuando Kim Wexler abandona HHM, Mesa Verde Bank acepta contratarla como asesora externa, pero Chuck y Howard logran que Mesa Verde regrese a HHM. Luego, Jimmy altera el papeleo en una de las presentaciones de Chuck en Mesa Verde, lo que hace que parezca incompetente, por lo que Mesa Verde regresa a Kim. Chuck graba en secreto la admisión de Jimmy de haber manipulado los documentos de Mesa Verde, luego le hace saber a Jimmy sobre la grabación. Cuando Jimmy irrumpe en la casa de Chuck para destruirla, Howard está presente y sirve como testigo corroborante de Chuck, lo que le permite acusar a Jimmy de allanamiento. En lugar de un proceso penal, Chuck presenta la confesión al colegio de abogados del estado con la esperanza de que Jimmy sea inhabilitado, pero Jimmy y Kim minimizan el argumento de Chuck al exponer su presunta hipersensibilidad electromagnética como psicosomática. La licencia de Jimmy es suspendida, pero no es inhabilitado. Howard le aconseja a Chuck que considere la suspensión de Jimmy como una victoria, pero Chuck sigue insatisfecho.
Después de la suspensión de Jimmy, "accidentalmente" informa a la aseguradora de mala praxis de HHM sobre la condición de Chuck, lo que hace que la aseguradora exija que Chuck sea supervisado constantemente por otro abogado o que HHM pague un aumento sustancial de la prima. Chuck quiere luchar contra la compañía de seguros, pero Howard le paga a Chuck la primera de las tres cuotas para comprar su parte de la empresa y obliga a Chuck a jubilarse. Chuck posteriormente se suicida y Jimmy inicialmente se cree responsable. Cuando Howard admite que se cree responsable porque obligó a Chuck a jubilarse, Jimmy permite que Howard cargue con la culpa. Durante gran parte del año siguiente, Howard se retrae emocionalmente y la notoriedad en torno a la muerte de Chuck hace que HHM pierda clientes y entre en graves dificultades financieras. Para cuando Jimmy recupera su licencia de abogado, Howard anuncia que HHM se ha recuperado y es una vez más una de las principales firmas de Albuquerque.
Más tarde, Howard le ofrece a Jimmy un puesto en HHM y dice que la disputa era entre Chuck y Jimmy, no entre Jimmy y la empresa. Jimmy está molesto por el recordatorio de su pasado y juega con Howard mientras afirma que considera su oferta. Howard finalmente se da cuenta de que Jimmy está llevando a cabo una campaña de acoso en su contra y rescinde la oferta, mientras que Jimmy dice que, como Saul Goodman, es demasiado importante para las limitaciones de un trabajo en HHM. Cuando Kim le dice a Howard que renunció a Schweikart y Cokely y renunció a la cuenta de Mesa Verde para poder centrarse en casos de defensa penal pro bono , Howard dice que está tirando su carrera a la basura por instigación de Jimmy. Kim se burla de la idea de que no puede pensar por sí misma y dice que Howard realmente no conoce a Jimmy. Howard le dice enojado que Chuck, quien reconoció que Jimmy no podía evitar lastimar a todos los cercanos a él, era el que conocía a Jimmy mejor que nadie. Más tarde, Kim le propone a Jimmy que obtengan la parte de Jimmy del acuerdo multimillonario o la sentencia de la demanda de Sandpiper Crossing antes arruinando la reputación de Howard.
Mientras Kim y Jimmy planean y ejecutan su estafa, Howard se da cuenta de sus maquinaciones y le dice a su esposa Cheryl, con quien tiene una relación tensa, que está tratando de resolver el problema. El plan de Jimmy y Kim tiene éxito, Howard es humillado frente a sus clientes y compañeros, y HHM y Davis & Main aceptan un acuerdo de Sandpiper que es menor de lo que querían. Howard junta las piezas de toda la trama y llega al apartamento de Kim para confrontarla a ella y a Jimmy. Lalo Salamanca llega poco después, con la intención de interrogar a Jimmy y Kim sobre sus vínculos con Mike Ehrmantraut y Gus Fring. Howard ignora las súplicas de Jimmy y Kim de que se vayan de inmediato, y Lalo mata a Howard con un disparo en la cabeza. La muerte de Howard se escenifica para que parezca un suicidio, mientras que él es enterrado junto a Lalo debajo del piso del laboratorio subterráneo de metanfetamina de Gus Fring.
Ignacio Varga (interpretado por Michael Mando ) es un criminal de carrera calculador e inteligente. Es la mano derecha de Tuco Salamanca, heredero de la organización de Héctor Salamanca. Si bien aún no es un capo, Nacho es brillante y tiene la confianza de su aterrador jefe. Nacho conoce a Jimmy durante el caso de malversación de fondos de los Kettleman e intenta, sin éxito, persuadir a Jimmy para que lo ayude a robar el efectivo de los Kettleman. Nacho también comienza a respetar a Mike después de ver su profesionalismo durante uno de los trabajos delictivos secundarios de Mike. A medida que Tuco se vuelve cada vez más inestable, Nacho le pide a Mike que mate a Tuco. Mike opta por manipular a Tuco para que lo agreda a la vista de la policía, lo que resulta en que Tuco sea enviado a prisión durante varios años. Nacho es promovido a convertirse en la mano derecha de Héctor, pero se preocupa cuando Héctor quiere usar la tienda de tapicería de su padre Manuel como parte de la red de drogas de Salamanca. Nacho se ve obligado a revelar que trabaja para Héctor, lo que provoca una ruptura entre Manuel y Nacho. Nacho intenta matar a Héctor induciéndole un ataque cardíaco al reemplazar la medicación para la angina de pecho de Héctor por un placebo. Durante una reunión acalorada, Héctor sufre un derrame cerebral, lo que resulta en su dependencia permanente de una silla de ruedas. Gus descubre la participación de Nacho y amenaza con revelárselo a los Salamanca a menos que Nacho actúe como su topo dentro de la organización de los Salamanca.
Tras el ataque cardíaco de Héctor, los Salamanca llevan a Lalo a Albuquerque para que gestione sus operaciones. Siguiendo las instrucciones de Gus, Nacho se convierte en el confidente de Lalo y les informa a Gus y Mike. Nacho también le presenta a Lalo a Jimmy cuando uno de sus distribuidores, Krazy-8, es atrapado con drogas. Jimmy consigue la liberación de Krazy-8 al pedirle que le dé a la DEA las ubicaciones de los puntos muertos de Gus para conseguir dinero de la droga y lo convierte en un informante confidencial. Nacho informa a Gus sobre el plan de Lalo, pero Gus permite que la DEA confisque los puntos para proteger la identidad de Nacho como su topo. Utilizando la información proporcionada por Nacho, Gus hace que Mike organice el arresto de Lalo bajo un nombre falso, pero incluso en prisión, Lalo representa un peligro para la organización de Gus. El cártel proporciona el dinero de la fianza de Lalo, y Lalo hace que Nacho lo lleve a México. Lalo luego le presenta a Nacho a Don Eladio y le explica un plan para poner a Nacho a cargo de la operación de Salamanca en Albuquerque mientras Lalo permanece en México para esconderse de la policía y los fiscales. Gus tiene la intención de matar a Lalo, y Nacho recibe una llamada que le ordena abrir la puerta trasera de la villa de Lalo a las 3 am. Nacho abre la puerta y huye. Hombres armados entran e intentan matar a Lalo. Lalo mata a la mayoría de los atacantes, se da cuenta de que Nacho ha desaparecido y se aleja enojado de su casa.
Después de abrir la puerta, Nacho huye y sigue las instrucciones de Gus de esconderse en un motel. Después de darse cuenta de que Gus lo ha traicionado ante el cártel, Nacho acepta que a cambio de una garantía de seguridad para Manuel se entregará a Gus e implicará a otra persona ante el cártel por el ataque a Lalo. En una reunión entre Gus, Juan Bolsa y Héctor, Nacho afirma falsamente que estaba trabajando para una familia de narcotraficantes rival cuando dejó entrar a los pistoleros al complejo de Lalo y también revela que causó el derrame cerebral de Héctor. En lugar de intentar huir para que Víctor pueda matarlo rápidamente para salvarlo de ser torturado por los Salamancas, Nacho usa un trozo de vidrio roto para cortar sus ataduras, luego toma el arma de Bolsa y se suicida.
Nacho y Lalo son mencionados en el episodio de Breaking Bad " Better Call Saul ". Walter White y Jesse Pinkman secuestran a Saul e intentan obligarlo a defender a Badger después de que Badger es arrestado por vender metanfetamina. Saul cree que Walter y Jesse enmascarados son sicarios enviados por Lalo e intenta culpar a "Ignacio" por cualquier mal que Lalo crea que se hizo . Se revela que esto se debe a que, poco antes de la muerte de Lalo, le había revelado a Jimmy el papel de Nacho en el fallido intento de asesinato en su contra y Lalo dio a entender que creía que Jimmy también estaba involucrado. Lalo había prometido regresar para conocer la historia completa más tarde, pero murió antes de poder hacerlo y Jimmy había vivido con el temor de que Lalo regresara para cumplir su promesa.
Charles Lindbergh McGill Jr. (interpretado por Michael McKean ) es el hermano mayor de Jimmy McGill. Es socio de uno de los bufetes de abogados más prestigiosos de Albuquerque, Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill (HHM), que cofundó con el padre de Howard Hamlin. Chuck, un hombre brillante que se exige a sí mismo y a los demás grandes ideales, cree firmemente que hacer lo correcto es el único camino verdadero hacia el éxito. Chuck critica los antecedentes de Jimmy como estafador y, después de que Jimmy fuera arrestado en Chicago, Chuck consiguió su liberación con la condición de que Jimmy consiguiera un trabajo legítimo en la sala de correo de HHM. Para sorpresa de Chuck, Jimmy se sintió inspirado para obtener su propio título de abogado, con la esperanza de convertirse también en abogado de HHM. Como Chuck no considera a Jimmy un abogado "de verdad", trabajó a espaldas de Jimmy para evitar que lo contrataran.
Chuck estaba casado con Rebecca Bois, que terminó en divorcio; en esta época, Chuck comenzó a creer que tenía hipersensibilidad electromagnética , lo que lo obligó a semi-retirarse de HHM. Antes y en la primera parte de Better Call Saul , Jimmy atiende el cuidado diario de Chuck. Cuando Jimmy descubre un posible fraude en la comunidad de jubilados Sandpiper, Chuck identifica evidencia relevante y ayuda a Jimmy a preparar los archivos del caso inicial. Debido al tamaño del caso, Chuck sugiere que se lo den a HHM, pero Jimmy se sorprende al saber que quieren el caso pero no su participación, una demanda hecha en secreto por Chuck. Cuando más tarde se le niega a Kim el reconocimiento por asegurar la cuenta de Mesa Verde para HHM, Jimmy introduce en secreto un error en el papeleo de Chuck, lo que lleva a Kim a establecer una práctica con Mesa Verde como su único cliente. Esto conduce a una disputa, con Chuck engañando a Jimmy para que admita su culpabilidad, y luego usando la confesión grabada en un esfuerzo por inhabilitar a Jimmy. Jimmy es suspendido por un año después de que usa la audiencia del colegio de abogados para demostrar que la enfermedad de Chuck es psicosomática, pero no es inhabilitado.
Jimmy corta lazos con Chuck y le pide a Howard que se haga cargo de su cuidado. Chuck intenta superar su enfermedad, pero Jimmy "accidentalmente" informa a su aseguradora de mala praxis sobre la condición de Chuck. La aseguradora amenaza con tarifas más altas para HHM a menos que Chuck sea supervisado constantemente. Chuck quiere pelear, pero Howard compra la parte de Chuck, despidiéndolo efectivamente. Chuck recae y en el final de la temporada 3 "Lantern", se suicida tirando intencionalmente una linterna, lo que provoca un incendio fatal. Las consecuencias de la trágica muerte de Chuck persisten y afectan a Jimmy, Kim y Howard a medida que avanza la serie.
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Eduardo "Lalo" Salamanca (interpretado por Tony Dalton ) es otro de los sobrinos de Héctor, presentado en la temporada 4 de Better Call Saul . Llega de México poco después del derrame cerebral de Héctor para ayudar a administrar la operación de drogas de la familia, y se interesa más en los detalles del día a día que Héctor, lo que inquieta a Nacho. Lalo visita a Héctor en el asilo de ancianos y le permite comunicarse de manera más efectiva dándole un timbre de llamada de recepción, que Lalo conservó como recuerdo después de que Héctor matara a un hotelero. Lalo agradece a Gus por brindarle a Héctor los primeros auxilios después de su derrame cerebral y pagar por su atención, pero también vigila a los subordinados de Gus para conocer sus actividades habituales. Cuando Werner escapa de la supervisión de Mike, Lalo sigue a Mike y mata a Fred, un empleado de una tienda de transferencias de dinero, para obtener la ubicación de Werner. Se da cuenta de que Werner estaba construyendo algo para Gus y Gus inventa una historia para explicar los eventos de los que Lalo está al tanto, lo que Lalo acepta abiertamente aunque sigue sospechando.
Lalo interrumpe las actividades de Gus y confía en Nacho, sin saber que Nacho es el topo de Gus. Lalo permite que Krazy-8 se convierta en informante de la DEA con la ayuda de Jimmy, y Krazy-8 entrega las ubicaciones de los puntos de entrega de Gus. Gus hace que Mike vincule a Lalo con el asesinato de Fred para que lo arresten, pero luego hace que Jimmy organice su fianza de $ 7 millones . Lalo convence a Jimmy de que recoja el efectivo de Leonel y Marco en un lugar remoto del desierto. Jimmy casi es asesinado por el cartel, que cree que es mejor mantener a Lalo en prisión para proteger el negocio de Gus, pero Mike llega para salvarlo. Después de que el auto de Jimmy se estropea, Mike y Jimmy recorren el desierto durante dos días antes de llegar a un lugar seguro. Jimmy le proporciona a Lalo una historia de portada para ocultar la participación de Mike, que Lalo acepta. Tiene la intención de saltarse la fianza y regresar a México, pero en lugar de esperar a que Leonel y Marco lo recojan, busca el auto de Jimmy. Regresa a Albuquerque para confrontar a Jimmy en el departamento de Kim y revela que encontró el auto de Jimmy, que estaba lleno de agujeros de bala. Kim dice que los transeúntes probablemente dispararon al auto por diversión y acusa a Lalo de no confiar en Jimmy. Lalo luego le ordena a Nacho que lo lleve a México, pero no al sitio de recogida original. En México, le presenta a Nacho a Don Eladio y le informa que Nacho manejará el negocio de drogas de Salamanca mientras Lalo se esconde de las autoridades.
Gus organiza un intento de asesinato contra Lalo con la ayuda de Nacho, pero Lalo sobrevive. Finge su muerte y luego viaja a Alemania bajo un alias para encontrar pruebas de que Gus es desleal al cártel. Después de conversar con la viuda de Werner Ziegler, Margarethe, y luego irrumpir en su casa, encuentra pistas que lo llevan a Casper, un miembro del equipo de construcción de Werner. Usando detalles obtenidos de Casper, Lalo regresa a Albuquerque y vigila la lavandería industrial de Gus. Más tarde llega al apartamento de Jimmy y Kim. Howard Hamlin había llegado poco antes que Lalo; confundido, Howard no hace caso a las súplicas de Jimmy y Kim de irse inmediatamente, y Lalo lo mata con un disparo en la cabeza.
Lalo le ordena a Jimmy que conduzca hasta la casa de Gus y le dispare; Jimmy convence a Lalo de que envíe a Kim en su lugar, esperando que Lalo mate a quien se quede atrás. Lalo ata y amordaza a Jimmy, luego lleva el auto de Jimmy a la lavandería. Mike frustra el intento de Kim de matar a Gus y envía a sus hombres a su apartamento después de que ella le dice que Lalo está allí con Jimmy. Esto le permite a Lalo colarse en la lavandería. Gus va a la lavandería después de darse cuenta de que Kim fue enviada como una distracción; Lalo mata a los guardaespaldas de Gus y obliga a Gus a mostrarle el sitio de construcción del laboratorio, filmando el encuentro como prueba de la deslealtad de Gus al cártel. Gus, sin embargo, provoca un corte de energía y mata a Lalo con un arma que había escondido en el sitio anteriormente. Lalo es enterrado debajo del piso del laboratorio junto a Howard.
Lalo y Nacho son mencionados en el episodio de Breaking Bad "Better Call Saul". Walter White y Jesse Pinkman secuestran a Saul e intentan obligarlo a defender a Badger después de que Badger es arrestado por vender metanfetamina. Saul cree que Walter y Jesse enmascarados son sicarios enviados por Lalo e intenta culpar a "Ignacio" por cualquier mal que Lalo crea que se hizo. En el episodio "Breaking Bad" de Better Call Saul , poco después del ataque de pánico de Saul, Jesse le pregunta quién es Lalo, dado lo asustado que estaba Saul de él. Jesse señala que nunca antes había escuchado el nombre de Lalo entre los traficantes callejeros y Saul descarta a Lalo como "nadie".
Getz (interpretado por DJ Qualls ) es un detective de la policía de Albuquerque que participa en una operación encubierta que resulta en el arresto de Badger Mayhew por posesión de metanfetamina. [7]
Steven "Steve" Gomez (interpretado por Steven Michael Quezada ) es el socio y amigo de Hank en la DEA . Es promovido a El Paso cuando Hank rechaza la transferencia después de presenciar un ataque mortal en la frontera mexicana. Gomez ha sido la mano derecha de Hank en el caso "Heisenberg" desde el principio. Después de que los Hermanos Salamanca casi matan a Hank, Gomez comienza a realizar tareas que Hank no puede realizar debido a su discapacidad. Al final de la temporada 4 (a pedido de Hank), Gomez inspecciona la lavandería industrial de Gus con unidades de perros policía , pero no encuentra rastros del laboratorio subterráneo de metanfetamina. [8]
Después de que Walt y Jesse incendiaron el laboratorio, [9] Gómez regresa con Hank y lo encuentra destruido, con pocas pruebas restantes. [10] Gómez es el único oficial de la DEA a quien Hank le cuenta sobre su revelación de que Walter White es Heisenberg, y Gómez continúa siendo el compañero de Hank durante su investigación final, que conduce tanto al arresto de Walt como a un tiroteo con la pandilla de Jack. Gómez muere en el tiroteo, poco antes de que Hank muera. [11] [12] [13]
En un principio, se suponía que Gómez moriría en la primera temporada. Sin embargo, cuando la huelga de guionistas de 2007-2008 interrumpió la temporada, los guionistas rehicieron sus ideas y Gómez permaneció con vida hasta la última temporada. [14]
Quezada repite su papel como Gómez en Better Call Saul , apareciendo en el episodio de la quinta temporada " The Guy for This ", en el que él y Hank entrevistan a Domingo "Krazy-8" Molina después de que Molina es arrestado tras el descubrimiento de una casa de drogas perteneciente a la familia Salamanca. Jimmy McGill, representando a Molina como Saul Goodman, convence a Hank y Gómez para que permitan que Molina quede libre a cambio de que Molina se convierta en un informante confidencial. La información proporcionada por Molina conduce al descubrimiento de "casi un millón de dólares" en dinero de drogas.
