James Morgan McGill

James Morgan Jimmy McGill, better known by his business name Saul Goodman, is a character created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould and portrayed by Bob Odenkirk in the television franchise ''Breaking Bad''. He appears as a major character in ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and as the protagonist of its spin-off ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–2022).

Saul is an egocentric and unscrupulous Albuquerque-based lawyer who embraces his tactics as a former scam artist and becomes involved in the city's criminal underworld. In ''Breaking Bad'', he acts as the '' consigliere'' for the methamphetamine cooks Walter White ( Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman ( Aaron Paul) and plays a crucial role in the development of their drug empire. ''Better Call Saul'' prequel storyline depicts Saul's origins as the earnest lawyer Jimmy McGill and his moral decline in the six years before the events of ''Breaking Bad''; it also features a sequel storyline that explores the consequences of his actions in ''Breaking Bad''.

Saul first appeared in "Better Call Saul" (2009), the eighth episode of ''Breaking Bad'' second season. He was created to provide Walt and Jesse with a guide for their criminal activities and to replace Hank Schrader ( Dean Norris) as ''Breaking Bad'' comic relief. His name, "Saul Goodman", is a play on the phrase "it's all good, man". Odenkirk was initially cast for only a four-episode guest appearance, but he became integral to the ''Breaking Bad'' narrative after Gilligan and Gould were impressed by his performance. Following ''Breaking Bad'' conclusion, they began developing a Saul-focused spin-off depicting his origin story.

The character of Saul and Odenkirk’s performance have received critical and popular acclaim; he is often regarded as one of the greatest television characters of all time. Odenkirk was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series five times for his performance in ''Better Call Saul''.

Development

The need for a character like Saul came from two paths of ''Breaking Bad''s development around the second season. First, as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman got themselves deeper into the drug business, the writers felt they needed a character to be a guide for them. At this point, they had written that Jesse's dimwitted friends like Badger were selling their drugs, and needed to envision what type of lawyer Walt and Jesse would enlist when they run into trouble. This would later serve to introduce Walter to new concepts such as the Disappearer's services. Secondly, they were at a point in Hank's character arc where he had suffered major trauma in seeing Tortuga's severed head, and he would no longer be able to serve as the series' bit of lightness. They thus made Saul more of a comical character to fill this void. The writers wrote this lawyer as loud, flashy, and over-the-top, as well as being a scammer himself. The creators decided on the name "Saul Goodman" as a play on the phrase " ts all good, man", so that even his most simple-minded clients would remember his name when they get arrested. Gould credits ''Breaking Bad'' creator Vince Gilligan for initially suggesting this idea for Saul's name.

The ''Breaking Bad'' episode "Better Call Saul" was written by Peter Gould, and he has been ultimately credited with creating the character. In terms of casting for the part, both Gilligan and Gould said that their crew included a number of fans of ''Mr. Show with Bob and David'', including Gould's wife Nora, and Odenkirk's name quickly came up for the role. Gilligan offered Odenkirk a four-episode guest role without the need to audition. Odenkirk at the time had been focused on mentoring upcoming actors in comedy, and, needing an opportunity, readily took the role at the encouragement of his friend Reid Harrison, having not seen any of ''Breaking Bad'' and thinking that it was only intended for a short stint. Odenkirk watched available episodes of ''Breaking Bad'' before arriving for shooting and avoided reading the script he had been sent knowing that it would likely be trimmed down before filming. Odenkirk based the character's speaking style on producer Robert Evans, and spent time practicing speaking in Evans' style based on the autobiography ''The Kid Stays in the Picture''. Bryan Cranston helped Odenkirk to learn more about what ''Breaking Bad'' was about and to coach him on dramatic acting, something which Odenkirk lacked from his comedy background. Odenkirk was scheduled to appear in the second-season finale, but a prior commitment on ''How I Met Your Mother'' left him unable to do so; this led Gilligan to create the character of Mike Ehrmantraut, played by Jonathan Banks, to serve in place of Saul for that fourth episode.

Saul was originally intended to appear in only four episodes of the second season of ''Breaking Bad'', but instead became central to the narrative of the series. Though originally written as a "two-and-a-half-dimensional" comic relief character, Saul's role became more in-depth, as Gilligan and Gould found they could use Saul as a "further entree to the criminal underbelly" for Walt in the later seasons. This also allowed them to give the character more humanity, which the showrunners credited to Odenkirk's acting skills. They considered that like with Aaron Paul and Dean Norris, Odenkirk's acting capability significantly altered plans they had for these characters and the series in a beneficial manner, making them more central to the larger plot. As Saul had proven to be a popular character with audiences, Gilligan and Gould already had started thinking about a spin-off involving Saul and approached Odenkirk on his interest to make it happen. Odenkirk had initially turned down the continuing role, wanting to be with his family in Los Angeles and feeling he had enough fame with the success of ''Breaking Bad'', but his children assured them that they would be fine and he should not turn the opportunity down.

