After years of theorizing, characters in Better Call Saul gave Breaking Bad fans plenty of thinking to do across the spinoff's six seasons. The likes of Nacho Varga, Lalo Salamanca, and, indeed, Kim Wexler were all major players in Saul Goodman's backstory, but nowhere to be found during the era of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.

Kim was undoubtedly the most curious absentee. Given her strong connection with Bob Odenkirk's Jimmy McGill, it seemed implausible that Kim would simply vanish, and viewers had seven whole years to figure out the solution. When Better Call Saul's ending finally came around, every plot thread was neatly and succinctly tied off, but season 6 gleefully dropped a few red herrings along the way. One key moment looked like it was inches away from confirming the long-standing theory that Kim was working for Gus Fring during Breaking Bad, but it all turned out to be clever misdirection.

Better Call Saul's "Kim Ends Up Working For Gus Fring" Theory Explained

At One Point, It Definitely Looked Like Kim Would Break Bad Full-Time

The most obvious answers to Kim's whereabouts after Better Call Saul's prequel timeline were that she either died, or she broke up with Jimmy. More cunning theorists argued that she was present in Breaking Bad all along, working secretly in the background.

Breaking Bad dropped small clues that made it seem like Kim was lurking.

The theory began to gain traction during Better Call Saul's final two seasons, which was when Kim's taste for criminality peaked, and she began egging Jimmy on in a perfect flip of their original dynamic. At this point, it became very plausible that Kim could leave behind her legal career for a more thrilling job working under a kingpin like Gus Fring. More to the point, Kim's legal nous would prove extremely useful to a man like Fring, whose drug empire was secreted under a meticulously constructed shield of legitimacy.

The average cartel boss would balk at the idea of hiring someone like Kim Wexler for their operation - someone who, on paper, looked like the kind of lawyer who would try to put them in prison, not keep them out of it. Gus Fring, however, was a pragmatic man who appreciated someone who could do their job with excellence. Just as Fring put his faith in Walter White, a mild-mannered high school teacher, it seemed entirely possible that he would hire a well-respected HHM lawyer as a central cog in both his business and the wider Madrigal brand.

Breaking Bad also dropped small clues that made it seem like Kim was lurking somewhere. The best example came when Jimmy McGill asked for a check to be written out to "Ice Station Zebra Associates" - a reference to a movie he and Kim enjoyed together in Better Call Saul. The theory also would have ed for Jimmy never mentioning Kim during Breaking Bad. If Kim's role relied on her being kept away from illegal activities, being in a relationship with Jimmy would endanger them both, while also incurring Gus Fring's wrath.

Better Call Saul Season 6 Teased That Kim Was Going To Work For Gus

It Almost Happened In Better Call Saul Season 6, Episode 8, "Point and Shoot"

Heading into Better Call Saul season 6, the theory that Kim would end the prequel as Gus Fring's employee was still very much alive. By episode 8, "Point and Shoot," it was looking more and more likely by the minute.

Fring could have forced Kim into becoming his legal pawn for the rest of her days, locked in a Madrigal office.

At this point, Jimmy and Kim had both witnessed the death of Howard Hamlin, a man they were already responsible for scamming on an epic scale. Howard's death signaled the end of Jimmy and Kim's lives as they knew it; the turning point after which normality would become impossible. For Kim, a career with Gus Fring would have started looking like one of her more reasonable remaining options.

The theory began to look inevitable when, under Lalo's instructions, Kim was sent to Fring's house to assassinate him. This would mark the first direct interaction between Rhea Seehorn and Giancarlo Esposito's characters, and thanks to the latter's presence in Breaking Bad, it was already clear that Kim would fail to pull the trigger. As Kim sat disarmed, helpless, and tied up in Gus' house, with the man himself talking to her remotely while watching on CCTV, it looked like the inner cogs of the world's most dangerous fast food restaurant manager were whirring at speed.

Madrigal was the company that owned Los Pollos Hermanos. Peter Schuler, the head of its fast food division, was an ally of Gus Fring's.

This was the perfect opportunity for Gus Fring to blackmail Kim. He could threaten to have her shot for trying to kill him. He could threaten to anonymously inform the police about Howard's death and let her take the fall. In return for not doing those things, Fring could have forced Kim into becoming his legal pawn for the rest of her days, locked in a Madrigal office and helping to ensure that his meth empire remained undiscovered. For Jimmy's sake, if not her own, Kim would have no choice but to comply.

Better Call Saul Had A Much Simpler Answer For Where Kim Was During Breaking Bad

Kim's Reality Was Almost As Grim As Working Under Fring

Surprisingly, Kim was simply taken back to her apartment by Mike. She reunited with Jimmy, and Gus seemingly paid very little attention to her from that moment on. The chicken man was more preoccupied with killing Lalo Salamanca, and once that aim had been achieved, Kim became of little consequence or concern. The thought of finding a use for her seemingly never entered Fring's mind.

Revealing that Kim was one of Gus Fring's employees all along would have blown minds, certainly, but it wouldn't resonate emotionally.

Better Call Saul season 6 eventually revealed that Kim spent the Breaking Bad timeline living under a new name in Florida. The prequel opted for one of the aforementioned most obvious explanations for her absence: a break-up. The entire situation with Howard's death, Gus Fring, and Lalo Salamanca forced Kim to realize that her joyride in the lane of criminality had gone too far. Recognizing that she and Jimmy stoked those fires within each other, she opted to leave him, the law, and Albuquerque behind.

While certainly not as shocking, this was the better outcome. A key strength shared by both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul was the prioritizing of logical narratives and character resolution over deliberately striving to surprise the audience. Breaking Bad's ending is widely considered one of TV's greatest finales, but it contains surprisingly few twists. Walt dying and Jesse escaping was a conclusion many could have predicted, but it was also the right conclusion to bring the duo's partnership to a satisfying and meaningful end.

The same can be applied to Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler. Revealing that Kim was one of Gus Fring's employees all along would have blown minds, certainly, but it wouldn't resonate emotionally. Better Call Saul was about Jimmy and Kim's increasingly volatile relationship, and it made perfect narrative sense for one of them to realize things had gone too far. This felt right in the context of Kim being a regular person who got a thrill from crime, and it provided the emotive catalyst for Jimmy to go full-Saul Goodman ahead of Breaking Bad.