Kalanchoe (interpretado por Gonzalo Menéndez) y Munn (interpretado por Jason Douglas ) son detectives del Departamento de Policía de Albuquerque, interrogando a Jesse primero con respecto al envenenamiento de Brock Cantillo, [9] y luego con respecto a la gran cantidad de dinero que ha estado regalando. [15]
El agente especial asistente a cargo George Merkert (interpretado por Michael Shamus Wiles ) es el jefe de Hank en la DEA. Está impresionado con la tenacidad y el trabajo duro de Hank, y lo recomienda para un traslado a El Paso. Cuando Hank regresa a Albuquerque después de ser herido, Merkert se siente frustrado porque Hank está retrasando un segundo traslado a El Paso, sin saber que Hank está teniendo ataques de pánico y tiene miedo de regresar. Después de que Hank ataca a Jesse, Merkert se ve obligado a suspender a Hank sin paga, pero le dice extraoficialmente que Jesse no presentará cargos. [16] Después del tiroteo de Hank y su posterior recuperación, Merkert le da la bienvenida a Hank de regreso al trabajo, pero se niega a actuar sobre las sospechas de Hank sobre Gus Fring más allá de una entrevista básica. Cuando se revela que Gus es un capo de la droga , Merkert es relevado permanentemente de sus funciones en la DEA debido principalmente a sus extensas interacciones personales con Gus y la posterior duda sobre la integridad de Merkert tras la caída de Gus. [17]
El agente especial a cargo Austin Ramey (interpretado por Todd Terry) es el jefe de las oficinas de la DEA en el suroeste de los Estados Unidos y, por lo tanto, el agente de la DEA de mayor rango que aparece en el programa. Designó a Hank para reemplazar a George Merkert como ASAC. [18] Reaparece en El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie en la que da una conferencia de prensa vista por Skinny Pete y Badger sobre la masacre de la pandilla de Jack Welker por parte de Walter White y el estado de Jesse Pinkman. Ramey también reaparece en el final de la serie Better Call Saul , durante la audiencia de sentencia de Jimmy McGill. Es uno de los cinco personajes (junto con Mike Ehrmantraut, Walter White, Jesse Pinkman y Ed Galbraith) que aparecen en Breaking Bad , Better Call Saul y El Camino .
Tim Roberts (interpretado por Nigel Gibbs) es un detective del Departamento de Policía de Albuquerque (APD), que trabaja en estrecha colaboración con Hank Schrader y la DEA bajo la supervisión de George Merkert.
Roberts aparece por primera vez en la casa de los White y le pregunta a Skyler sobre la desaparición de Walt después de que Tuco Salamanca secuestrara a Walter y Jesse y los llevara a la casa de su tío. Hank le pidió a Roberts que tomara el caso de la desaparición de Walter como un favor personal para Hank, creyendo que Walter tenía uno de sus "episodios" en el que olvidaba dónde estaba y aparecería días después. [19]
Roberts aparece después de que Marie Schrader es arrestada y llevada a la estación de policía por robar en las casas abiertas que visita. Hank se pone en contacto con Roberts después de que Marie le cuenta a Hank sobre su situación. Roberts consigue que los propietarios retiren los cargos después de que se les devuelva la propiedad, y lleva a Marie a casa para Hank. [20]
Roberts también investiga el asesinato de Gale Boetticher. Consulta con Hank después de encontrar el cuaderno de Gale y le pregunta qué significan todas las notas y dibujos, y si Gale pudo haber estado trabajando en un laboratorio de metanfetamina. Esto despierta el interés de Hank en el caso, y se embarca en su propia investigación de Gale y sus vínculos con Fring. [21]
La investigación de los detectives del APD en el apartamento de Gale arroja la huella dactilar de Gus, lo que da al APD y a la DEA una causa probable para solicitar oficialmente que Fring se presente para ser interrogado. Fring cumple y luego explica sus vínculos con Boetticher, quien ganó una de las becas Maximino Arciniega de Gus que Gale utilizó para obtener títulos en química. Roberts está satisfecho con las explicaciones de Gus sobre cómo conoció a Boetticher y por qué estaba en la casa de Boetticher, pero Hank sigue teniendo dudas y continúa investigando a Fring y sus tratos personales y comerciales. [22]
Roberts reaparece en las temporadas 5 y 6 de Better Call Saul , donde es el detective principal que investiga el asesinato de Fred Whalen por Lalo Salamanca . Mike Ehrmantraut, en un esfuerzo por deshacerse de Lalo, hace arreglos para que Roberts obtenga la evidencia que necesita para conectar a Lalo con el asesinato y arrestarlo por ello con Lalo usando el alias de Jorge DeGuzman. Sin embargo, debido a la continua amenaza de Lalo, Gus Fring hace que Mike ayude a Saul Goodman a obtener la fianza de Lalo, para gran frustración de Roberts y el fiscal adjunto a cargo del caso. Roberts y la DDA luego confrontan a Saul sobre la familia falsa de "Jorge" y la posterior desaparición, pero Saul ignora sus preguntas. Sin embargo, accidentalmente se desvía y se refiere a Lalo por su verdadero nombre, lo que luego permite que las autoridades identifiquen a Jorge DeGuzman como en realidad Lalo Salamanca, quien supuestamente fue asesinado recientemente en un tiroteo en su casa.
Maximino Arciniega (interpretado por James Martínez ) es el socio comercial y socio romántico de Gus Fring. [23] Gus pagó la educación de Max en bioquímica e ingeniería química en la Universidad de Santiago de Chile. Luego, la pareja se mudó a México y abrió una cadena de restaurantes de pollo Los Pollos Hermanos juntos. En el negocio de las drogas, Max es el químico; cocinó la metanfetamina cristal, muestras de las cuales él y Gus comenzaron a regalar. Estas muestras llamaron la atención de Don Eladio, un capo de la droga local, a quien Max y Gus se acercaron con la esperanza de convencer a Don de unirse a ellos en el negocio de la metanfetamina. Don Eladio, poco impresionado por estos advenedizos y nominalmente despectivo de vender metanfetamina en lugar de cocaína, hizo que Héctor matara a Max en el patio de su mansión. Gus se ve obligado por Juan Bolsa a ver cómo la herida fatal en la cabeza de su socio sangra en la piscina, una visión que permanece con él. Después de mudarse a los EE. UU., Gus establece una beca universitaria en nombre de Max (que Gale Boetticher ganó un año) y está decidido a vengar la muerte de su amante. [22]
El personaje Maximino Arciniega comparte su nombre con el actor de la vida real que interpreta a Krazy-8 en la temporada 1.
Gale Boetticher (played by David Costabile) is a chemist hired by Gus Fring to set up the underground meth lab and serve as Walt's assistant. He holds an MS degree in organic chemistry, with a specialty in X-ray crystallography. Gale pursued a doctorate in Colorado under an NSF grant but quit because he loved being in the lab and wanted to preserve the "magic" he saw in chemistry. He describes himself as a "nerd" and a libertarian. He is single, vegan and well-cultured. He is a fan of foreign language music, speaks fluent Italian, and is fond of Walt Whitman.
During the events of Better Call Saul, Gale is a post-graduate student and researcher at the University of New Mexico, and discreetly tests meth samples Gus provides as part of a plan to end his need for Mexican cartel cocaine. Gale asserts he could make better quality meth himself, but Gus says he has bigger plans for Gale. The construction of the underground meth lab, which Werner Ziegler oversees, is revealed to have been done in accordance with Gale's design.
In a flashback within Breaking Bad, Gale selects and installs the meth lab's production equipment. He analyzes the "blue meth" samples Gus provides and assures Gus it is the best meth he has ever seen.[24] By the third season of Breaking Bad, Gale has broken in the lab's equipment but has been waiting for Gus to hire Walt to cook blue meth. When Walt arrives, Gale expresses admiration and eagerness to learn.[25] Walt later needs to bring Jesse back into the business to make amends for Hank's assault, so he convinces Gus to fire Gale and re-hire Jesse.[26]
Jesse discovers Gus's street dealers were responsible for the deaths of Combo and of Andrea's brother, Tomás. Before Jesse can kill the dealers, Walt runs them over with his car, then has Saul hide Jesse. Gus re-hires Gale and instructs him to learn everything he can from Walt, supposedly because Walt has terminal cancer and Gus cannot end meth production if Walt dies. Walt recognizes that Gus is planning to kill him, so he instructs Jesse to learn Gale's address. Late one night, Mike and Victor take Walt to the lab on the pretense of solving an urgent problem. Walt convinces them to let him call Jesse and ask him to the lab, but he uses the call to instruct Jesse to kill Gale. Victor tries to beat Jesse to Gale's apartment but Jesse arrives first and shoots Gale directly under his eye with a Beretta 92FS 9mm pistol, killing him instantly, which prevents Gus from killing Walt.[27]
Gale's death triggers several key events.[24] Because police responding to Gale's apartment see Victor, who could be connected to Gus, Gus kills Victor in a way that serves as a warning to Walt and Jesse to cook meth without causing trouble. Hank connects Gale's death to Gus, the blue meth, and Heisenberg, and obsessively reviews Gale's lab notes, especially a dedication to "W. W.".[28] While having dinner at Walt's house, Hank finds the copy of Whitman's Leaves of Grass Gale gave Walt, which includes the dedication "To my other favorite W. W." in the same handwriting as Gale's journal. This leads Hank to finally realize that Walt is Heisenberg.
Duane Chow (played by James Ning) is the owner of Golden Moth Chemical, an industrial chemical manufacturing company that supplies Gus's drug empire. During Gus's conflict with a Mexican drug cartel in Ciudad Juárez, the cartel enforcers come to Chow's offices and hold him hostage. Chow's captors are later killed by Mike, who shoots Chow in the hand for not telling Gus about the situation.[27] After Gus's death, Chow starts being questioned by the DEA, as he was on Gus's payroll at the time of Gus's murder. Chow is also on the list of eleven men whom Lydia suggests that Mike kill before they can make a plea deal with the DEA (but Mike refuses). Lydia then hires one of the eleven, Chris Mara, to kill the other ten, and adds Mike to the list. Mara starts with Chow, whom he uses to lure Mike into a trap before shooting Chow in the head. Mike thwarts the attempt on his own life after getting from Chris the information Lydia gave him, and then kills Chris.[17]
Ron Forenall (played by Russ Dillen) is Mike Ehrmantraut's contact at Madrigal Electromotive's chemical warehouse in Houston. He is in constant contact with Lydia Rodarte-Quayle, who tells him which containers she has taken off the manifests, which he sends to Golden Moth Chemical Company in Albuquerque, which in turn forwards them on to Lavanderia Brilliante and Gus's lab.
Forenall is arrested after Hank and Gomez arrive at Madrigal's warehouse in Houston and Lydia identifies him in the warehouse.[18] Forenall later appears as one of the nine incarcerated members of Gus's organization who Lydia lists to be killed. Forenall is last seen in a hallway when he is stabbed to death by the Neo-Nazis.[29]
Dr. Barry Goodman (played by JB Blanc) is Gus's personal doctor, treating him and Mike after the showdown at Don Eladio's residence.[30] He later informs Mike about Gus's death.[10]
He reappears in Better Call Saul as the doctor in a medical clinic for low-income Spanish-speaking patients. Per Gus's instructions, he provides Mike with cocaine to prepare a trap for Hector's smugglers when they cross the border.
Tyrus Kitt (played by Ray Campbell) is one of Gus's henchmen in both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. After Victor is killed, Gus promotes Tyrus to serve as Mike's second-in-command, and he monitors Walt and Jesse's activities both inside and outside the lab. Gus prefers Tyrus's calculating and pragmatic demeanor to that of his predecessor Victor, who was more impulsive and reckless.
In the Breaking Bad episode "Face Off" Tyrus spots Hector Salamanca leaving the Albuquerque DEA office and assumes he has become an informant, which was part of Walt and Hector's plan to lure Gus into a trap. Gus and Tyrus visit Hector's nursing home, where Gus prepares to kill Hector. Hector has Walt's pipe bomb attached to the bottom of his wheelchair, which he detonates with the front desk call bell he uses to communicate. Tyrus and Gus die in the explosion.[9]
Chris Mara (played by Christopher King) is one of Gus's henchmen and Mike Ehrmantraut's errand runners, who runs errands among Fring, the mules, and the dealers. One of his other side jobs is to assist Tyrus Kitt in monitoring who is coming and going through the doors of both the Albuquerque Police Department and the DEA's Albuquerque office.
Chris first appears in "Bug", where he is shown taking cover when Gaff opens fire on the operatives at the Los Pollos distribution center, killing one of them while Jesse stands paralyzed. He is later shown among the men looking for Walt when Walt goes into hiding.[30] Chris is watching from his car when Jesse exits the police station, after being questioned about Brock Cantillo's poisoning (wrongly assumed to be by ricin rather than by the poisonous chemical in the berry of the lily of the valley plant),[8] and is seen when Hector Salamanca leaves the DEA office after questioning. He also is the one to drive Gus to the retirement home.[9]
Chris later takes Duane Chow hostage in Chow's own home, forcing Chow to call Mike to come over so Chris can kill Mike. However, Mike sees Chris's car parked in Chow's driveway and senses that this is a trap. Mike outsmarts Chris with a toy on Chow's front door while he sneaks into Chow's house from the back. Chris confesses that since the DEA seized his hazard pay, he took up Lydia's offer that Mike refused: $10,000 for each of the 10 other men on the list, and triple for Mike. Mike then dispatches Chris in the same way that Chris killed Chow.[17]
Dennis Markowski (played by Michael Batayeh) is the manager of Lavanderia Brilliante, the industrial laundromat which served as the cover for Gus's superlab. Following Gus's death and the discovery of the lab, the DEA arrested Dennis and several other members of Gus's organization. Dennis agrees to stay silent when Mike assures him he will continue to be paid.[31] When Dennis's cash is confiscated, he seeks a plea deal with the DEA, but Hank refuses, believing he can obtain better information from others in Gus's organization. Walt arranges for Dennis and Gus's other employees to be killed in order to protect Walt's identity, and several inmates kill Dennis by pouring flammable liquid into his cell and igniting it.[29]
Nick (played by Eric Steinig) is a member of Gus' security team, under the management of Mike. He is shot in the head by Gaff when the latter attacks the Los Pollos Hermanos factory farm. His body is later dissolved in acid by Walter. In Better Call Saul, Nick takes part in many of the team's operations, often alongside Mike and Gus' other men.
The "Rival Dealers" (played by Mike Seal and Antonio Leyba) are two street-level drug dealers who work for Gus and sell meth on his behalf. They involved Tomás Cantillo in their activities, having him kill Combo as part of a gang initiation. After Gus decided to stop using Tomás for drug dealing, the two dealers killed the boy, leading to Jesse planning to kill them. After an attempt to poison the dealers fails, Jesse approaches the dealers for a final showdown and shootout, before Walter intervenes by running over the rival dealers with his car, killing one and severely injuring the other, whom Walt then shoots dead.
Peter Schuler (played by Norbert Weisser) is the head of the fast food division of Madrigal Electromotive GmbH and a close associate of Gus and Lydia. He met Gus in Santiago, Chile, where they escaped a dangerous situation which marked the beginning of their friendship. He was hired by Mr. Herzog in 1992 at Madrigal. As head of the company's fast food division, Schuler invested in Gus' restaurant chain Los Pollos Hermanos and assisted him in the business of his drug empire.
In Better Call Saul, Schuler leads a meeting with the CEOs of Madrigal's restaurant chains, where he reports Los Pollos Hermanos' quarterly earnings. He later meets with Gus and Lydia in his room and panics about the delay in the construction of the superlab, fearing he will be caught funding for Gus' drug operation. Gus calms him down and reassures him the problems will be dealt with.
Following Gus' death in Breaking Bad, Schuler's connection with him is exposed. When the police arrive to question him, Schuler commits suicide by electrocuting himself with an automated external defibrillator.
Victor (played by Jeremiah Bitsui) is Gus's loyal henchman. He appears throughout Better Call Saul from season three onward with Gus's introduction to the story, acting as Gus's bodyguard and enforcer along with Tyrus, a role he maintains with Gus's introduction in Breaking Bad. Victor acts as Gus's front in initial deals with Walter and Jesse.[32] After Walter kills two of Gus's dealers to protect Jesse, Victor takes a near-permanent position monitoring Walter's activities while in the superlab with Gale. Gus discovers Walter's role in the dealers' deaths, and orders Victor and Mike to bring Walter to the lab. Walter makes a frantic call telling Jesse to kill Gale, believing this will motivate Gus to keep them alive. Victor races to stop Jesse but arrives at Gale's apartment too late.[27] Victor finds Jesse and brings him back to the lab, where he and Mike hold Jesse and Walter while waiting for Gus. Walter tries to convince Gus that he needs Walt and Jesse to cook his meth, while Victor attempts to demonstrate that he has value to Gus by showing that he has learned how to cook by observing Walt. Gus unexpectedly slices open Victor's throat with a box cutter in front of Walter, Jesse, and Mike, then orders them to "get back to work". They are forced to dispose of Victor's body using hydrofluoric acid.[24] Though Mike commented that Gus may have killed Victor because he was seen at Gale's apartment and can be connected to Gus, Walt later mentions to Jesse that he believes Gus did it because Victor took inappropriate liberties (such as hastily cooking meth improperly while Mike held Walt and Jesse hostage, in an attempt to one-up them and expedite their deaths) and "[flew] too close to the sun", as Walt put it.[31]
Dan Wachsberger (played by Chris Freihofer) is an attorney hired by Mike Ehrmantraut to represent Ron Forenall, Dennis Markowski, and the other seven surviving members of Gus Fring's operation running out of the Lavanderia Brilliante in Albuquerque. Wachsberger takes the money (Mike Ehrmantraut's "legacy costs") from Mike and then deposits it to ten safety deposit boxes at the Cradock Marine Bank in Albuquerque: nine for Gus's surviving men and their families to use in lieu of their "hazard pay" and one larger box for Mike's granddaughter Kaylee on her 18th birthday.
Wachsberger first appears as he and Mike are going through the New Mexico Department of Corrections facility at Los Lunas south of Albuquerque. Dan signs in and tells the attending guard, Darla, that he has brought in his "paralegal" and they have come to see Dennis Markowski.[31] Dan is consistently shown flirting with women, such as Darla and, at the bank, with Dorothy Yobs, whom he routinely lavishes with gifts of sugary baked goods. Dorothy gives Dan access to the safety deposit boxes at Cradock Marine Bank. Eventually, Hank and Gomez discover Mike and Dan's transactions and their safety deposit boxes at Cradock Marine Bank, and Gomez is sent to investigate. Gomez and his agents discover Dan making his routine drops in these boxes, arrest him, and successfully induce Dan to inform on Mike.[33]
The last time Wachsberger appears, he is in the federal prison at La Tuna near Las Cruces, when he is stabbed to death at the same time the nine surviving members of Gus's operation are also killed, which Walt ordered to conceal his connection to Gus.[29]
Don Eladio Vuente (played by Steven Bauer) is the head of a drug cartel in Ciudad Juárez which includes Juan Bolsa, Hector Salamanca, and Salamanca's nephews. He first met Gus Fring twenty years prior to the start of the series, when Gus and his partner Max proposed producing methamphetamine for the cartel. Unimpressed by their pitch, Eladio declined because the cartel preferred to continue distributing cocaine. After the meeting, Eladio had Hector execute Max as retaliation for manipulating him into a meeting, but spared Gus's life due to an unrevealed but powerful connection to Chile.[22] He then forced Gus to work with the cartel under Eladio's terms, and Gus became the cartel's chief distributor in the American Southwest.
