Chuck McGill Was The Breaking Bad Universe’s Greatest Villain

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Both Breaking Bad and its prequel, Better Call Saul, are famous for centering on complex, flawed characters. Even now, years after they ended, fans still debate whether they should have supported Walter White, or if Jimmy McGill was always destined to become the questionable Saul Goodman.

Both of Vince Gilligan’s popular shows feature not only imperfect heroes, but also truly awful villains. We see this with characters like the cruel Salamanca family and the seemingly respectable, yet corrupt, Gus Fring. Some viewers even see Walter White’s wife, Skyler, as an obstacle to his ambitions. However, when it comes to who’s most responsible for all the trouble in both series, the blame largely falls on Jimmy McGill’s brother, Chuck, brilliantly portrayed by Michael McKean.

Better Call Saul’s Chuck Was The Perfect Antagonist For Jimmy’s Story

Although fans of Breaking Bad are aware of what happens to him, Better Call Saul skillfully foreshadows the protagonist’s downfall by contrasting the resourceful Jimmy with his brother Chuck, a successful lawyer at Hamlin Hamlin McGill. Chuck suffers from a mysterious illness that makes him believe he’s allergic to electricity.

At the start of the series, Jimmy is focused on two difficult things: caring for his reclusive brother and establishing himself as a successful lawyer. It’s eventually revealed that his brother, Chuck, is actually the one preventing Jimmy from achieving his legal goals, as he still sees him as his old, mischievous self – the con artist known as “Slippin’ Jimmy.”

Over the following seasons, the strained relationship between Jimmy and Chuck drives much of the show’s conflict. Jimmy prioritizes his partner, Kim Wexler, even if it means undermining his brother’s firm. He goes so far as to manipulate Chuck into thinking he made an error, leading to a powerful courtroom outburst where Chuck confesses his long-held resentment towards Jimmy in what is considered one of the best episodes of Better Call Saul, titled “Chicanery.” Although Chuck dies shortly after, his memory continues to affect Jimmy throughout the rest of the series, ultimately forcing Jimmy to confront his own responsibility in his brother’s death in the final episode.

Howard Hamlin Was Almost The Real Villain In Better Call Saul

It’s funny looking back – everyone always thought Chuck was Jimmy’s biggest obstacle, the perfect person to challenge him. But the writers originally planned for Howard Hamlin to be the main villain! At first, Jimmy believed Howard was the one keeping him from joining HHM, but it turned out Howard actually admired Jimmy’s drive. It’s just so sad because, by the end of the series, Howard ended up being the one who suffered the most because of everything Jimmy did.

Carol Gilligan, the creator of Better Call Saul, revealed that the initial ideas for the characters of Chuck and Howard were drastically different from how their storylines ultimately unfolded. He shared this information before the show’s final episode aired.

We started to think it would be more compelling if Howard, despite seeming like a powerful and intimidating figure, wasn’t actually a villain. And we also wondered if Chuck wasn’t as helpful to Jimmy as everyone initially believed.

Even though we knew how the show would likely end from the beginning – ever since Saul Goodman appeared in Breaking Bad – the writers made a smart choice by staying open to new ideas and allowing the story to evolve. This approach resulted in a much more compelling dynamic between Jimmy and Chuck, and how their complicated brotherly competition ultimately shaped Jimmy’s transformation into Saul Goodman.

After that, Saul Goodman teamed up with the equally stubborn Walter White, leading to everything that happened in Breaking Bad. If Chuck had simply been more understanding of Jimmy during the events of Better Call Saul, many people wouldn’t have suffered.

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2026-04-19 23:09