Once ''Breaking Bad'' was completed, Gilligan and Gould worked to establish what the spinoff series would be about, ultimately coming onto the idea of a prequel named ''Better Call Saul'' that would feature Jimmy McGill and how he would become Saul Goodman. The showrunners realized that Saul was, as seen in ''Breaking Bad'', "comfortable in his own skin" and had nowhere else to go, that they could instead explore how Saul got to that point, mirroring the same type of self-destruction that occurred to Walter White in ''Breaking Bad''. They saw Jimmy as an "earnest, sweet guy whose brain naturally cooks up dishonest solutions to the challenges in front of him", where by the time of ''Breaking Bad'', Saul is a "front" for one who "seemed to enjoy being a showy cheeseball", and a "hermetically sealed slickster". Rhea Seehorn, who plays Kim Wexler, Jimmy's romantic interest in ''Better Call Saul'', said that one aspect of Jimmy she incorporated into her acting was the spontaneity of Jimmy slipping into and out of the Saul Goodman character, or as Gould had described to her, "right there at the moment", a factor that for Kim and other associates of Jimmy can cause confusion and concern.

''Breaking Bad'' established little of Saul's origins, but revealed that Saul Goodman was not his real name and that his real last name was McGill. This gave Gilligan, Gould, and Odenkirk a chance to flesh out more of Jimmy's backstory for ''Better Call Saul''. Odenkirk and Gilligan set Jimmy's hometown as Chicago, in part as it was Odenkirk's own hometown as well as a homage to the notorious corruption in the political history of Chicago as inspiration for the character.

In 2014, as a publicity stunt for the launch of ''Better Call Saul'', a billboard for "James M. McGill, Attorney at Law" was placed in Albuquerque, mimicking a billboard that appeared on the series, with a phone number connecting to a voicemail message recorded by Odenkirk.

In conceiving the story for '' El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie'', while looking for the most important characters in Jesse Pinkman's life, due to the film continuing his story after the events of the ''Breaking Bad'' series finale, Gilligan considered to include Saul, feeling that using him in the story would have been great. However, Gilligan eventually desisted from including Saul due to being unaware of the potential plans Gould and the ''Better Call Saul'' writers could have for the character in his show, as Gilligan left the writers' room of the show after the third season.

Biography

Jimmy is of Irish descent and was born on November 12, 1960, in Cicero, Illinois, outside Chicago. His older brother Chuck became a successful lawyer as one of the partners at an Albuquerque law firm, Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill (HHM). As a child, Jimmy worked at his parents' corner store in Cicero, and watched as customers took advantage of his weak, naive father, Charles, Sr.; Jimmy soon began stealing money from the store himself. According to Chuck, Jimmy embezzled $14,000 from his family's store, leading to his father's bankruptcy. His father died six months later; Jimmy cried inconsolably at the funeral.

Determined not to be like his father, Jimmy becomes a con artist and earns the nickname "Slippin' Jimmy" for staging " slip and fall" accidents. He also ran petty scams including the "fake Rolex" with the help of his partner-in-crime Marco Pasternak. Jimmy begins to use the alias "Saul Goodman", a play on the phrase "It's all good, man". He initially uses it as a fake name when performing his scams with Marco. Later, he uses the alternate identity for the high-energy pitchman in television ads he produces, and makes use of it when he begins a business reselling prepaid cell phones on the street.

At some point prior to the start of ''Better Call Saul'', Jimmy had been married and divorced twice. One of his ex-wives cheated on him with a man named Chet. Jimmy ran into trouble when he drunkenly defecated through the sunroof of Chet's car, an act known as a "Chicago Sunroof". Unbeknownst to him, the man's children were inside. Arrested and facing the possibility of having to register as a sex offender, Jimmy asked Chuck for help, despite a five-year separation from his family. Chuck successfully defended him but required that he move to Albuquerque and work a legitimate job in HHM's mail room.

While working in the HHM mail room, Jimmy befriended Kim Wexler, an HHM employee attending the University of New Mexico School of Law at the firm's behest. Over time, their friendship turned romantic. Inspired by her success and Chuck's career, Jimmy resumed his education, completing his undergraduate degree and then a J.D. from the University of American Samoa's correspondence law school. He passed the bar exam hoping to be hired at HHM, but without Jimmy's knowledge, Chuck compelled senior partner Howard Hamlin to deny Jimmy the opportunity. Jimmy then began a solo practice as a lawyer, working out of the utility room of a Vietnamese nail salon at a strip mall. During this period, he took whatever cases he could get, including low-paying public defender work.

Some years later, near the time of his divorce with Rebecca, Chuck develops a psychosomatic