Following the deaths of Juan Bolsa and the Cousins, and Gus's subsequent establishment of the meth superlab, Eladio orders retribution, and his henchman Gaff hijacks meth deliveries and kills some of Gus's operatives. Gus agrees to Eladio's demands—the formula for the blue meth, the services of a chemist, and a 50 percent share of the business—and travels to the cartel's superlab with Mike and Jesse. After Jesse cooks a batch, Eladio invites them to a party at his villa attended by his capos, who toast their new business venture with a bottle of Zafiro Añejo premium tequila supplied by Gus. Eladio chides Gus as someone who provides value to the organization, but periodically needs to be reminded of his place. The capos begin to collapse shortly after the toast, victims of the poison Gus put in the tequila. Gus had previously built up a tolerance to the poison, and intentionally vomited soon after the toast. Eladio realizes that Gus has betrayed him and attempts to lunge at him, but collapses dead into the swimming pool.[34]
Eladio first appears in Better Call Saul through a Season 3 flashback ("Sabrosito") in which he teases Hector because his cash tribute and gifts are inferior to Gus's. In season 5 ("Something Unforgivable"), Eladio meets with Lalo and Nacho and gives his blessing to the Salamancas' plan for Nacho to manage their organization while Lalo hides from police and prosecutors in Mexico. Following Lalo's death in Season 6 ("Fun and Games"), Hector reveals that Lalo survived Gus's first attempt to kill him and accuses Gus of having recently killed him. With no evidence that Lalo survived the first attempt, Eladio dismisses Hector's accusations and sends him to bed. To maintain the peace, Eladio splits up the Albuquerque drug territory between Gus and Hector. He recognizes that Gus hates him which he says is fine as long as Gus remembers "who's boss".
Juan Bolsa (played by Javier Grajeda) is a high-level member of the Mexican drug cartel to which the Salamanca family and Gus belong. Within Better Call Saul he generally acts as the voice of the cartel to mediate issues between the Salamancas and Gustavo Fring because he wants to make sure both earn profits for the cartel. Bolsa sometimes secretly works with one side or the other for his own benefit. When Mike secretly disrupts the Salamancas' trucking route for smuggling drugs from Mexico, Bolsa orders that Salamanca drugs will be transported by Gus's trucks, a result Gus worked with Mike to produce because it gave Gus more power over the Salamancas. Bolsa intercedes when Gus provides a false story about Werner Ziegler's activities and death, telling Lalo Salamanca that Gus enjoys Don Eladio's trust, so Lalo should consider the matter closed.
When Lalo is seeking to arrange for Jimmy McGill to pick up his bail money, Bolsa discreetly arranges for a squad of gunmen to attack Jimmy, believing that keeping Lalo in prison is in Gus's best interests but unaware that Gus had his own plans. Bolsa later oversees the cartel's manhunt for Nacho Varga after Nacho aids in an assassination attempt on Lalo. Nacho surrenders to the cartel and falsely claims to be a mole for a rival gang (rather than Gus) in order to protect his father. He then rebukes the Salamancas, reveals himself responsible for Hector's stroke, then kills himself with Bolsa's gun. Later, Bolsa takes part in a meeting with the Salamancas and Don Eladio where Hector accuses Gus of setting up the attempt on Lalo's life and later killing him. However, Don Eladio does not believe it and Bolsa is visibly relieved by the conclusion of the matter.
Within Breaking Bad, it is Bolsa who orders Tortuga's execution by The Cousins and later places his head on a booby-trapped tortoise for the DEA to find. He is also the cartel's liaison with Gus, and the one who arranges a meeting among Gus, the Cousins, and Hector to determine how to handle Walter following Tuco's death. Bolsa tells Gus he will urge the Salamanca family to be patient but advises that Gus risks losing favor with the cartel if he does not finish his business with Walter quickly. He goes on to say that he cannot guarantee the Cousins will listen to reason and leave Walter alive until his business with Gus is done.[35] He has forbidden the Cousins to kill Hank in retaliation for Hank's killing of Tuco because killing law enforcement officers will bring on more police scrutiny. Gus secretly sanctions an attack on Hank instead of Walter, resulting in severe injuries to Hank and the deaths of The Cousins. Bolsa meets his end when Gus secretly tips off Mexican federales in Ciudad Juárez, who kill Bolsa as retaliation for The Cousins' attack on Hank.[26] Bolsa's name, translated literally from Spanish, is John Bag or John Sack; this is a nod to the character John "Johnny Sack" Sacrimoni from the HBO drama The Sopranos. Both characters are high-ranking members of powerful crime families who are very level-headed, well-spoken, and act as intermediaries between their families and others.[36]
Hector Salamanca (played by Mark Margolis) is the elderly don of the Salamanca drug organization and an associate of cartel boss Don Eladio. He is the uncle of twins Leonel and Marco Salamanca (the Cousins), Tuco Salamanca, and Lalo Salamanca, and raised Tuco as a son. He taught his nephews that family is everything and lives by the creed himself. Though brutal, Hector is very loyal. He spent 17 years in San Quentin State Prison but never revealed any information to the authorities. In an extended flashback in the Breaking Bad episode "Hermanos", Hector is shown to be responsible for the death of Max Arciniega, Gus Fring's partner, whom Don Eladio ordered killed after he was insulted by Gus and Max's offer to produce meth for the cartel, which preferred to keep distributing cocaine.[22] Gus loathes Hector, who in turn resents and degrades Gus, calling him "chicken man" (hombre gallina in Spanish, literally "hen man") and a "dirty" South American. Despite their mutual hatred, Hector and Gus are forced to cooperate since each is based in Albuquerque, though each frequently schemes to displace the other.
Hector is the boss of the Salamanca family at the start of Better Call Saul. After Mike Ehrmantraut and Nacho Varga arrange for Tuco's imprisonment by provoking him into attacking Mike, Hector offers Mike $5,000 to reduce Tuco's sentence by claiming the gun Tuco was carrying was Mike's. Hector tries to intimidate Mike into accepting, and Mike eventually accepts $50,000. Mike is concerned about Hector's threats to Stacey and Kaylee and retaliates by attacking a truck transporting Hector's drug cash. Hector kills a witness who stopped to aid the driver, Ximenez, and later has Leonel and Marco bury the witness in the desert. While Hector and the Cousins are preparing to kill Ximenez, Mike attempts to shoot Hector with a sniper rifle, but is stopped by someone unseen, who sets off his car horn and leaves a note warning him not to do it.
In season 3, Mike learns it was Gus who tracked his location and warned him against killing Hector; Gus intends to be the agent of Hector's demise when the time is right. Mike's and Gus's machinations force Hector to find a new way to ship his product from Mexico and he decides to use the upholstery store owned by Nacho's father Manuel. Nacho tries to induce a heart attack by switching Hector's heart medication capsules for fakes containing ibuprofen. Hector has a stroke while meeting with Gus and Juan Bolsa but Gus saves him with CPR.
In season 4, Hector is comatose and Gus arranges for a specialist from Johns Hopkins to oversee his care. Over the next few months, her therapy restores Hector's mental faculties, but he is unable to speak and is immobile except for his right index finger. Gus has the specialist discontinue treatment, trapping Hector's sound mind in his unhealed body, and Hector relies on a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Lalo Salamanca comes to Albuquerque to oversee the Salamanca drug interests. He visits Hector, now residing at the Casa Tranquila nursing home, and gives him the front desk call bell Lalo saved as a souvenir after Hector killed a hotelier and burned down the building. Hector is able to communicate by ringing the bell, which is tied to his wheelchair.
In season 5, Hector confirms to Lalo that Gus is protected by the cartel and enjoys the trust of Don Eladio, and Lalo realizes he will have to tread carefully if he opposes Gus.
In Season 6, Lalo phones Hector after surviving an assassination attempt planned by Gus. Lalo implicates Gus and tells Hector to continue acting as if Lalo is dead so Lalo can obtain proof of Gus's disloyalty to the cartel. Gus and Juan swear vengeance on the man who took Lalo's life, and Hector pretends to be grateful, but his demeanor convinces Gus that Lalo is still alive. Nacho agrees to absolve Gus of blame for the attack on Lalo. After claiming he killed Lalo while working for a rival drug family, Nacho admits to Hector that he caused Hector's stroke, but that Gus saved him. Nacho then commits suicide and an enraged Hector responds by firing bullets into Nacho's corpse. After surmising that Hector's phone calls are monitored by Gus, Lalo calls to say he will attack Gus and his men at Gus's laundry that night. This ruse causes Mike to shift his security teams away from targets considered less important to Lalo, which enables Lalo to approach Jimmy and Kim unobserved. Following Lalo's death, Hector dictates a letter for the Cousins to read to Eladio, in which he reveals Lalo's initial survival and correctly accuses Gus of having subsequently killed him. With no definitive proof that Lalo survived the first attack, Eladio dismisses Hector's accusations and sends a furious Hector to bed, but attempts to placate him by dividing the Albuquerque drug territory between the Salamancas and Gus.
By the time of Breaking Bad, Tuco is out of prison and has brought Hector to live with him. In the season 2 premiere, Tuco kidnaps Walt and Jesse and brings them to the shack where Hector is also located. Walt attempts to poison Tuco's food with meth contaminated with ricin, but Hector saves him by knocking the food onto the floor. After killing Tuco in a shootout, Hank Schrader takes Hector in for questioning. Hector refuses to cooperate and defiantly defecates in his pants, much to the disgust of everyone in the interrogation room. Afterwards, he is sent back to Casa Tranquila. In season 3, the Cousins sneak into the U.S. to avenge Tuco by killing Walt. Mike and Gus intervene and the Cousins bring Hector to a meeting with Gus. Gus convinces them to postpone the murder by telling them Walt is invaluable to the cartel's methamphetamine operations, but that they are free to kill him once he has served his purpose.
In season 4, Gus makes periodic visits to the nursing home to inform Hector about the deaths of Hector's family members at Gus's hands. Gus repeatedly demands that Hector look at him so Gus can gloat, but Hector refuses. In the season finale, Walt convinces Hector to lure Gus into a trap. Hector meets with Hank Schrader under the guise of becoming an informant, but insults Hank rather than giving him information. Tyrus spots Hector leaving the DEA office and alerts Gus. Gus and Tyrus visit Hector in the nursing home, intending to kill him because they believe he has turned informant. Gus again orders Hector to look at him. When a sorrowful-looking Hector finally looks at Gus, Gus prepares to administer a lethal injection but Hector's facial expression changes to wrath as he repeatedly rings his bell. Gus realizes the bell is rigged to detonate a bomb under Hector's wheelchair and tries to run but is caught in the explosion. Hector and Tyrus are instantly killed, while Gus drops dead a few moments after leaving the room.[9]
Tuco Salamanca (played by Raymond Cruz) is a mentally unstable Mexican drug crimelord and nephew to Hector. He is unpredictable and prone to violent outbursts which are often amplified by his drug use. In flashbacks during Breaking Bad, it is shown that when they were children, Hector often meted out harsh punishments to Tuco, Leonel, and Marco.
When introduced in Better Call Saul, Tuco is second-in-command of the Salamanca drug family in Albuquerque under Hector. Tuco and his grandmother are inadvertently targeted for a con by Jimmy and two skateboarders. Tuco and Nacho take Jimmy and the skateboarders out to the desert to kill them but Jimmy pleads for their release. Tuco eventually gives in, breaking one leg of each of the skateboarders as a warning and letting them go, though Nacho recognizes Jimmy as a shrewd lawyer. Later, Nacho recognizes Tuco's behavior within the Salamanca organization has become more erratic. Having seen how Mike operates, Nacho asks Mike to kill Tuco but Mike has a better idea: Mike creates a situation in which Tuco beats him while in view of the police, resulting in Tuco being charged with assault with a deadly weapon because he was carrying a gun. Hector convinces Mike to claim the gun was his so that Tuco will receive a shorter sentence. While in prison, Tuco stabs another inmate and injures a corrections officer, adding more time to his sentence. At the end of season five, approximately four years before the Breaking Bad events, Lalo tells Hector that Tuco has roughly a year left on his sentence.
At the start of events of Breaking Bad, Tuco is one of the first big drug dealers that Walt and Jesse approach to sell their crystal meth. After Walt and Jesse witness him brutally assault and murder one of his henchmen, they plan to poison him by coating their next delivery of meth with ricin. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raids Tuco's headquarters before they can execute their plan. Tuco then carjacks Jesse and kidnaps him and Walt, suspecting Gonzo reported the murder to the authorities. Tuco forces Walt and Jesse into Jesse's trunk, and drives to the remote desert house of his uncle, Hector, who cannot walk or speak due to a stroke. He reveals that his cousins Leonel and Marco are coming to the house to take them to Mexico, where Walt will cook his blue meth for the cartel. Thinking Hector is unaware of his surroundings, Walt sprinkles Tuco's food with ricin while Tuco is not looking but Hector foils the plan. Tuco realizes what Walt intended and attacks Jesse while threatening to kill him with an M16 rifle. During the scuffle, Jesse shoots Tuco in the abdomen. Hank arrives, having followed the LoJack signal of Jesse's car in the belief that Jesse is selling marijuana to Walt. Walt and Jesse hide nearby and see Tuco stagger to Jesse's car, recover his rifle, and fire at Hank. Hank returns fire with a Glock pistol and kills Tuco.[19] Hank's DEA colleagues present him a paperweight embedded with Tuco's grill as a trophy, which he initially prizes but later throws into a river in disgust.[37]
Leonel and Marco Salamanca (played by Daniel and Luis Moncada), referred to as "The Cousins" or "The Twins", are twin brothers and prolific hitmen for Don Eladio's drug cartel. As children, the Cousins were raised by their uncle Hector Salamanca along with their cousin Tuco. Hector once tested them when he stopped a boyhood fight by nearly drowning Marco, which forced Leonel to hit Hector to make him release his grip. After Marco caught his breath, Hector reinforced the lesson that "family is all."[16] By the time of events in Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, they have become deadly enforcers. Their austere, mechanical physicality and virtually non-verbal interaction makes them a fearsome presence and they kill without hesitation or emotion.
In Better Call Saul, the Cousins serve as Hector's enforcers. They are first shown threatening Mike's granddaughter Kaylee when Mike refuses to recant his testimony against Tuco. When Mike is waiting to shoot Hector from a hilltop with a sniper rifle, he sees the twins shoot and kill the Salamancas' ice cream truck driver and drug smuggler Ximenez Lecerda, whom Mike had robbed a few days earlier. When Hector has a stroke as a result of taking placebo medication that Nacho had planted instead of his nitroglycerin pills for his heart condition, the Cousins quickly arrive to watch over Hector at the hospital and refuse to leave his side. Gus, who has a vested interest in deciding Hector's fate as revenge for Max, arranges for a skilled therapist fluent in Spanish to see to Hector's recovery and explain his health to the Cousins. Gus learns what Nacho did with the pills and forces him to become his mole by murdering Arturo in front of him. Gus's men then stage a drive-by shooting to explain Arturo's death, and critically wound Nacho to make the ruse more plausible. Nacho calls the Cousins for help, who come to destroy the evidence, take Nacho to Dr. Caldera for immediate help, and then attack the headquarters of the rival drug gang to recover the "stolen" drugs that Gus had planted there. As their activities have drawn police attention, the Cousins return to Mexico. This gives Gus the opportunity to dismiss the therapist and leave Hector in a state where he can only move his eyes and his right index finger. In addition, the Cousins' slaughter of the gang gives Gus the opportunity to take over the gang's territory for himself.
Lalo later has the Cousins bring his bail money to the border for Jimmy McGill to collect and deliver to him with the Cousins leaving an extra $100,000 as Jimmy's payment. After getting bailed out, Lalo initially plans to have the Cousins pick him up, but later changes his mind and has Nacho drive him to Mexico instead. Lalo survives an assassination attempt plotted by Gus (aided by Nacho) and fakes his own death, leaving the Cousins to discover a decoy body in his home which they believe to be Lalo. The Cousins lead a manhunt for Nacho, but he evades their capture.
In Breaking Bad, it is revealed (in the episode "I.F.T.") that the Cousins were responsible for the death of the DEA informant Tortuga in the episode "Negro y Azul". They had decapitated him by machete and attached his head to a tortoise as part of a bomb which inflicted casualties on several DEA agents.[35] In the third season, following the death of their cousin Tuco, the cartel sends the Cousins to New Mexico to find Tuco's killer. En route to being smuggled into the US, they hide with other undocumented immigrants in the back of a hay truck, and shoot and kill the entire group when one recognizes them by their silver skull boot tips.[38] After Hector tells them about Walter, the cousins quickly track him to his house and are waiting inside to kill him when Mike, who is staking out the house, informs Victor of their presence. Victor tells Gus, who contacts the cousins telling them to abort, so they leave without Walter knowing they have been there.[39] Although Gus gives them permission to kill Walter after Gus's partnership with him ends three months later, Gus is warned that the Cousins will probably ignore the arrangement. Mike later finds a chalk drawing of a scythe outside Walt's house, which he believes the Cousins have left to send the message that their murder of Walt is imminent.[35]
Gus redirects the Cousins by telling them that Hank shot and killed Tuco, and he tells them they have his permission to kill Hank even though the cartel refrains from killing law enforcement officers, because that would draw undue attention to their activities. Leonel and Marco move to kill Hank, however, someone anonymously warns Hank just before the confrontation. Aware of the threat, Hank sees Leonel advancing on him and backs his car up quickly, trapping Leonel between his car and another, which crushes Leonel's legs. Marco opens fire on Hank, who escapes out of the passenger side door and crawls away. Marco strides after Hank, shooting and killing a passerby who surprises him, while another bystander escapes the same fate when Marco stops to reload. Hank then surprises Marco from behind and shoots him in the chest four times, but all four bullets are stopped by Marco's bulletproof vest. Marco shoots Hank twice in the chest and abdomen, but rather than finish him off with another shot, Marco returns to his car for an axe. Hank takes advantage of the pause to load Leonel's empty gun with a hollow-point round that Marco had dropped next to him. When Marco re-approaches Hank, Hank kills him with a shot to the head.[16][25]
To silence Leonel while he is in the hospital following his leg amputation, Gus distracts the police assigned to the security detail by bringing them food from Los Pollos Hermanos, giving Mike the opportunity to sneak into Leonel's room and administer a lethal injection. Leonel dies, and Mike quietly disposes of the syringe he used, unnoticed by the police officers nearby.
