The “Better Call Saul” series finale concluded the lauded AMC drama in a surprisingly hopeful fashion, with Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) and Kim (Rhea Seehorn) sharing a cigarette and rekindling their relationship (at least a little). Sure, Jimmy is in prison for the rest of his life, but he got there by finally being truthful and owning up to his mistakes, and at least he and Kim are on speaking terms again.
But an early idea for the series finale ending would have concluded the show in a much darker fashion, co-creator and showrunner Peter Gould revealed during a virtual post-finale Q&A that TheWrap attended on Tuesday.
“When we originally talked about [the ending], it was a different kind of scene,” Gould said. “I don’t know how much to reveal, but when we first broke this episode, the two of them were meeting in Albuquerque before he went to prison, and the last scene was him in prison by himself thinking. And I liked that a lot, but it seemed a little bold, and I think ultimately we all felt like ending with the two of them felt like the strongest way to go.”
Gould added that the original final scene found Jimmy in a place of fear rather than contentment. “In the original version, he was fearful about what was going to happen to him in prison. It was a lot about the fear, and this is a very different scene. It’s mostly about connection and wistful connection.”
While the current ending is far less dark than that original final scene, Gould says they decided a few years ago that Saul’s story should end with him in prison.
“I think we had an image in the writers room sometime in Season 4 or 5 that he would end up in jail,” Gould said. “I just felt so strongly that the right ending for Saul was to be in the system, this system that he’s made light of and that he’s twisted around for his own purposes.”
There’s something poetic about Jimmy talking himself down to a seven-year prison sentence, only to then reverse course and essentially sign his life away by dropping the “Saul” act and finally owning up to his greed and misdeeds.
