The cast and creators of Better Call Saul agree with the fans: Rhea Seehorn deserves an Emmy. After impressing critics for five seasons on the Breaking Bad prequel series with her standout role as Kim Wexler, Seehorn has yet to be bestowed with an Emmy nomination, even with some of her co-stars getting that honor. Fans have consistently been left bewildered as to why Seehorn keeps getting overlooked, especially with the actress giving award-worthy performances every season.
Recently, Variety had a chat with Seehorn and her Saul family ahead of the final episodes of Better Call Saul airing in July. Patrick Fabian, who has spent the past five and a half seasons co-starring with Seehorn as her sometimes-adversary Howard Hamlin, told the publication that he's stumped about his co-stars lack of Emmy nominations. As he tells Variety, Seehorn is more than deserving of the honor.
“You think she’s good on-screen? You should be in front of her and have a front-row seat, because that’s what I’ve had. I would like to think that someday I’d be as good as Rhea Seehorn... I believe she has been grossly overlooked. In terms of just solid, consistent, amazing work, if you’re going to give an Emmy out for something like that, for God’s sake you at least have to nominate Rhea Seehorn. I just don’t see how you can’t.”
Peter Gould, who co-created Better Call Saul with Vince Gilligan, also had great things to say about the actress. He makes the point that Kim has become such an important character to fans even though she wasn't present at all in Breaking Bad, making her one of the few characters in Better Call Saul that fans weren't already invested in coming into the spinoff. Kim breaking out, thanks largely to Seehorn's performance, is something that Gould describes as instrumental in making Saul stand on its own.
“Here’s a character who was never mentioned or even alluded to on ‘Breaking Bad,’ and yet she’s become the focus of so much love and concern,” Gould says. “It’s the greatest compliment in the world because it says that we’ve accomplished something that we were hoping to do, which was to make a show that could stand on its own. And Rhea’s been an enormous part of that. I think it’s a tribute to her brilliance that people are this concerned about her.”
Where Will Rhea Seehorn Go Next?
It's been quite the ride for fans with Kim Wexler, and because her fate is still unknown, there's a lot of great concern that the character won't make it to the end of Better Call Saul alive. Either way, there are just six episodes left of the series, so Wexler's time in the role is almost over (barring, of course, a Kim Wexler spinoff happening). Gould can't imagine that there won't be casting directors going after Seehorn with Saul wrapping up, given how much she has proven herself with the series.
“I think every writer and producer in Hollywood should be writing Rhea Seehorn projects and trying to get her. I think everyone who worked on this show is trying to think about how she can be part of whatever their next project is.”
Better Call Saul returns with new episodes on AMC and AMC+ on July 11, 2022.