Arturo Colon (played by Vincent Fuentes) is one of Hector Salamanca's enforcers who usually works alongside Nacho Varga. Arturo is sent to intimidate Mike into recanting his testimony against Tuco, but is overpowered by Mike. Arturo later attempts to strong-arm Gus's men into providing the Salamancas an extra kilo of cocaine during a pick up, as he had seen Nacho do on a previous occasion. After Gus discovers Nacho's role in causing Hector's stroke, he forces Nacho to become his mole by murdering Arturo in front of him. Gus's men stage Arturo's death as an attack committed by a rival gang, and wound Nacho to make the ruse more convincing.
Gaff (played by Maurice Compte) is a member of the Mexican drug cartel, serving as Don Eladio's primary enforcer, hitman and right-hand man. He is first seen coordinating the hijacking of a Los Pollos Hermanos truck that is transporting drugs and killing the guards inside by filling it with engine exhaust fumes. Gaff serves as the cartel's representative in a sitdown with Gus, where he rejects Gus's offer of $50 million to cut all ties and informs Gus there will be no negotiation, only an ultimatum to deliver the formula for the blue methamphetamine. Later, Gaff shoots and kills one of Gus's men with a sniper rifle at the chicken farm but stops shooting when Gus presents himself as a target and agrees to negotiate with Eladio. Gaff is present when the cartel is poisoned; Mike garrotes him as he checks on the ill Eladio.[34]
Gonzo (played by Jesus Payan Jr.) is Tuco Salamanca's brother-in-law and one of his lieutenants. He dies while moving No-Doze's body from under a stack of cars in a junkyard; the stack shifts and catches his arm under it, partially severing it and causing him to bleed to death. When Walter and Jesse learn he is dead, they incorrectly assume that Tuco is killing any witnesses to No-Doze's murder, and fear for their own lives. Later, when Tuco finds Gonzo is not returning his calls, he falsely believes Gonzo is working as a police informant.[40]
No-Doze (played by Cesar Garcia) is one of the head lieutenants in Tuco's drug organization. Tuco beats him to death for telling Walter and Jesse "Just remember who you're working for", which Tuco takes as an insult to their intelligence and an encroachment on his authority.[41]
Tortuga (played by Danny Trejo) is an informant for the DEA in El Paso on the inner workings of the Mexican cartels. Cartel operatives cut off his head and place it atop a tortoise (tortuga is Spanish for "tortoise") with "HOLA DEA" ("Hello DEA") written across its shell. A hidden bomb in the head then explodes, killing the tortoise, two DEA agents and a Federale, as well as severely injuring several of the DEA agents and Federales on the scene. Hank is physically unharmed as he was far enough from the explosion, but later develops post-traumatic stress disorder.[42] It is later revealed that Tortuga was beheaded with a machete by Tuco's cousins Leonel and Marco Salamanca under Juan Bolsa's direct order.[35]
Ximenez Lecerda (played by Manuel Uriza) drives a truck that delivers supplies for Hector Salamanca's ice cream store, in which he smuggles cocaine from Mexico and carries cash back to the cartel.[43] When Mike decides to disrupt Hector's drug business, he surveils the ice cream shop and a mechanic's garage.[44] The sound of the truck's tires being cut at the garage provides Mike with an understanding of how the smuggling routine works.[44] On Ximenez's next trip to Mexico, Mike uses a homemade spike strip to flatten the truck's tires, then ties up and blindfolds Ximenez.[45] Mike then cuts open a tire and steals the $250,000 hidden inside.[45] Mike intended for a Good Samaritan to free Ximenez, but when a passerby stopped to help, Ximenez called Hector.[43] Hector then dispatched a crew to the location to kill the Good Samaritan and clean up the scene.[43] Nacho informs Mike that he has orders to bring Ximenez to Hector for interrogation about whether he participated in the robbery.[45] Mike intends to kill Hector and procures a black market sniper rifle.[45] Through the scope, Mike sees Leonel and Marco kill Ximenez.[45] Shortly afterwards, Mike is dissuaded from firing at Hector.[45]
Declan (played by Louis Ferreira) is a meth dealer who operates in Phoenix, Arizona. Mike Ehrmantraut attempts to sell Declan the methylamine stolen in the train robbery, but Walter White suggests that Declan buy out Mike Ehrmantraut and Jesse Pinkman, then take over distribution of Walter White's methamphetamine in return for 35% of revenue, revealing that he is Heisenberg, the mysterious meth cooker whose product is renowned for its exceptional purity.[33][46] After Walter White stops producing methamphetamine, Lydia Rodarte-Quayle's customers express dissatisfaction with the product, so Rodarte-Quayle tries to convince Declan to replace his meth cook with Todd Alquist. Declan refuses, so Rodarte-Quayle arranges for Jack Welker's gang to kill Declan's whole crew, take the remaining methylamine, and continue production with Todd Alquist as the cook.[15]
Emilio Koyama (played by John Koyama) is Jesse's former partner in the meth business and Krazy 8's cousin. According to Jesse, they met when they were still in elementary school. In the "Pilot" episode, Emilio is arrested during a DEA raid on a house (at which Walter is present during a "ride along" with Hank) in which the DEA is looking for a meth supplier who goes by the street name "Captain Cook" (Jesse himself). As Jesse proposes Krazy-8 to manage the distribution of the superior quality methamphetamine he produced with his new partner, he realized that Emilio made bail. Suspicious that Jesse ratted him out to the police (although it is later revealed Krazy-8 was in fact a DEA informant), Emilio and Krazy-8 force Jesse to lead them to his new partner. Emilio recognizes Walter from the time of his arrest and suggests killing both Walter and Jesse. Walter convinces them to spare their lives if he teaches them his meth formula. While the three are in the RV, Walt deliberately causes a chemical explosion and flees, trapping Emilio and Krazy-8 inside the RV with deadly phosphine gas. Emilio dies and Jesse subsequently disposes of his body by dissolving it in hydrofluoric acid, albeit disastrously as it also dissolves Jesse's bathtub and the floor below.[47][48] In "Better Call Saul", Jesse mentions that Saul Goodman got Emilio out of serious legal trouble twice as proof of why he and Walt should hire Saul to help Badger.
In Better Call Saul's "Waterworks", Emilio visits Saul Goodman's office in 2004 for legal help just as Kim Wexler is leaving after she and Saul sign their divorce papers.
Domingo Gallardo "Krazy-8" Molina (played by Max Arciniega)[49] is a meth distributor associated with his cousin Emilio and Jesse Pinkman and is the first antagonist of the opening three episodes of the series. Krazy-8 becomes suspicious of Jesse when Jesse attempts to sell him a new product after Emilio's arrest, and forces Jesse to take him to Jesse's new partner. Krazy-8 and Emilio suspect Walter is involved with law enforcement and appear intent on killing him until Walter offers to teach Krazy-8 his drug formula. While mixing chemicals, Walter creates a small explosion that produces phosphine gas, which appears to kill both Emilio and Krazy-8. Emilio dies, but Krazy-8 regains consciousness, prompting Jesse and Walt to imprison him in Jesse's basement for several days as they ponder what to do with him.[47][48] Walt begins to bond with Krazy-8, feeding him and sharing beers; Krazy-8 is the first person Walt tells about his cancer. Walt is nearly convinced to free him, but realizes that Krazy-8 plans to attack him with a concealed piece of a broken crockery, and strangles him to death. Later in the episode, it is implied that Walter disposed of Krazy-8's body with hydrofluoric acid in the same manner as Emilio's.[50] From that point on, throughout the series, Walt makes sandwiches without bread crusts, adopting Krazy-8's manner of eating sandwiches.[38] Following the discovery of his car in the desert, it is revealed by Hank Schrader and Steven Gomez that Krazy-8 is actually the informant who had led them to Emilio and Jesse's lab in the first place during the ride along that had triggered Walt's interest in the drug trade. The discovery of a sample of Walt's meth hidden in Krazy-8's car alerts them to the existence of new players in town. In season two, Hank states that Tuco Salamanca is suspected of murdering Krazy-8, but Gomez states that they could not prove it.
Krazy-8 also appears in Better Call Saul as part of the Salamanca drug ring. Initially one of the dealers, he takes on a lieutenant role under Nacho after Hector Salamanca has a stroke and becomes paralyzed, and continues in this position when Lalo Salamanca arrives from Mexico to oversee operations. Lalo is the one to nickname Domingo "Ocho Loco" (Spanish for "Crazy Eight") based on his misplaying of a hand during a poker game.[51] Krazy-8 is arrested when one of the Salamanca drug houses is discovered by the local police, leading Nacho to seek Jimmy McGill's legal services to help free him. Jimmy, as Saul Goodman, creates a ploy that draws Hank to see Domingo, and through Saul's machinations, secures Domingo's release by assuring that he will be Hank's confidential informant. Lalo subsequently uses Krazy-8 to sabotage Gus Fring's rival drug operations until Mike gets Lalo arrested for murder.
Jack Welker (played by Michael Bowen) is Todd Alquist's uncle and the leader of a Neo-Nazi gang. Walter pays Jack to kill Mike's crew after they are arrested, because Walt fears they can identify him as a member of Gus's operation and may enter into plea bargains as government informants since the DEA has stopped the payments Gus had arranged for their families. Jack's gang kills nine of Mike's men and their lawyer Dan Wachsberger in three prisons, within two minutes, which prevents any of them from warning the others or law enforcement authorities from adding extra protection.[29] Jack also heads his gang's massacre of Declan's at Lydia's behest after Declan refuses Lydia's request to replace his shoddy meth cook with Todd.[15]
Jack and his crew are later hired by Walt to kill Jesse in exchange for teaching Todd to cook meth one more time. When Walt is lured to the money's location by Jesse, he calls Jack's crew for help, but calls it off when he sees Hank and Gomez are with Jesse. Nonetheless, Jack and his crew arrive and engage in a shootout with Hank and Gomez.[12] Following the shootout, in which Gomez is killed, Jack murders Hank and abducts Jesse (initially to kill him, then to force him to work as an enslaved meth cook). Jack then orders the gang to dig up Walt's barrels of money (containing approximately $80 million), but at Todd's behest he leaves Walt alive with one barrel (about $11 million).[13]
Several months later, Walt arrives at Jack's hideout and remotely activates an M60 machine gun hidden in his car's trunk; the massive bullet spray kills Jack's entire gang except for Jack and Todd. An enraged Jesse strangles Todd with the chain that connects his shackles. A mortally wounded Jack offers to trade the money he took from Walt for his life, but Walt coldly shoots him in mid-sentence, in the same manner that Jack shot Hank.
Kenny (Kevin Rankin) is Jack's protégé and second-in-command, and the Brotherhood's tech expert.[52]
Kenny is one of the gang members killed in Walter White's M60 machine gun attack. He also appears in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, in which he is seen in a flashback as he taunts Jesse during Neil Kandy's construction of the tether that restrains Jesse while he is forced to cook meth for the Brotherhood.
Andrea Cantillo (played by Emily Rios) is a love interest of Jesse Pinkman's. She is a recovering meth addict and single mother to a young son named Brock (played by Ian Posada). Jesse meets her at a drug addicts' support group meeting and initially tries to get her to relapse so she will become a customer of his, but he reverses course when he learns she has a young son to care for. He engages in a romantic relationship with her, but ends it when he discovers that the 11-year-old boy who killed his friend "Combo" is her younger brother Tomas Cantillo (played by Angelo Martinez). After the break-up, she confronts Jesse at his home about a large sum of money he had left for her at her home. He tells her the money is for her to move out of her bad neighborhood and to help raise her son. Saul continues to deliver money to her, in her new home, on Jesse's behalf. In Season 4, she and Jesse reunite. When Brock is poisoned, Jesse rushes to the hospital and stays there until the doctors notify him that Brock will survive. In Season 5, Walt manipulates Jesse into leaving her, by advising Jesse that he would have to be honest with her about all the crimes he has committed. While Jesse does send them off again, he continues providing for them financially. Later in the season, Andrea is again contacted by Walt in a failed attempt to lure Jesse out of DEA protection. Walter assigns Jack to watch over the house in case Jesse makes an appearance. Subsequently, Jack uses her as leverage against Jesse, who is kept prisoner by him and his team to cook meth for them. After Jesse attempts to escape from Jack's gang, Todd shoots and kills Andrea while Jesse is forced to watch.
Brock Cantillo (played by Ian Posada) is Andrea's eight-year-old son. Andrea is a recovering meth addict and single mother. Jesse meets her at a drug addicts' twelve-step program meeting and initially tries to get her to relapse, so she will become his customer, but he reverses course when he meets Brock and realizes she has a young son to care for. Jesse engages in a romantic relationship with Andrea, but ends it when he discovers that the 11-year-old boy who killed his friend "Combo" is her younger brother Tomas Cantillo (played by Angelo Martinez); however, Jesse continues to offer financial support to Andrea and Brock.
In Season 4, Andrea and Jesse reunite. When Brock gets sick, Jesse rushes to the hospital, and warns the doctors about a possible ricin poisoning, then stays there until the doctors notify him that Brock will survive (it turns out that the boy was indeed poisoned, although not with ricin but with lily of the valley; still, this timely warning put them on the right track). Jesse fears Brock was poisoned by a ricin cigarette Jesse was carrying. Walt tries to convince Jesse that Gus poisoned Brock. This manipulation by Walt renews Jesse's loyalty to him rather than to Gus. In the final season's episode "Confessions" Jesse suddenly changes his mind about leaving town and assuming a new identity when he realizes Walt poisoned Brock. Jesse then rushes to Walt's house and attempts to burn it down, but is intercepted by Hank.
Subsequently, Brock and Andrea are used as leverage against Jesse, who is kept prisoner by Todd and Jack's gang to cook meth for them. After Jesse attempts to escape, Todd shoots and kills Andrea while Jesse is forced to watch; Jesse is threatened with Brock's death if he attempts to escape again.
In El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, Jesse prepares to leave for a new life in Alaska and gives Ed a letter for Brock, who is the only person to whom he wants to say goodbye. After reading it, Ed promises to mail it from Mexico City the following month, ensuring that Brock will get it and that it cannot be traced to Jesse in Alaska.
Jane Margolis (played by Krysten Ritter) is Jesse's landlady, neighbor, and eventual girlfriend. She is a prolific drafter, a skill that she has used to become a tattoo artist despite not having any tattoos. She is also a recovering drug addict. She discovers that Jesse also has a past interest in drawing, and they become intrigued by each other. They quickly become a couple, and she relapses into drug addiction, introducing Jesse to heroin. She later phones Walt and successfully threatens to expose him if he refuses to give Jesse his share of money from a major methamphetamine deal with Gus Fring, a deal that Jesse's drug use had nearly ruined. After Walt drops off Jesse's cut of nearly half a million dollars at his duplex, she and Jesse discuss running away together to New Zealand to start new lives. They go into Jesse's bedroom and see the heroin, but instead of throwing it away as they had promised themselves earlier, they get high and fall asleep. That night, Walt returns to the apartment and finds the drugged-out couple unconscious in bed. In the process of trying to wake Jesse from his stupor, Walt accidentally turns Jane onto her back. She begins to vomit while asleep, and Walt silently stands at the bedside watching her choke and then asphyxiate to death. Series creator Vince Gilligan explained Walt's motive for allowing Jane to die during a 2013 panel discussion about Breaking Bad at the Film at Lincoln Center, stating that Walt was afraid Jane's bad influence would lead Jesse to an early death from heroin overdose.[53]
Jane's death leads to significant repercussions throughout the rest of the series, and is largely responsible for Jesse's downward spiral in the first half of the third season, as well as her father Donald's deep depression which affects him to the point that he fails in his duties as an air-traffic controller and causes a midair collision between a 737 and a King Air 350 ("ABQ"). In the episode "Fly", while under the influence of sleeping pills, Walt is tormented by his guilt over his inaction the night of Jane's death; he reveals to Jesse that on the same night she died, he unknowingly met her father in a bar (realizing it was him only after seeing him on the news following the plane crash), and questions the statistical improbability of that sequence of events, but stops shy of revealing his involvement. Walt finally reveals the full extent of his role in Jane's death to Jesse in the series' ante-penultimate episode, "Ozymandias", as a final blow after he ordered Jack to kill him, deeming him responsible for Hank's death and the loss of his fortune.
Jane appears in a flashback in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, reciting the final lines of the film. She reminds Jesse that sometimes the universe takes people towards bad places, and despite her free-spirited nature she considers it better to make life's important decisions by yourself.
Brandon "Badger" Mayhew (played by Matt L. Jones) is Jesse's friend. Despite being on probation, Badger still uses drugs. He had a job as a street advertising mascot for an Albuquerque bank. During Season 1, Badger leaves the job to cook crystal meth with Jesse. Disagreements soon occur and they bitterly part ways. In Season 2, Badger and Jesse reconcile, and Badger helps clear the meth lab from Jesse's basement, then assists in hiding Jesse's RV, which previously contained the meth lab. Walt and Jesse later employ Badger to sell their product, but he is quickly arrested. Once released, Badger flees to California. After Badger returns to New Mexico, Jesse persuades him to start selling meth again. Badger later attends Narcotics Anonymous meetings with Skinny Pete, where they intend to find new buyers by informing a group of recovering drug addicts that "Blue Sky" (Walt and Jesse's product) is again available. Badger and Pete begin to find the meetings helpful and continue to attend regularly. Badger helps Jesse several more times, and is in attendance at Jesse's house party, which lasts several days. He is also the lead singer for TwaüghtHammër, the band in which he plays with Jesse. Badger is a science fiction fan and discusses at length his idea for a Star Trek script in the episode "Blood Money." He and Pete help Walt threaten the Schwartzes in the series finale, "Felina", by holding laser pointers to imitate the laser sights of sniper rifles. The ruse enables Walt to compel the Schwartzes to use Walt's remaining money to establish a trust for Walter Jr.
Badger and Skinny Pete appear in El Camino, helping Jesse hide for the night after he flees Jack's compound in Todd's El Camino and distracting police to give Jesse time to get away. As part of Pete's plan to aid Jesse, Pete stays at home and waits for police to respond to the El Camino's LoJack so he can tell them he traded his Thunderbird to Jesse for the El Camino. Badger drives Pete's Thunderbird several hours south of Albuquerque to make it appear that Jesse fled to Mexico. Jesse leaves Badger and Pete's house in Badger's Pontiac Fiero. After saying goodbye to Badger and Pete, Jesse continues to drive Badger's Fiero until he leaves Albuquerque with Ed to start his new life in Alaska. As later revealed by Francesca Liddy in Better Call Saul's "Breaking Bad", Skinny Pete and Badger's plan worked and the authorities later found the car by the Mexico border and as a result, they believe that Jesse has fled to Mexico.
Skinny Pete (played by Charles Baker) is Jesse's friend. He served time in prison with Tuco and introduces Jesse to him. Jesse recruits Pete to deal meth, although Pete is on probation. When Pete is mugged by two addicts, Jesse is forced to get the money and product back. After Badger is arrested and Combo is killed, Pete quits dealing for Jesse, fearing being sent back to prison and for his own safety. He decides to sell meth for Jesse again, albeit on a smaller scale. He attends Narcotics Anonymous meetings with Badger. After following the program together and staying clean, they relapse when Jesse tempts them with meth. After a few days of heavy meth use they leave Jesse's house. In the Season 5 episode "Hazard Pay", Pete is shown to be a talented pianist as he plays a small section of C.P.E. Bach's Solfeggietto at a music store.[54] He is also seen in the mid-season premiere "Blood Money", hanging out at Jesse's house and listening to Badger's Star Trek script.
Pete is seen briefly in the series finale, when Walt compels Gretchen and Elliot to use his remaining money to establish a trust for Walter Jr. and Badger and Pete to use laser pointers to make them believe hitmen will kill them if they do not comply. Pete and Badger also inform Walt that his trademark blue meth is still circulating, which Walt realizes means Jesse is still alive.
In El Camino, Pete and Badger give Jesse a place to sleep after he flees from Jack's compound in Todd's El Camino. The following morning, Pete devises a plan to help Jesse evade police. Badger and Pete give Jesse the money Walt paid them for their role in coercing Gretchen and Elliot. Pete stays with the El Camino and waits for police to respond to its Lojack so he can claim he obtained it by trading his Thunderbird to Jesse. Badger drives Pete's Thunderbird several hours south to make it appear Jesse fled to Mexico. Jesse departs Pete and Badger's house in Badger's Pontiac Fiero. Pete is last seen moving the El Camino to his driveway so it will be visible from the street when the police arrive. As later revealed by Francesca Liddy in Better Call Saul's "Breaking Bad", Skinny Pete and Badger's plan worked and the authorities later found the car by the Mexico border and as a result, they believe that Jesse has fled to Mexico.
Before the release of El Camino, Netflix dropped a teaser trailer showing the DEA interrogating Pete about Jesse's whereabouts. Though it was not used in the film, several critics speculated after the premiere that the scene likely occurred after Jesse left Pete and Badger's house, which would make the trailer his final chronological appearance.[55]
Christian "Combo" Ortega (played by Rodney Rush) is Jesse's friend and a dealer of his methamphetamine. He is also revealed to have been the one who originally owned the RV that Walt and Jesse cooked meth in, which Combo had sold to Jesse for $1,400 without his family's knowledge, which provides a big clue for Hank when tracking down "Heisenberg". He once got in legal trouble as a juvenile for stealing a Baby Jesus from a Nativity display, but was helped by Kim Wexler who served as his public defender.
Combo is later killed in "Mandala" when a rival drug group corners him while he is dealing methamphetamine on "foreign turf." Combo calls his friend Skinny Pete to report two men are "mad eyeballing" him. As he hangs up the phone, a kid on a bicycle shoots him several times, killing him on the street. Combo's death drives Jesse to spiral into drug addiction. Jesse eventually learns that the kid is Tomas Cantillo, the little brother of his new girlfriend Andrea and that Combo was murdered as part of a gang initiation. Jesse subsequently seeks retribution upon the dealers for Combo's murder and the murder of Tomas, putting him at odds with Gus Fring.
Adam Pinkman (played by Michael Bofshever) and Diane Pinkman (played by Tess Harper) are Jesse Pinkman's parents. Due to Jesse's drug abuse, they have a strained relationship with their son, kicking him out of his late aunt's house (where Jesse had been living after serving as his aunt's caretaker and friend) after discovering a makeshift meth lab in the basement. Adam and Diane renovate the home, preparing it for sale. Unbeknownst to them, Jesse works with Saul Goodman to reacquire the home. Claiming to represent an anonymous buyer, Saul presents an offer significantly under market value. Offended, the Pinkmans begin to leave the negotiating table. As they are leaving, Saul reveals he knows the home used to host a meth lab, which is not revealed as required in the property disclosures; he then informs them that not declaring this is an illegal act. Realizing that the home price will plummet and they may be sued, Adam and Diane Pinkman reluctantly accept Saul's offer.
On the closing date, Jesse visits his parents at the newly renovated home. When Jesse heads to the front door, Diane tells Jesse that the house has been sold, and that he needs to leave, as the new owners will be stopping by shortly. When Jesse does not stop, a confused Mrs. Pinkman asks where he is going. Jesse reveals that he is the new owner.
The Pinkmans appear in El Camino, requesting in a news interview that Jesse turn himself in. Knowing his parents are probably being monitored by the police, Jesse calls, indicates a willingness to turn himself in, and asks them to pick him up. Before hanging up, Jesse tells his parents they did their best when raising him, and the life he has led and the problems he has caused are his fault, not theirs. After his parents leave, Jesse's call is revealed to be a ruse to draw them and police away from the house. Jesse enters unobserved and recovers two handguns from his parents' safe, a Colt Woodsman and an Iver Johnson Hammerless.[56]
Jake Pinkman (played by Ben Petry) is Jesse's younger, over-achieving brother. Jesse accepts the blame for a joint belonging to Jake, which results in Jesse being thrown out of his parents' house. After apologizing to his brother, Jake asks for his joint back; Jesse responds by crushing it on the sidewalk and informing his brother that the marijuana is of poor quality anyway.
In El Camino, when Jesse calls his parents he asks about Jake, and they tell Jesse that Jake is attending a band camp in London, implying that they are yet to find out of his addiction. When Jesse attempts to open his parents' safe, he correctly guesses that the combination corresponds to Jake's birthday.
Wendy (portrayed by Julia Minesci) is a meth-addicted street prostitute, who associates with Jesse Pinkman and is featured in the online promotional material as one of Saul Goodman's clients (as "Wendy S."). In Better Call Saul ("Hit and Run"), Jimmy and Kim hire her to help run a con against Howard Hamlin. Wendy alerts Kim to a car following them, which Wendy believes to be undercover police; Kim later discovers that she and Jimmy are being monitored as part of Mike and Gus's manhunt for Lalo Salamanca.
In Breaking Bad Wendy helps Jesse maintain an alibi and withstands an intense interrogation from Hank Schrader on Jesse's behalf. Recognizing her loyalty to him, Jesse tries to convince her to help him kill two drug dealers who convinced Tomás to murder Combo on Gus's orders. She declines at first, fearing the repercussions, revealing that she has a son whom she needs to protect, but Jesse persuades her to help by drawing a comparison between Tomás and her own son. At the last moment, she is spared the ordeal by Mike, who intervenes to take Jesse to a meeting with the drug dealers.
In the cold open of "Half Measures" which focuses on Wendy, the song "Windy" by The Association plays in the background, which is a pun on her name.
Marco Pasternak (portrayed by Mel Rodriguez) is a scam artist and one of Jimmy McGill's lifelong friends. A high school classmate of Jimmy's in Cicero, Illinois, they frequently worked cons together, including the "fake Rolex". After Chuck helps secure Jimmy's release following his arrest for the "Chicago sunroof" incident, Chuck requires Jimmy to move to Albuquerque and work a legitimate job. Jimmy stops by his and Marco's favorite bar to say goodbye, leaving Marco disappointed.
After suffering a breakdown because of Chuck's attempts to prevent him from rising in the legal profession, Jimmy returns to Cicero and reunites with Marco, who now works for his brother-in-law as a standpipe installer. After a week of running successful scams, Jimmy informs Marco he is an attorney and needs to return to Albuquerque. Marco begs Jimmy to pull one more scam before he goes, and Jimmy agrees. While running the "fake Rolex" con, Marco suffers a heart attack. Before he dies, he tells Jimmy that the week they spent together was the best of his life. Jimmy inherits Marco's pinky ring, which is too big for him. Despite the poor fit, Jimmy begins to wear Marco's ring as a symbol of his newfound willingness to cut corners to get ahead in the legal profession.
Ernesto (portrayed by Brandon K. Hampton) is an employee of HHM and a friend of Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler. After Chuck McGill told Jimmy that he disapproved of his legal career and did not view him as a peer, Jimmy asked Howard to ensure Chuck continued to be looked after, including bringing him groceries and newspapers. Howard assigned Chuck's daily care to Ernesto.
After Chuck suspects Jimmy of altering Mesa Verde documents to regain the bank as a client for Kim, he enlists Ernesto to investigate, and Ernesto eventually finds the all-night copy store where Jimmy carried out the alterations. Ernesto brings Chuck to the store to interview the clerk but Chuck's EHS symptoms cause him to faint and hit his head on a counter. Jimmy was hiding nearby after bribing the clerk to deny having seen him on his earlier visit, and enters the store to provide first aid to Chuck. At the hospital, Chuck wonders how Jimmy happened on the scene so quickly. Ernesto covers for Jimmy by falsely claiming that out of concern for Chuck's health, he called Jimmy after identifying the store but before bringing Chuck to the location.
As part of his plot to get Jimmy disbarred, Chuck manipulates Ernesto into hearing part of Jimmy's recorded confession to altering the Mesa Verde documents, assuming that even though Chuck has sworn him to silence, Ernesto will inform Kim and Jimmy. Ernesto informs Kim, who in turn informs Jimmy. After Jimmy angrily breaks into Chuck's house to destroy the tape and is witnessed by Howard and a private investigator, which enables Chuck to have Jimmy prosecuted, HHM fires Ernesto for disclosing confidential information.[57][58]
Huell Babineaux (/ˈhjuːl ˈbæbɪnoʊ/; played by Lavell Crawford) is Saul Goodman's bodyguard, who also executes various intimidation tactics and performs other errands. Hired more for his size, strength, and pickpocketing skills than his intelligence, he has a condition approximating narcolepsy (e.g., he falls asleep at odd times, such as when standing up or while on security detail), and has digestive problems that keep him from being as stoic as Saul would like.[59] During the bar association hearing considering Jimmy McGill's disbarment over his break in at Chuck's house, he hires Huell to plant a cell phone battery in his brother Chuck's pocket as part of a strategy to discredit Chuck's claimed electromagnetic hypersensitivity, as Chuck believes he suffers from EHS. Jimmy later hires Huell to serve as a bodyguard while Jimmy conducts his business re-selling pre-paid cellular phones. Huell is arrested after he inadvertently assaults a police officer while protecting Jimmy, and faces up to two and a half years in prison as a result. Jimmy's law license is still suspended, so he brings in Kim Wexler to defend Huell. Huell plans to flee rather than go to prison, so Kim and Jimmy forge dozens of letters describing Huell as a hero and denouncing his arrest. The con forces the prosecutor to accept a plea bargain that ensures Huell does not go to prison. As part of their plot against Howard Hamlin, Jimmy and Kim enlist Huell's help to make a copy of Howard's car keys with the help of one of Huell's associates. After successfully making the keys, Huell questions why Jimmy and Kim are bothering with such illegal activity when they have legitimate jobs as great lawyers.
In Breaking Bad, when Ted Beneke goes on a spending spree with the money Skyler arranged to give him, rather than paying his IRS debt as she intended, Huell and Kuby intimidate him into paying the IRS. Though they did not intend violence, Ted attempts to flee, falls, and suffers head and neck injuries that leave him paraplegic. In "Buried", Saul sends Huell and Kuby to collect Walt's money from a storage locker, and in "Confessions", Saul tasks Huell with pickpocketing Jesse's marijuana so Jesse will not be high when he contacts Ed the "disappearer" for a new identity. It is while Jesse is waiting for Ed that he realizes his marijuana is gone and understands that Huell had earlier pickpocketed from him the ricin cigarette that Walt had intended for Jesse to use in killing Gus. Jesse's realization that Huell stole the ricin cigarette enables him to understand that Walt must have poisoned Brock in order to turn Jesse against Gus (which is true, although Walt did not use ricin).
Hank and Gomez later interrogate Huell to learn where Walt hid his money, telling him falsely that Walt intends to kill him to ensure that no one can trace Walt's drug-dealing past. They use a staged photo of Jesse, who appears to have been killed with a gunshot to the head, to coax Huell into revealing that he and Kuby packed Walt's money into seven barrels, then loaded the barrels into a rented van. Huell also reveals that the van was so dirty on the outside when Walt returned that they washed it before returning it, implying that Walt's money was buried somewhere in the desert. Hank and Gomez tell Huell to wait until they come back for him, but they are killed and never return.
Six years after Huell's final appearance on Breaking Bad, and three days before the release of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, a countdown was shared on Breaking Bad's social media channels. Throughout the countdown, multiple videos were shown of Huell still sitting impatiently in the safehouse where Hank and Gomez left him, watching the events of "Felina" on the news.[60] Upon the countdown's conclusion, Huell, now tired of waiting, says "screw this", puts on his jacket and leaves the safehouse as the title credits of El Camino appear on his television.[61]
In the Better Call Saul episode "Breaking Bad", Francesca tells Saul that Huell is back home in New Orleans now. As the DEA had taken him in under false pretenses, they were forced to let him go in the end.
Ed Galbraith (played by Robert Forster), also known as "the Disappearer", specializes in providing fugitives with new identities and new places to live.[62] He operates a legitimate vacuum sales and service center, Best Quality Vacuum, as a front for this criminal business.[63][64]
Though mentioned in earlier episodes (such as in "Crawl Space"), Ed first appears in "Granite State". As Walter is identified as Heisenberg and becomes the target of a manhunt, both Walt and Saul seek Ed's criminal services. Ed first helps Saul escape to Omaha, Nebraska. He later takes Walter White to New Hampshire, hiding him away in a cabin in a rural area. During Walt's time in hiding, Ed often visits Walt, bringing him supplies and administering chemotherapy, though he warns that if Walt leaves the location, their business relationship will be over for good. A lonely Walt also takes to paying Ed to spend time with him and play cards.
In El Camino, Jesse approaches Ed for relocation. Ed demands $125,000 to aid Jesse, plus $125,000 for the previous occasion Jesse was supposed to use his services, but failed to appear. Jesse is $1,800 short and Ed refuses to help. After Jesse obtains the money, Ed smuggles him to a car parked near Haines, Alaska and provides him with false identification and a cover story. Jesse gives Ed a farewell letter for Brock Cantillo, which Ed promises to mail from Mexico City in the near future, wishing Jesse luck on his new life and noting that not many people like them get a fresh start.
In Better Call Saul, in the flashforward at the beginning of season 5's "Magic Man", (set after the events of El Camino) Saul (in his new identity as Gene Takavic) calls Ed for a second extraction after a cab driver named Jeff recognizes him. Ed recognizes Saul's voice and agrees to a second extraction, warning that it will cost double. Saul agrees and Ed schedules the extraction and location, but after a moment of consideration, Saul changes his mind and tells Ed that he will "fix it [himself]" instead.
In Better Call Saul season 6's "Axe and Grind", Saul and Kim Wexler look at Dr. Caldera's little black book of criminal contacts, which are all coded. However, amongst the pages are several Best Quality Vacuum business cards, revealing that Caldera has connections to Ed and also possibly explaining how Saul ultimately first becomes aware of Ed and his services. Kim looks at one of the cards with confusion and interest for a moment before putting it away again. In the series finale, "Saul Gone", Saul attempts to call Ed for another extraction after his cover is finally blown, but Saul is captured by the police before he can make the call.
Robert Forster's appearances as Ed in El Camino and Better Call Saul were among his final roles. He died of brain cancer on October 11, 2019, the same day the movie was released, though he appeared in Better Call Saul as Ed posthumously. Ed is one of the only five characters to appear in Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and El Camino, along with Mike Ehrmantraut, Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, and Austin Ramey. The Better Call Saul episode "Magic Man" was dedicated to Forster.
Francesca Liddy (played by Tina Parker) is Saul Goodman's outspoken receptionist and secretary. Originally employed at the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division, Jimmy hired her for the Wexler-McGill law firm. After Kim's car accident, Jimmy and Kim closed their office, and Francesca returned to the MVD. When Jimmy started practicing as Saul Goodman, Francesca returned to work for him.
In "Quite a Ride", a flashforward to 2010 shows Saul and Francesca frantically clearing out his office. She agrees to be at a telephone booth on November 12 (Jimmy's birthday) at 3 p.m. to receive a call. He gives her money and an attorney's business card and tells her that if she needs help she should say "Jimmy" sent her. As she leaves, Saul claims the last few years have been "quite a ride", then calls Ed Galbraith for a new identity.
In the Better Call Saul episode "Breaking Bad", in a flashforward, Francesca is now an apartment building manager and she answers the prearranged phone call which proves to be from Saul himself. After getting paid via money that Saul had left behind for her, Francesca reveals that the DEA had found and seized all of Saul's hidden assets. With Walt dead and Jesse Pinkman having supposedly fled the country, Saul is now their sole target. At Saul's request, Francesca tells him about what became of Skyler White and Huell Babineaux before revealing that Kim had called her asking after Saul.
Patrick Kuby (played by Bill Burr) is one of Saul Goodman's hired hands. He assists in facilitating the car wash sale to the Whites by impersonating an environmental inspector, and later intimidates Ted Beneke with Huell's help. He also aids Walt, Jesse, and Mike in their train robbery and helps Huell collect Walt's money from storage. Before moving to Albuquerque, Kuby was involved in organized crime in Boston.[65]
Marshall Joseph "Joey" Dixon (played by Josh Fadem), aka Camera Guy, is the cameraman of the college filmmaking crew Jimmy McGill occasionally uses to shoot TV ads and other events.[66] Jimmy originally referred to him only as Camera Guy.[66] Jimmy also initially refers to the other crew members only by the functions they perform.[67] After graduating, Joey is shown guest lecturing at the college and working in its audiovisual equipment center. He, Phil, and Cheri would go on to create the "Filmmaker Training" series of videos of informational tips and tricks for filmmaking, in which Kim also made an appearance.
Phil, also known as Sound Guy (played by Julian Bonfiglio) handles the microphones and audio for the college filmmaking crew Jimmy sometimes hires.[68]
Cheri, also known as Drama Girl or Make-Up Girl (played by Hayley Holmes),[69] assists Joey's film crew and also arranges hair and make-up for individuals preparing to appear on camera. First referred to as Make-Up Girl, she later indicates she has been attending acting classes. After she impersonates several individuals on the phone to provide testimonials for Huell in "Coushatta", Jimmy begins referring to her as Drama Girl.[70] In "Winner", Jimmy and Kim fake several events designed to show Jimmy's remorse over Chuck's death, hoping this will lead to reinstatement of his law license.[71] During a catered celebration to mark the dedication of a law library in Chuck's name, Cheri works as a waitress and aids Jimmy and Kim's deception by spreading the story among guests that Jimmy anonymously financed the project.[71] When Jimmy and Kim need to re-shoot their photos of the actor pretending to be the Sandpiper case mediator, Cheri arrives on short notice to work on his hair and make-up.[72] Because she has been pulled from a dress rehearsal for a stage adaptation of The Dark Crystal, she arrives in her Kira character's make-up and costume.[72]
Ira (played by Franc Ross) is a professional burglar and the owner of Vamonos Pest, a pest control company which fronts for his burglaries and later Walter White's meth business. In Better Call Saul, Ira works as a vending machine beverage distributor and can be contacted through Dr. Caldera. He is hired by Jimmy to steal a valuable Hummel figurine from Neff Copiers, which he replaces with a similar one. After splitting the proceeds from the sale of the figurine with Jimmy, Ira reveals he uses a new phone for every job, which gives Jimmy the idea to start a business of selling prepaid mobile phones to street criminals.
Clarence (played by David Mattey), nicknamed "Man Mountain", is an Albuquerque hoodlum who hires himself out for illegal "muscle" work through Dr. Caldera. Alongside Mike and Sobchak, he is hired as one of Pryce's bodyguards for a deal with Nacho, but flees after seeing Mike disarm Sobchak. Man Mountain later assists Jimmy (along with Huell) in intimidating three juvenile delinquents who mugged him when he was selling burner phones and sells churros to Jimmy's criminal clients during an event to publicize his reinstated legal services.
Man Mountain also appears in El Camino,[73] in which he now works as a bouncer and brings three prostitutes to Neil Kandy and his friends for their party. He sleeps in his car while the others celebrate. In the film, his real name is revealed to be Clarence.
Lance (played by Elisha Yaffe) is a cashier at the copy shop where Jimmy doctors Chuck's Mesa Verde documents.[74] Jimmy bribes Lance to lie for him when Ernesto brings Chuck to the store to question him.[75]
Lenny (played by John Ennis) is a grocery store employee and amateur actor hired by Jimmy and Kim to impersonate judge Rand Casimiro in still photos, as part of their ploy to discredit Howard Hamlin and force a settlement on the Sandpiper Crossing class-action lawsuit.
Jeff (portrayed by Don Harvey in seasons 4–5 and Pat Healy in season 6[76]) is an eccentric cab driver from Albuquerque who recognizes Jimmy under his Gene Takavic identity in Omaha. Jeff approaches Jimmy on his lunchbreak with his friend Buddy and asks Jimmy to do his iconic "Better Call Saul!" catchphrase and point. Although initially hesitant Jimmy gives in and Jeff tells him to ask for him whenever he needs a ride.
Jimmy finds and befriends Jeff's mother, Marion, and she invites him back to her house. While there Jeff confronts Jimmy, and Jimmy offers to get him into "the game". Jeff, Jimmy, and Buddy plan a robbery at the mall where Jimmy works. Jimmy creates a floor plan of the store they will be robbing and recreates it in an open field for Jeff to practice his route. When the day of the robbery arrives, Jimmy distracts the security guard while Jeff robs the store. All is going well until Jeff slips and knocks himself out, forcing Jimmy to fake a depressive episode until he can regain consciousness. Eventually, Jeff wakes up and completes the robbery. Afterward as the three of them are celebrating, Jimmy reveals that he purposely set up the robbery in such a way that if Jeff tries to snitch on his true identity they will both be arrested. As he leaves, Marion tells Jimmy that she thinks he is a good influence on Jeff.
Jimmy later resumes working with Jeff and his friend Buddy in a new series of scams involving identity theft. Buddy backs out when he learns their latest target has cancer; Gene cuts him out of the operation and forces Jeff to drive him to the man's house so that he can break in himself. While Gene is inside, Jeff panics when he sees a police car idling behind him and crashes his taxi into a parked vehicle, leading to his arrest. In addition, the homeowner came out and accused Jeff of robbing him, adding to his legal troubles. Gene promises to bail out Jeff and calls Marion asking her to accompany him, but Marion becomes suspicious and uses the laptop Jeff bought her with the department store money to discover Gene's true identity as Saul Goodman. When Gene is arrested, no mention is made of his crimes from Omaha so it's unclear what happened to Jeff afterwards, but Gene had told Jeff that there was no proof of Jeff having committed the robbery and he could likely get those charges dismissed.
Buddy (portrayed by Max Bickelhaup) is a friend of Jeff's who accompanies him to the mall when Jeff approaches Jimmy under his "Gene Takavic" alias and has him admit his true identity. Jimmy later offers to get Jeff into "the game" by training him and Buddy in robbing a department store at the mall where Jimmy works. Buddy sneaks Jeff into the mall by having him lay in a shipping container and transporting it into the department store's loading dock. Jimmy convinces the store's supervisor over the phone to hold the container overnight, allowing Jeff to enter the store during after-hours and steal expensive merchandise. After the robbery is complete, Jimmy warns Jeff and Buddy to stay away from him lest he report the crime to the authorities.
Jimmy later re-enlists Jeff and Buddy in a new series of cons where Jimmy befriends wealthy single men at bars and gets them drunk, Jeff drives them home while giving them water laced with barbiturates, and Buddy breaks into the marks' homes while they are unconscious and photographs their IDs and financial records, which Jeff later sells to a broker. However, Buddy backs out of the con when their latest target is found to have pancreatic cancer, which Buddy's father suffered from. Jimmy cuts Buddy out of the operation and forces Jeff to drive him to the target's house so he can break in himself.
William "Bill" Oakley (portrayed by Peter Diseth) is a deputy district attorney who has a friendly rivalry with Jimmy.[77] When Jimmy goes to work as an associate at Davis & Main, Oakley expresses envy at his salary and fringe benefits.[78] When Jimmy is arrested for the break in at Chuck's, Oakley first appears to gloat at Jimmy's booking, but then offers to expedite the proceedings by getting Jimmy's first court appearance moved up on the docket.[79] After Jimmy's law license is reinstated, he employs his camera crew to stage a phony news interview with a surprised Oakley, generating publicity for Jimmy's new Saul Goodman persona.[80] After Jimmy becomes a pariah at the courthouse, Oakley tells him it is because word of his representation of the Salamancas has become widespread.[81] In the flashforwards in the episode "Breaking Bad", Bill is revealed to have eventually left the DA's office and become a defense attorney with an advertisement for Bill's services replacing Saul's former ad on a park bench. In the series finale "Saul Gone", Saul hires Bill as his defense attorney after getting caught.
Richard Schweikart (played by Dennis Boutsikaris) is the co-founder of the Schweikart & Cokely law firm.[82][83] Rich is the lead attorney for the Sandpiper retirement homes in HHM's lawsuit against the company. He observes that Kim Wexler is both highly skilled and underappreciated at HHM, and offers her a job at S&C, which she declines. Kim later starts a solo practice with Mesa Verde Bank as her only client, but begins to spend more time and effort on pro bono criminal defense cases that she finds more appealing than banking law. She approaches Rich about joining S&C, and becomes a partner in charge of the firm's new banking division, including the Mesa Verde account. Kim devotes increasing time and effort to her pro bono cases, which eventually causes her to quit S&C and her representation of Mesa Verde. When Jimmy and Kim's tricks lead to Howard's erratic behavior at a mediation session for the Sandpiper case, Rich succeeds at compelling Hamlin, Hamlin and McGill and Davis & Main to accept a lower settlement than what they wanted. After Howard's death, Rich attends his funeral at HHM, expressing his admiration and respect for Howard and revealing to Jimmy and Kim that HHM is downsizing, moving to a smaller office, and changing the firm's name.
Clifford Main (played by Ed Begley Jr.) is a senior partner at the Davis & Main law firm in Santa Fe.[84] When the Sandpiper case becomes too big for HHM alone, they affiliate with D&M. Kim recommends Jimmy to Cliff, and D&M hires Jimmy as an associate. Jimmy's unauthorized airing of a television ad soliciting clients for the Sandpiper lawsuit angers Cliff and the firm's partners. The ensuing scrutiny of his work motivates Jimmy to quit, but the possibility of losing his signing bonus leads him to instead antagonize his colleagues. Cliff eventually fires him and says letting Jimmy keep the bonus is worth it to be rid of him. When Jimmy and Kim decide to obtain Jimmy's share of the settlement or judgment sooner by forcing a resolution of the Sandpiper case, they take advantage of Cliff's friendship with Howard to smear Howard's reputation. In the process, Kim impresses Cliff who offers to use his connections to help her build a legitimate pro bono law firm. Initially receptive, Kim ultimately prioritizes the plan to ruin Howard. Kim and Jimmy convince Cliff and the counsel for Sandpiper that Howard is an unstable cocaine addict, so Cliff cuts ties with Howard and settles the Sandpiper case himself. Following Howard's unexpected murder, Cliff and the New Mexico legal community are fooled into believing it was a suicide. Cliff comforts Cheryl, Howard's widow, at the memorial service. Kim lies to Cheryl about the addiction and Cliff regretfully informs her of Howard's erratic behavior, which convinces Cheryl of the con.
Erin Brill (portrayed by Jessie Ennis) is a second-year associate at Davis & Main. She is assigned to supervise Jimmy after he runs afoul of his D&M bosses, which serves as one of the motivations for him to quit. When Irene, the class representative in the lawsuit against Sandpiper Crossing, turns down a proposed resolution because the lawyers convince her waiting will result in a bigger settlement, her friends turn against her. Jimmy wants his share of the judgment sooner, so he tricks her into accepting, but her friends remain distrustful. Jimmy then arranges for Irene and her friends to overhear him confessing his tricks to Erin, which prevents the case from being resolved immediately but restores Irene's friendships. As the case continues, a meeting of residents at Sandpiper's Albuquerque facility reveals they are considering accepting the company's offer. Erin's attempt to mollify them begins to go off track, but Howard's timely intervention causes them to agree to continue holding out for a bigger settlement. Erin manages the conference call during the Sandpiper mediation conference and is the first to notice that Howard's eyes have dilated from contact with the drug Jimmy and Kim procured from Dr. Caldera. After the case is settled, Erin announces the resolution to the conference call participants.
Paige Novick (portrayed by Cara Pifko) is the senior counsel of Mesa Verde.[85][86] When Kim is relegated to menial document review work at Hamlin, Hamlin and McGill, she works her professional, personal, and law school contacts in hopes that landing a major new client will help get her back in Howard's good graces. Paige and Kim were law school classmates, which leads to Paige and Mesa Verde CEO Kevin Wachtell bringing the bank's business to HHM. When Kim leaves HHM, Kevin and Paige agree that Mesa Verde will be a client of her new firm, but Chuck succeeds at winning them back to HHM. Jimmy's sabotage of Chuck's Mesa Verde work causes Kevin and Paige to return to Kim. After Jimmy and Kim humiliate Chuck at Jimmy's bar disciplinary hearing in order to prevent Jimmy's disbarment, Paige gloats over Chuck's demise, which causes Kim to feel guilty and visibly angers her. As Kim becomes disillusioned with Mesa Verde's tactics, she and Paige are sometimes at odds. After Kim surrenders her law license, she mentions that Paige has agreed to take on her clients.
Suzanne Ericsen (portrayed by Julie Pearl) is a deputy district attorney. When Huell is arrested, Suzanne refuses to negotiate, so Jimmy and Kim trick her into agreeing to a plea bargain.[87] When Jimmy, now practicing law as Saul Goodman, attempts to negotiate several plea deals at once, Suzanne refuses, so he arranges a situation that enables him to trick her into accepting.[88] Suzanne and the detective investigating the murder Lalo committed under an alias later connect Jimmy to Lalo and Nacho, and Suzanne asks Kim to persuade Jimmy to inform on the Salamancas.[89] In El Camino, Suzanne is visible on a television screen as she stands behind SAC Austin Ramey while Ramey briefs reporters about the events that took place at Jack's compound.[90] In "Saul Gone", she calls Kim to inform her of Saul's arrest and says he is going to give testimony that impacts Kim.
Viola Goto (portrayed by Keiko Agena) is a paralegal who works for Kim Wexler.[91] When Kim leaves Hamlin Hamlin & McGill to begin a solo practice, Mesa Verde Bank retains her as their outside counsel and Kim hires Viola to assist her.[91] When Kim becomes bored with banking law and begins to accept pro bono criminal defense cases, she hands off more and more of her Mesa Verde work to Viola.[91] Kim later convinces Schweikart & Cokely to hire her as a partner in charge of their new banking division, with Mesa Verde as their major banking client, and Viola follows Kim to S&C.[92] When Kim aids Jimmy to defend Huell Babineaux during Jimmy's law license suspension, Viola assists Kim in researching the relevant statutes so Jimmy and Kim can plan their defense.[92] After Kim asks Jimmy to represent Everett Acker to prevent Acker from being evicted by Mesa Verde, Viola provides Kim frequent updates about Jimmy's machinations.[93] Viola is present at the meeting between Kim, Kevin Wachtell, Paige Novick, Rich Schweikart and Jimmy (as Saul Goodman) when Jimmy shocks everyone by making exorbitant demands of Kevin, then pressuring Kevin to agree to a better deal for Acker than what Kevin had previously been willing to accept.[93] When Kim leaves S&C, Viola continues to work there as a paralegal.[93] After Jimmy and Kim decide to force a settlement of the Sandpiper case by ruining Howard's reputation, Kim meets with Viola, ostensibly to apologize for abruptly leaving S&C.[94] Viola tells Kim she admires Kim's commitment to helping pro bono clients who have nowhere else to turn, but the meeting is a ploy.[94] S&C represents the Sandpiper Crossing nursing home chain, and Kim uses her conversation with Viola to obtain the name of the retired judge who will mediate the Sandpiper case.[94]
Rand Casimiro (portrayed by John Posey) is a retired judge and former colleague of Clifford Main, who is enlisted as the mediator in the Sandpiper Crossing class-action lawsuit. Kim and Jimmy hire an actor to impersonate Casimiro and stage photos depicting Jimmy offering Casimiro a $20,000 cash bribe, which they pass onto Howard Hamlin via his private investigator (who is in fact a con man working for Kim and Jimmy). Howard recognizes Casimiro from the photos during the settlement conference and embarrasses himself in front of his peers by accusing Casimiro of corruption, derailing the meeting and forcing HHM to accept a lower settlement than they initially sought.
Hugo Archilleya (played by Pierre Barrera) is a former custodian at JP Wynne High School. When Walt had to leave class to vomit (a consequence of his chemotherapy), Hugo comforted him and cleaned up after him. After the DEA connects missing school equipment to methamphetamine production, Hugo is one of the initial suspects because of the access his custodial duties afford him. Hugo is soon placed under arrest for possession of marijuana and fired; after a search of his home, more marijuana is found but no methamphetamine or items that could connect him with the meth investigation.
Bauer (played by Brendan Fehr) is a captain in the Air Force who Jimmy tricks into gaining him, his client Fudge and film crew access to an airbase. As part of Jimmy's scheme, Bauer mistakes Fudge as a war veteran and takes Jimmy's group to the FIFI, where they film a commercial while Bauer gets water for Fudge. Bauer returns with a group of soldiers for a photo with Fudge. He later finds out about the deception and confronts Jimmy in his office, demanding him to stop broadcasting the commercial. When Jimmy refuses, Bauer storms off and yells that Jimmy cannot be trusted in front of his clients.
Theodore "Ted" Beneke (played by Christopher Cousins) is the president and owner of Beneke Fabricators. He gives Skyler her old job back as his accountant during the second season. Ted has always been attracted to Skyler but does not make any advances after she returns. Ted commits tax fraud to keep the company alive and save everyone's jobs, which he admits to Skyler when she finds irregularities in the company's books. Skyler has an affair with Ted in season three to exact revenge upon Walt, but ignores Ted's offer to leave some of her things at his house. When Walt finds out about their affair, he tries to confront Ted, who hides in his office. This escalates into a scene where Walt is escorted out by security guards and the company staff becomes aware of Skyler's relationship with Ted. Skyler gets angry at Ted when he shows up at her house to ask about their relationship, and she later severs both her personal and professional ties with him.
In season 4, Ted meets with Skyler, who is now running a car wash, and notifies her of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigation into his company's taxes.[95] Since Skyler kept the books, she can be linked to Ted's tax fraud, likely placing her entire family under surveillance, so she intervenes by pretending at Ted's meeting with the IRS to be an unqualified bookkeeper hired only for her looks.[95] Her supposed incompetence forestalls a full investigation, provided Ted pays the back taxes and penalties.[95] Skyler arranges to provide Ted the money by using the proceeds from Walt's meth production to have Saul pretend a long-lost dead relative in Luxembourg left Ted an inheritance.[95] Saul discovers that instead of paying the IRS, Ted leased a new Mercedes and is using the funds to reopen his business.[95] When Skyler urges Ted to pay the IRS first, he refuses, so Skyler tells him the money came from her.[95] Ted still refuses to pay the IRS and Skyler perceives him to be blackmailing her into paying both his tax bill and the costs to reopen his business.[96] Skyler has Saul send two of his men—Huell and Kuby—to force Beneke to write the check to the IRS.[95] They succeed, but Ted panics and attempts to flee, tripping on a loose rug and crashing headfirst into a counter.[95]
At the start of the fifth season, Saul informs Skyler that something happened to Ted, causing her to conclude that he died. Saul tells her that Ted is alive, but hospitalized. When Skyler visits him, she sees that Ted is rigidly sitting upright and wearing a halo brace.[95] Ted tells Skyler he lied to medical personnel and police, claiming his broken neck resulted from an accidental fall, and that because he fears for the safety of his family, he will never mention how the injury occurred.[95] Recognizing that Ted has been intimidated into keeping quiet about the source of his money, Skyler goes along with Ted's perception by coldly replying "Good" to his promise of silence.
Rebecca Bois (played by Ann Cusack) is Chuck McGill's ex-wife and a concert violinist.[97] Although their divorce was amicable, it is stated that Chuck's electromagnetic hypersensitivity started soon afterwards.
In 2002, Chuck attempted to reconcile and reconnect with Rebecca over dinner with Jimmy's help. He lies to Rebecca about his symptoms and becomes overwhelmed when Rebecca takes a phone call. Chuck slaps the phone from Rebecca's hand in a fit and rather than apologizing, calls Rebecca rude for taking a call at dinner. Rebecca leaves soon after.
Later Jimmy invites Rebecca to his disciplinary hearing while Chuck is on the stand. Chuck apologizes for hiding his disability from her to which she shows complete sympathy and understanding, wondering why he did not simply tell her in the first place. However, when it is shown that Chuck does not in fact suffer from EHS, Rebecca watches in horror as Chuck rants about Jimmy. After the hearing Rebecca tries to talk with Chuck in his house but he refuses to talk. She visits a celebrating Jimmy and Kim in their office and begs Jimmy to make amends with Chuck but Jimmy refuses. Realizing she was just a pawn to help his case, Rebecca tells Jimmy that Chuck was right about him.
After Chuck's death Rebecca attends his funeral crying profusely. Afterwards as Chuck's will is being read it is revealed that Chuck left his house (which is mostly a burnt-out wreck after Chuck's suicide) to Rebecca, although she allows Jimmy to take anything he wishes from it.
Dr. Caldera (played by Joe DeRosa) is an Albuquerque veterinarian.[98] He secretly serves as a middleman to put criminals in contact with each other.[99] In one instance, when Daniel Wormald desires to have a bodyguard when he carries out a drug deal with Nacho Varga, he contacts Caldera, who puts three individuals including Mike Ehrmantraut in touch with Wormald.[99] In addition, Caldera sometimes renders "off the books" medical aid to criminals, enabling them to avoid having their wounds reported to the police.[98] Individuals who visit his office for criminal activities often bring pets with them, enabling Caldera's examination of the animal to serve as a cover for the visit's real purpose.[98] As revealed in season 6's "Axe and Grind", Caldera has a connection to Ed Galbraith, the "disappearer". In the same episode, Caldera reveals that he is retiring from his role as a middleman and shows Jimmy and Kim his encoded notebook of criminal contacts that he intends to sell. In a flashforward in "Wine and Roses", Caldera's notebook is amongst the possessions being shown taken from Saul's mansion, suggesting that Saul is the one who eventually bought it from him.
Tomás Cantillo (played by Angelo Martinez) is Andrea Cantillo's younger brother.[100] He murdered Jesse's friend Combo on the orders of rival drug dealers. After Jesse learns the truth, the dealers murder Tomás, possibly with the permission of their boss Gus Fring. Jesse's effort to seek revenge leads to a rift between Gus, Walt and Jesse.
Clovis (played by Tom Kiesche) is Badger's cousin who operates a vehicle towing and repair service. When Jesse's RV quits running, Clovis charges him an exorbitant amount to tow and store the vehicle, due to its cargo. Clovis repairs the RV and catches Jesse sleeping in it after Jesse has scaled the fence (and destroyed a portable toilet in the process) after being evicted from his home. Clovis orders Jesse to pay for the repairs and property damage and then threatens to sell off Jesse's inventory to cover the repairs, when Jesse claims he cannot furnish immediate payment. Jesse again breaks into the gated lot and drives through the gate without paying for the repairs. He later returns to pay Clovis for the repairs and damages and arranges to store the RV inside Clovis's gated lot for $500 per week. Clovis later sells Jesse a used red Toyota Tercel hatchback. Jesse decides to retrieve the RV, but Walter has warned Clovis that the DEA is looking for it, forcing Clovis to bring it to a junkyard to be destroyed.
Louis Corbett (played by Kyle Swimmer in season one and Caleb Landry Jones in seasons two and three) is Walter Jr.'s best friend. They both attend JP Wynne High School. He frequently gives Walter Jr. rides to school and helps him set up a PayPal account for donations to Walter Jr.'s website.
Dr. Delcavoli (played by David House) is Walt's physician during the first two seasons. He is said to be one of the top 10 oncologists in the United States.
Kaylee Ehrmantraut (played by Kaija Roze Bales in Breaking Bad, Faith Healey in Better Call Saul season 1, Abigail Zoe Lewis in Better Call Saul seasons 2-4 and Juliet Donenfeld in Better Call Saul seasons 5 and 6) is Mike Ehrmantraut's granddaughter, whom Mike occasionally spends time with. After Mike's death, Jesse decides to deliver a bag containing $2.5 million to Kaylee, but Walter stops the transfer.
Stacey Ehrmantraut (portrayed by Kerry Condon) is Mike Ehrmantraut's widowed daughter-in-law and the mother of Kaylee, Mike's granddaughter.[101]
Cheryl Hamlin (portrayed by Sandrine Holt) is Howard Hamlin's wife. In "Axe and Grind", Howard presents a coffee topped with the latte art of a peace sign to Cheryl, from whom he is obviously estranged. She dismissively pours it into a travel mug, destroying the art. Howard tells her about the problem he has been having with Jimmy and says that he is attempting to solve it.
Cheryl is widowed in the episode "Plan and Execution" when Lalo Salamanca shoots and kills Howard. In "Fun and Games", Cheryl is present at Howard's HHM memorial service. Jimmy and Kim attempt to provide condolences, but she mentions that Howard informed her of their harassment campaign. When she expresses suspicions of Jimmy and Kim's story about Howard's death, because she does not believe he used cocaine, Kim fabricates a story about seeing Howard abusing drugs while she was still at HHM. Kim then shifts blame by suggesting Cheryl was inattentive and failed to notice Howard's supposed drug problem, causing Cheryl to break down in tears.
After deciding to confess in 2010, Kim visits Cheryl with an affidavit detailing Kim and Jimmy's destruction of Howard's reputation, as well as the real circumstances surrounding his death, keeping secret only her knowledge of Jimmy's identity and location. Kim says she has given a copy of the document to the district attorney, but surmises that she will not face prosecution given the lack of physical evidence and witnesses. When Jimmy hires Bill Oakley as his defense counsel, Oakley informs Jimmy of Kim's confession and suggests that Cheryl has ample grounds for a wrongful death lawsuit, stating that Cheryl is "out shopping for lawyers as we speak."
Old Joe (played by Larry Hankin) is the owner of a local junkyard. He aids Walt and Jesse on several occasions by using his car crusher in addition to sharing his knowledge of the legal limits on police procedure and evidence gathering. He also provides the magnet system used to wipe the evidence from Gus's laptop, and constructs the portable laboratory equipment used in the Vamonos Pest undercover meth lab operation. In El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, Jesse contacts him in order to get rid of Todd's El Camino, which Joe agrees to do for free. However, Joe discovers that the police just activated the LoJack GPS tracker, causing him to flee, while advising Jesse, Skinny Pete and Badger to do the same.
Betsy Kettleman (played by Julie Ann Emery) and her husband Craig Kettleman (played by Jeremy Shamos) initially appear as clients of Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill (HHM), and later Jimmy McGill. Craig, the county treasurer, is being investigated for the disappearance of $1.6 million in government funds and considers hiring Jimmy. He and his wife meet with Jimmy at a diner but Betsy is hesitant. They decide to go to HHM, which angers Jimmy. A few days later, the Kettlemans receive an anonymous tip that their family is in danger. The call was made by Jimmy, who fears Nacho might hurt the family to steal the stolen cash. The Kettlemans and their children decide to stage a kidnapping and camp out in the hills behind their home. Jimmy finds them and discovers they are in possession of the stolen cash. They pay him $30,000 to remain quiet.[102] At a meeting with Kim Wexler of HHM, the Kettlemans consider a plea deal that includes return of the money and a sixteen-month prison sentence for Craig. Betsy wants to go to trial but Kim tells her that Craig faces 30 years in prison if he is convicted. Betsy rejects the plea deal, fires Kim, and hires Jimmy. Jimmy counsels the Kettlemans to accept the plea bargain but Betsy once again refuses. She blackmails Jimmy into helping them by pointing out that returning the money will implicate him, since they gave him cash to maintain his silence. With Mike's help, Jimmy steals the cash from the Kettlemans and delivers it to the prosecutor handling their case. Betsy threatens to have Jimmy arrested by reporting the bribe he took but he responds that if he is guilty of taking a bribe, she is guilty of offering one. Betsy and Craig reluctantly accept the plea deal Kim negotiated, realizing that having one parent go to prison is a better alternative than depriving their children of both parents.
After Craig's release from prison, the Kettlemans become proprietors of a shady tax preparation service. Kim and Jimmy scheme to ruin Howard Hamlin's reputation as part of their plan to force a resolution of the Sandpiper case so Jimmy can obtain his share of the multimillion dollar judgment or settlement sooner. To that end, Jimmy cons the Kettlemans into believing they have grounds for a lawsuit against Howard. They attempt to hire Cliff Main to represent them by claiming that Howard provided ineffective counsel during Craig's embezzlement case because he supposedly used cocaine. Cliff declines to take the case, but as Jimmy and Kim intended, he begins to wonder if Howard is a drug user. Jimmy subsequently attempts to bribe the Kettlemans to keep quiet about their role in smearing Howard, but when they refuse the cash Kim coerces them by threatening to report their tax preparation scam to the IRS. The Kettlemans are cowed into compliance, but Jimmy disappoints Kim by giving the Kettlemans the money anyway.
Lawson (played by Jim Beaver) is Walter White and Mike Ehrmantraut's gun dealer. He sold Walt a .38 caliber snub handgun (a Ruger LCR) with the serial number filed off,[103] and previously an M40A1 sniper rifle which Mike intended to use in killing Hector Salamanca. Walt later purchases an M60 machine gun from Lawson, which he uses to kill Jack Welker and his gang.[10]
The Group Leader (played by Jere Burns) is a counselor who leads group therapy sessions at Narcotics Anonymous. His actual name is not revealed. He takes a calm, non-judgmental approach to leading discussions and emphasizes that those attending his sessions are there not to improve themselves, but to learn self-acceptance. During an outdoor session at a campfire, he reveals to Jesse and other recovering addicts that in July 1992, while drunk on vodka and high on cocaine, he killed his six-year-old daughter by accidentally running her over with his car. Jesse, still reeling from Jane's death, asks the Group Leader how can he not hate himself for what happened. The Group Leader responds that self-hatred and guilt stand in the way of achieving true change. The Group Leader is seen again in Season 4, when Jesse returns to a session distraught about killing Gale. During the session, Jesse breaks down and yells at the Group Leader, claiming that his philosophy about "accepting yourself" for making mistakes is wrong and people should be judged for the things they have done. Jesse then asks the Group Leader if he just accepts himself for killing his daughter and admits to the whole group that the only reason he comes to these meetings in the first place is to sell meth to them. He asks the Group Leader if he is okay with that, to which the group leader responds, "No." Jesse retorts, "About time", and leaves the session, never to return.
Calvin "Cal" and Laurentius "Lars" Lindholm (played by Daniel Spenser Levine and Steven Levine respectively) are twin brothers and skateboarders who run scams in which they pretend to be hit by cars while skating and demand money. They try to scam Jimmy this way but he is not fooled. Jimmy later plans to scam Betsy Kettleman in an attempt to convince her use his legal services and enlists Cal and Lars, but the skateboarders end up trying to scam another woman instead, who turns out to be Tuco Salamanca's grandmother. This leads to Tuco capturing Jimmy and the duo and breaking the skateboarders' legs after Jimmy persuades him not to kill them.
Donald Margolis (played by John de Lancie) is Jane's father. He owns the building his daughter managed for him. He sent Jane to rehab once before and goes with her to recovery meetings. Donald becomes furious when he discovers that his daughter is back on heroin, suspecting Jesse is at fault (in fact, it is the other way around; she initiated Jesse to heroin, although they are both enabling each other). He nearly calls the police but relents when Jane promises to go back into rehab. Depressed, he goes to a bar and strikes up a conversation with a stranger about the heartache of raising children—that stranger turns out to be Walter White, who has recently been blackmailed by Donald's daughter Jane, although he does not realize the coincidence at the moment. Donald's words inspire Walter to help Jesse get clean from heroin. Walt returns to Jesse's apartment and witnesses Jane choking to death on her vomit while intoxicated on heroin. Heartbroken, Donald is present when the paramedics remove Jane's body and hardly reacts to Jesse's presence. A month later, he returns to work as an air traffic controller while still distraught and causes a mid-air collision of two airplanes just above Albuquerque. The collision kills 167 people—which explains the recurring images in the Season 2 flash-forwards of a burned pink teddy bear floating in Walter's pool. Shortly after the incident, Walter hears via his in-car radio that Margolis is rushed to the hospital after a self-inflicted gunshot wound; however, Walt turns the radio off before Margolis's fate is revealed. Later on, in the episode "Fly", Walter recalls that unlikely sequence of events, telling Jesse about the encounter at the bar (he only realized that this man was Jane's father after he saw him on the news following the disaster), and wonders about the possible meaning of the coincidence.
Carmen Molina (played by Carmen Serano) is the assistant principal at JP Wynne High School, where Walt teaches and which Walt Jr. attends. In Season 3, Walt makes an awkward pass at her (as an attempt at "revenge" for Skyler's infidelity with Ted), resulting in him being placed on an indefinite sabbatical.[104] In Season 5, she has been promoted to principal.[105]
Pamela (played by Julie Dretzin) is a divorce attorney hired by Skyler in the third season. Skyler confides in Pamela that Walter is a drug dealer, and Pamela urges her to contact the police.
Gretchen Schwartz (played by Jessica Hecht) is Walt's former college chemistry assistant and now co-owner of Gray Matter, a successful pharmaceutical company. A former romantic interest of Walter's, she is married to Walter's former partner and friend, Elliott Schwartz (played by Adam Godley), who co-created Gray Matter. During their relationship, Gretchen took Walt to visit her parents over a weekend. Soon afterwards, Walt suddenly left all his research and sold his ownership stake in Gray Matter. Gretchen married Elliott, Gray Matter became so successful that their company was worth 2.16 billion dollars by the time of the show,[106] and Gretchen and Elliott became wealthy, leaving Walt bitter about their success.
When Walt begins chemotherapy treatments for his cancer, he conceals the fact that he is paying for it with proceeds from his drug dealing by telling Skyler that Gretchen and Elliott are paying for it. Gretchen finds Walt lied to his family, and is horrified when Walter angrily and bitterly blames her and Elliott for ruining his life. Gretchen promises to maintain the lie for Walt as long as he tells Skyler that the Schwartzes can no longer fund his treatments. Skyler becomes suspicious, contacts Gretchen, and learns that the Schwartzes did not pay any of Walt's medical bills, and deduces that Walter must be getting the money through illegal means.
In the series' final two episodes, "Granite State" and "Felina", Walt is in hiding in New Hampshire and preparing to turn himself in to the DEA. While at a bar, he sees an interview with the Schwartzes on Charlie Rose, who denounce Walt and minimize his involvement in starting Gray Matter. Instead of waiting for the police, Walt steals a car and returns to New Mexico. At Gretchen and Elliott's home, Walt claims to have snipers aiming rifles with laser sights at them, which he uses to coerce them into agreeing to use his remaining money to establish a trust for Walter Jr. while masking the source as a contribution from their charitable foundation. Unknown to the Schwartzes, the snipers are actually Badger and Skinny Pete, who are using laser pointers to simulate rifle sights. The threat causes Gretchen and Elliott to agree to Walt's demand.
Drew Sharp (played by Samuel Webb) is an inquisitive teen living in McKinley County in northwestern New Mexico. In the opening scenes of "Dead Freight", Sharp is on his motorcycle riding around the desert scrub. He finds a tarantula, which he places in a jar; he then hears a train coming down the tracks and sets off to see it, only to encounter Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, and Todd Alquist as they are celebrating their success in stealing the methylamine from the tanker car on the train Kuby helped them stop. Walt, Jesse, and Todd turn off the engine to their pump and discover Sharp and his motorcycle on the other side of the trestle. Sharp waves hello, Todd waves back then pulls out his pistol and kills Sharp in cold blood, to Jesse's dismay.[107]
Sharp's body and motorcycle are hauled back to Vamonos Pest in Albuquerque, where Walter, Mike and Todd dispose of them, once again using hydrofluoric acid, and Todd keeps the tarantula. Later on in that episode, KOB Reporter Antoinette Antonio reports on the disappearance of Sharp and how the search for Sharp has now expanded beyond McKinley County.[46] The killing of Sharp is a critical turning point for Jesse, who ultimately severs his ties with Walter's operation due to his horror and grief at the young boy's death. After Walter belatedly leaves Jesse his share of the buyout money, Jesse seeks Saul Goodman's help to send half of the $5 million to Sharp's family, but is rebuffed as such a move would draw the attention of the authorities.[108] The murder of Sharp is mentioned in the tape Hank and Gomez make of Jesse confessing to his and Walter's criminal history.
In El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, it is revealed that Todd kept Drew's tarantula at his apartment.
Sobchak (played by Steven Ogg) is a criminal and "off the books" investigator. Pryce considered him, Mike, and Man Mountain as bodyguards when Pryce first met with Nacho. Man Mountain fled after Mike disarmed Sobchak. Kim and Jimmy later hire Sobchak (under his "professional" name Mr. X) to find "dirt" on Kevin Wachtell. He tells them that he could "take him out to the desert" to acquire more information, which causes Kim and Jimmy to ask him to leave.
Spooge (played by David Ury) is a drug addict who steals meth from Skinny Pete at knifepoint.[37] Jesse later accosts Spooge in Spooge's house and attempts to retrieve the stolen drugs or cash payment. Spooge attempts to repay Jesse by breaking open an ATM he has stolen from a convenience store. While attempting to drill into the machine from the bottom, he begins verbally abusing his wife (played by Dale Dickey), who tips the ATM, crushing Spooge's head and killing him instantly.[109] Jesse's associates and rivals attribute Spooge's death to Jesse, which strengthens his street credibility and reputation for ruthlessness[42] until the wife confesses.[32] Spooge has a young son, whose neglect causes Jesse to realize the negative consequences of the drug business. After Spooge's death, Jesse sits the boy on the front steps of the home, instructs him not to go back inside, having called 911 and leaves the phone line open so police can trace the call, making sure that the boy will be cared for.[109] In Better Call Saul, Spooge is one of the first clients seeking to engage Jimmy McGill as Saul Goodman after word gets out to Albuquerque's criminals about Saul's defense of Lalo Salamanca.
Mr. Ughetta (portrayed by Michael Chieffo) is a commissioner of the New Mexico Banking Board. He and fellow board members meet with Chuck and Howard, along with their clients Kevin and Paige, over Mesa Verde Bank's proposed branch in Scottsdale, Arizona. Ughetta and the rest of the board decide to postpone the application for six weeks due to the address in the documents being forged by Jimmy.
Manuel Varga (portrayed by Juan Carlos Cantu) is Nacho Varga's father and the owner of an upholstery shop.[110][111] Nacho has gone to great lengths to prevent Manuel from learning about his role in the Salamanca drug trade, but as Gus starts to undermine the routes the Salamancas use to smuggle drugs into the U.S., Hector Salamanca considers using Manuel's shop as a front. Nacho is forced to reveal his role in the Salamanca organization to Manuel so Manuel will not put himself at risk by rejecting Hector's offer out of hand. When Nacho is shot as part of Gus's plan to undermine the Salamancas, a reluctant Manuel allows Nacho to recuperate at his house. When Gus forces Nacho to work as his mole, Nacho hides cash and fake Canadian ID cards for himself and his father so they can flee Albuquerque if necessary. When Lalo Salamanca arrives to take over the Salamanca operation, Gus threatens Manuel's life to coerce Nacho into providing inside information. Nacho attempts to protect him by having an associate offer to buy Manuel's shop for more than it is worth so Manuel can retire and move from Albuquerque. Manuel guesses that Nacho is behind the offer and confronts him, saying that if Nacho's drug dealing has made him fearful, he should flee or turn himself into authorities, but that Manuel will not sell and will not leave. After Gus's attempt to kill Lalo he deflects blame by implicating Nacho, and the cartel places a bounty on him. Nacho realizes telling the Salamancas and cartel leaders that Gus had no role in the attack on Lalo is the only way to protect Manuel, but will also result in his own death. He places a farewell call to Manuel, then surrenders to Gus in exchange for Mike's guarantee of Manuel's safety. Mike later informs Manuel of Nacho's death and promises revenge on the Salamancas. Manuel dismisses Mike's promise as a never-ending cycle of bloodshed and tells him he is no different from the criminals with whom he associates.
Kevin Wachtell (portrayed by Rex Linn) is the CEO of Mesa Verde Bank.[112] He took over the bank from his father Don in the early 2000s and presides over its expansion into a large regional institution. Kim uses her acquaintanceship with Mesa Verde's counsel Paige to secure Mesa Verde as a client for Hamlin, Hamlin and McGill. When Kim leaves HHM, Kevin agrees that Mesa Verde will be a client of her new practice, but Chuck succeeds at winning them back. Jimmy's sabotage of Chuck's Mesa Verde work causes Kevin to take the bank's business back to Kim. Kim later uses her relationship with Kevin to become a partner at Schweikart & Cokely and lead the firm's new banking division. Kevin's stubborn refusal to accept Kim's advice on handling the eviction of Everett Acker causes Kim to turn the Mesa Verde account over to S&C and leave the firm to concentrate on pro bono criminal defense work she finds more interesting than banking law.
Fred Whalen (portrayed by James Austin Johnson) is an employee of Albuquerque TravelWire, a wire transfer agency. Mike Ehrmantraut questions Fred about Werner Ziegler's whereabouts in "Winner". Fred is initially hesitant, but after Mike claims Werner is his missing brother-in-law and has early-stage dementia and diabetes, Fred reveals that Werner made phone calls at TravelWire and left using a car service. Fred also lets Mike review CCTV footage in hopes of learning Werner's destination.
Lalo Salamanca later visits TravelWire and asks similar questions about Werner. Fred becomes suspicious and declines to cooperate. After Fred suggests that Lalo call the police, TravelWire gets a call. When Fred finishes the call, he sees that Lalo is no longer in the store's lobby. Just as Fred notices a loose ceiling panel inside his locked booth, Lalo drops in and trains a gun on him. Lalo examines the footage, murders Fred, and burns down the TravelWire to destroy the evidence.
In "Wexler v. Goodman", Mike works under an assumed name to persuade a witness who was outside TravelWire to identify Lalo's car to the Albuquerque police and Lalo is arrested under an alias. A police report reveals that Lalo had bludgeoned Fred to death, resulting in a skull fracture. In "JMM", Gus wants Lalo released, so he has Mike provide Saul details of the actions that led to Lalo's arrest. Fred's family attends the bail hearing, at which Saul accuses the police of witness tampering, evidence that results in the judge granting bail.
Holly White (played by Haven Tomlin in Season 4, Elanor Anne Wenrich in the first half of Season 5, and Moira Bryg MacDonald in the latter half) is Skyler and Walt's infant daughter and Walt Jr.'s younger sister. Walt is not present for his daughter's birth because he is preoccupied with drug-related business, and he blames Jesse for making him miss the birth. Ted Beneke, Skyler's boss, takes Skyler to the hospital when she goes into labor. Skyler brings the baby on her trip to the Four Corners Monument. Holly is seen learning to walk in Season 5. Holly and her brother spend three months in the home of their Aunt Marie and Uncle Hank while their parents work to determine the state of their marriage. After her Uncle Hank's unexpected death, which causes a nasty fight between Walter and Skyler, Walter kidnaps Holly to "punish" Skyler for attempting to stab him, but later has second thoughts and leaves her at a fire station. She is later returned safely to Skyler. Holly's last appearance occurs in "Felina" where Walter, via a request that is granted by Skyler, holds and embraces her for a moment before he leaves.
Bogdan Wolynetz (played by Marius Stan) is the owner and proprietor of the car wash at which Walt is employed at the beginning of Breaking Bad. He is abrasive and rude to Walter, who finds this job degrading and tedious. After Walt is diagnosed with lung cancer in the pilot episode, he angrily lashes out at Bogdan and quits.
Bogdan reappears in the third season, when Walt and Skyler are trying to purchase the car wash in order to launder Walt's drug money. When Skyler is trying to negotiate the purchase, Bogdan brings up Walt's angry outburst and states that, if Walt wants to purchase the establishment it will cost him $20 million. When Saul suggests that Walt and Skyler could accuse Bogdan of harboring Islamist terrorists in order to force him to sell the car wash, Walt exasperatedly reveals that Bogdan is, in fact, Romanian. Eventually, Walt and Skyler are able to purchase it for $800,000 after Skyler hires Kuby to perform a fake environmental audit on the car wash.
When Bogdan hands the keys to the building over to Walter, he taunts Walter by implying that he needs his "woman" to do things for him. Walter, having been riled up by Bogdan, refuses to let him leave with his first American business dollar which had been framed and mounted in his shop. Subsequently, Walter spends that dollar in the vending machine to buy a can of soda.
Daniel Wormald (played by Mark Proksch), who uses the alias "Pryce", is a quirky, nerdy and naive man who works for a pharmaceutical company. To earn extra money, he steals some of his company's pills to sell to Nacho and hires Mike to provide security. Knowing that Nacho is going behind the cartel's back and wants to avoid attention, Mike assures that he abides by the terms of the deal. Daniel uses the money to buy a flashy Hummer and when he arranges another deal, Mike refuses to be a part of it. Daniel still meets Nacho, but without Mike to protect him, Nacho obtains Daniel's address. Nacho later breaks into Daniel's home to steal Daniel's cash, pill stash, and a collection of baseball cards. Daniel calls the police to report the stolen cards but his awkward behavior leads the cops to find the hiding place where he kept the cash and pills. To keep Daniel from talking, Mike brokers a deal that has Nacho exchange cash and the baseball cards for Daniel's Hummer. Mike also arranges for Jimmy to represent Daniel during an interview with police, in which Jimmy allays their suspicions by claiming Daniel has a fetish for "pie sitting" and kept videos of the act in his hiding place.
Nacho breaks into Daniel's home again, this time offering Daniel $20,000 if he can procure empty capsules that look like Hector's angina medication. Daniel approaches Mike for help and Mike declines. Mike changes his mind after comparing the risk an unprotected Daniel will face to the risk Mike created for his daughter-in-law and granddaughter by his recent actions against the Salamancas. Mike delivers the empty capsules to Nacho, who explains his plan to switch Hector's nitroglycerin for a placebo. Mike warns Nacho that if Hector dies, Nacho should immediately take the fakes from Hector and replace them with the real medication so that the cause of Hector's death will not be obvious.
According to the Better Call Saul insider podcast, the "Danny" referenced by Jimmy on his call to Francesca is intended to be Daniel, meaning Daniel owns the laser tag arena/arcade through which Jimmy tells Walt and Jesse to launder their money.
Werner Ziegler (played by Rainer Bock) is a German construction engineer hired by Gustavo Fring to build his underground methamphetamine laboratory. After vetting by Mike Ehrmantraut, Gus chooses Werner over an overly confident French engineer because of Werner's frank explanation of the difficulties involved in the construction. When Gus and Mike hire Werner to supervise construction of a meth lab under Gus's industrial laundry, Werner employs several other laborers.[113] When it becomes clear the job will take longer than anticipated and tempers flare among Werner's crew, Mike arranges an "R&R" outing to a strip club. Mike and Werner retire to a quiet bar for a personal conversation, but Mike has to return to the strip club to smooth over an altercation, and during his absence Werner drunkenly reveals construction details to other patrons at the bar. Werner later requests a weekend off to visit with his wife, which Mike denies. Werner then escapes by bypassing the security system where his crew and he are quartered. According to the note he left behind, he plans to visit with his wife and then return to finish the work. Mike tracks Werner down at a local spa, but so does Lalo Salamanca, to whom Werner mistakenly reveals construction details before Mike ends the call. Mike asks Gus to let Werner return to work, but Gus understands that through Werner, Lalo could learn the secret of the meth lab's construction, so he says he will send men to kill Werner. Mike says he will do it himself and convinces Werner to contact his wife at the airport and send her home. He promises that Werner's death will have an explanation that satisfies the authorities, so that his wife will not wonder what happened to him, and to return Werner's crew to Germany unharmed. Werner tells Mike he wants to take a last walk to look at the stars, and Mike follows and shoots him in the head.
Kai (played by Ben Bela Böhm) is a member of Werner Ziegler's construction crew. He is insolent, arrogant and belligerent, often disrespecting and being rebellious toward Mike and Werner; in fact, Werner only keeps him in his employ because Kai is his best demolition man. On one occasion, Kai starts a fight with fellow team member Casper over a blunder by the latter, and on another occasion he is thrown out of the club for drunkenly inappropriately touching a stripper, even arguing with the bouncer until Mike sends him home. After Werner's death at the hands of Mike, Gus pays the construction crew and returns them to Europe. As Mike gives the crew their plane tickets, Kai rationalizes Mike's killing of Werner, to which Mike angrily punches Kai in the face before he leaves for Germany.[113]
Casper (portrayed by Stefan Kapičić) is a member of Werner Ziegler's construction crew.[114] As Mike hands out plane tickets to each of the crew members, Casper confronts him and says that Werner "was worth 50 of you."[113] Werner's widow Margarethe believes Werner died in a cave in, during which he saved his crew.[115] The crew, whom Werner called "my boys" did not attend his funeral, but sent a Lucite sculpture which contained Werner's slide rule and an inscription indicating the gift was from "Your Boys".[115] Under an alias, Lalo converses with Margarethe and learns of the "my boys" expression.[115] When he breaks into Margarethe's house the next day, he finds the sculpture, which contains a manufacturer's label.[114] This clue leads Lalo to Casper, and he soon arrives at Casper's remote home.[114] In the ensuing confrontation, Casper strikes Lalo with the blunt side of an axe, but Lalo slashes Casper's face with a hidden razor blade, then uses the axe to sever his foot.[114] Lalo gives Casper his belt for use as a tourniquet, then interrogates him about his work with Werner.[114]
Mrs. Nguyen (portrayed by Eileen Fogarty) is the owner of Day Spa and Nail, the nail salon in which Jimmy McGill's back room office is located.[116] She frequently chides Jimmy for drinking the cucumber water infusion she makes available to salon customers and employees and objects to Jimmy's clients waiting in the area where she provides services to hers.[116] When Jimmy is hired by Davis & Main, his company car is delivered to Day Spa and Nail, and Mrs. Nguyen's awestruck staff huddle around the new Mercedes sedan.[117] Before he departs, he jokingly asks if Mrs. Nguyen is going to give him a goodbye hug and she shakes her head no before walking back inside.[117] Jimmy finds himself unable to sleep in his new apartment, so he returns to the salon.[118] Mrs. Nguyen discovers him the next morning, and when she refuses him a cup of coffee, he tells her that the sooner she gives him the coffee, the sooner he will leave.[118]
During the suspension of his law license, Jimmy starts a business reselling prepaid cellular phones.[119] Mrs. Nguyen objects to him storing the phones at the salon, but Jimmy says that because he pays rent, he can do what he wants with the space.[119] He appeases her by offering her a phone, which she accepts, but she also warns him that get rich quick schemes are usually unsuccessful.[119] After Jimmy's first bar association hearing, when he discovers his suspension will be continued and argues with Kim, Mrs. Nguyen discovers him crying in his office.[120] She assumes Kim and Jimmy are married, shares a drink with him, and offers him relationship advice.[120] After Jimmy begins practicing law as Saul Goodman, and word of his representation of the Salamancas gets out, his office is flooded with potential criminal defense clients, causing an obviously annoyed Mrs. Nguyen to evict him.[121]
David Brightbill (portrayed by Jackamoe Buzzell) is a private investigator. After Jimmy sabotages Chuck's work for Mesa Verde Bank, Chuck hires David to find proof. When Chuck records Jimmy's confession and arranges for Jimmy to find out, David and Howard Hamlin spend time at Chuck's house because Chuck is sure Jimmy will try to steal the recording and wants them to observe firsthand. Jimmy later angrily breaks down Chuck's door and destroys the cassette, and David and Howard reveal themselves as witnesses, which enables Chuck to report Jimmy's crime to the police.
Lyle (portrayed by Harrison Thomas) is the assistant manager of the Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant chain's Albuquerque store. He is loyal to Gus and takes great pride in his work, but is oblivious to Gus's role in the illegal drug trade. Lyle is temporarily promoted to store manager while Gus recovers after he is wounded in the shootout with Lalo and tells Lyle he is unable to come into work due to a family emergency.
Margarethe Ziegler (portrayed by Andrea Sooch) is the widow of Werner Ziegler.[122] When Werner was constructing the meth lab for Gus Fring, he escaped to rendezvous with Margarethe, and she planned to visit him in New Mexico.[122] After Werner inadvertently revealed construction details to Lalo, Gus realized that Lalo could learn the whole plan and report him to cartel leaders, so he ordered Werner's death.[122] Because Werner escaped on his watch, Mike took responsibility.[122] After promising Werner his crew would be returned to Germany unharmed and that there would be a story about his death that satisfied his wife, Mike had Werner call his wife at the airport and convince her to return to Germany.[123] Mike then shot Werner, and his death was made to look like the result of a construction accident.[122]
Lalo later uses an alias to converse with Margarethe at a bar in Germany and finds that she believes Werner died in a cave in, but saved his crew.[122] The next day, Lalo watches Margarethe leave for work, then breaks into her home.[122] Using a clue she provided in their conversation the night before, Lalo finds another lead that will enable him to find Werner's crew.[122] Margarethe unexpectedly returns home to retrieve her cell phone, and her dog barks at something upstairs.[124] Margarethe ascends the stairs to search, and Lalo prepares to kill her, but he escapes through a window without being noticed.[124]
Everett Acker (portrayed by Barry Corbin) is a retiree whose home is on land leased from Mesa Verde Bank. Kim Wexler represents the bank in its attempt to evict Acker so it can construct a new call center. When Kim becomes sympathetic to Acker's refusal to leave, she persuades Jimmy (as Saul Goodman) to represent him.
As of 2004, Acker has lived at the same location since 1974. When Mesa Verde Bank begins buying out leases in order to construct a call center as part of its regional expansion, Acker becomes the last holdout. Though his lease includes a provision for the bank to buy him out at fair market value plus $5,000, he considers the buyout provision to be unfair, even with Mesa Verde's $18,000 bonus offer. Kim recommends to Kevin and Paige an alternate building site that will enable Mesa Verde to work around Acker's refusal to leave, but they insist on eviction. She asks Jimmy (as Saul) to represent Acker against Mesa Verde, and Acker agrees. Jimmy creates delays in Mesa Verde's eviction through several tricks, including changing Acker's street number and claiming the eviction notices are for the wrong address, creating fake Native American artifacts to be found by researchers, planting low-level radioactive material to have authorities test the site for hazardous waste, and passing off a spray-painted image of Jesus on Acker's home as a miracle that causes the religious faithful to consider it a shrine. Kim and Jimmy consider blackmailing Kevin into settling, but Kim changes her mind and offers an improved settlement, with her personally making up the difference between what Kevin agrees to pay and a $75,000 total. Jimmy says Acker already agreed to accept $45,000, so he concurs. Jimmy meets with Kim, Rich, Kevin, and Paige to complete the arrangement and stuns everyone by demanding $4 million. When Kevin ridicules this demand, Jimmy shows him rough cuts of commercials seeking plaintiffs for class-action lawsuits against Mesa Verde, which unfavorably depict Kevin's father, Don Wachtell. Jimmy also makes use of the blackmail material Kim declined to employ— photos that prove Mesa Verde's logo is based on an original photograph the bank did not obtain permission to use. Jimmy uses the threat of lawsuits and an injunction against displaying the logo to persuade Kevin to accept a settlement that includes $75,000 in cash for Acker and permission to remain in his home.
Marion (portrayed by Carol Burnett) is Jeff's elderly mother, whom Jimmy (as Gene) befriends as a ploy to gain the upper hand on Jeff. Gene puts on a kind and affable persona and lies about owning a missing dog. In addition, he claims to have never visited Albuquerque, where Marion says Jeff faced legal troubles. After Gene, Jeff and Jeff's friend Buddy secretly work together to rob a department store at the mall where Gene works, Jeff uses some of his money to buy Marion a laptop; Gene teaches her how to search on a web browser. While watching videos one night, Marion overhears Gene berating Buddy because Buddy has backed out of Gene's latest scam. Gene refuses to give up on robbing the mark, so he has Jeff drive him to the mark's home. Jeff panics when he sees a police car idle behind him and crashes his taxi, leading to his arrest. Gene asks Marion to accompany him when delivering Jeff's bail. Gene's knowledge of the legal process arouses Marion's suspicions, and she uses her computer to discover Gene's identity as Saul Goodman. Gene attempts to intimidate her into staying silent, but she uses her Life Alert button to call the authorities, forcing Gene to flee. As he runs, Marion provides the operator information on Gene's movements that aids police in locating and arresting him.
Neil Kandy (portrayed by Scott MacArthur) is the owner of an Albuquerque welding shop. In El Camino Neil and Casey pretend to be police officers so they can enter the now-dead Todd's apartment to search for his hidden cash. They encounter Jesse, who was already there searching and prevents them from killing him by revealing that he found the money. Neil and Jesse bargain over the cash, and in order to avoid raising the suspicions of Todd's neighbors Neil agrees to let Jesse leave with a third. As they depart Todd's apartment building, Jesse recognizes Neil as the welder who built the tether that held him while he was forced to cook meth for the Brotherhood.
When Jesse realizes he does not have enough to pay for Ed Galbraith's new identity services, he secretly retrieves two pistols from his parents' house, a Colt Woodsman and an Iver Johnson Hammerless. He then drives to Neil's shop, where Neil, Casey, and three friends celebrate with escorts and cocaine. After the escorts leave, Jesse asks for the $1,800 he needs, and Neil refuses. Seeing the Woodsman in Jesse's waistband, Neil challenges Jesse to a duel for his share of the cash. Jesse agrees, and when Neil reaches for his gun, Jesse shoots Neil with the Hammerless, which was concealed in his jacket pocket. After killing Casey, Jesse collects the driver's licenses of the remaining men and lets them leave after threatening to return and kill them if they tell the police. He recovers Neil's cash and departs after setting an explosion to cover his tracks.
Casey (portrayed by Scott Shepherd) is an employee at Neil Kandy's welding shop. In El Camino, after Casey and Neil confront Jesse during the search for Todd's hidden cash, Jesse saves himself by revealing that he found it. Casey then distracts Todd's busybody neighbor Lou, which enables Jesse and Neil to bargain. To avoid alarming Todd's neighbors, Neil agrees to let Jesse leave with a third. When Jesse later arrives at Neil's shop to ask for the $1,800 he needs to pay Ed Galbraith for a new identity and relocation, Casey is incensed to learn that Neil allowed Jesse to keep a third of the money and demands that he not give Jesse any more. Neil challenges Jesse to a duel for his share of the cash, during which Jesse kills Neil. Casey then fires at Jesse, but Jesse kills him with Neil's gun.
Lou Schanzer (portrayed by Tom Bower) is a retired police officer and Todd Alquist's busybody neighbor. In El Camino, he observed Neil Kandy and Casey arrive at Todd's apartment to search for Todd's hidden money, though Neil and Casey had planned their arrival for a time when they thought he would not be home. Believing Neil and Casey to be police officers, he offers information about Todd's activities. After he leaves, Neil and Casey confront Jesse. Lou then arrives with an old note from Todd, which he believes will help Neil and Casey in their investigation. Casey pretends to be interested to divert Lou's attention, which enables Jesse and Neil to negotiate over the division of the cash, then leave Todd's apartment building.
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