Could a single, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it line from an early episode of Breaking Bad hold the key to Nacho’s fate on Better Call Saul? The Better Call Saul season 5 premiere is just around the corner, and it was recently confirmed that the show would have an additional sixth and final season. Now that there’s a confirmed end date, there seems to be less and less time for the characters of Better Call Saul to catch up with their futures on Breaking Bad - although not every main cast member is present on Breaking Bad.
While Breaking Bad has already confirmed the fates of characters like Mike Ehrmentraut, Tuco Salamanca, Gus Fring, and Hank Schrader (who is a recent addition to season 5), some key characters from Better Call Saul don’t show up at all on Breaking Bad, which leaves their futures up in the air. One of those is Michael Mando’s Nacho Varga, a lieutenant in the Salamanca family’s drug business. While Nacho’s death is certainly possible, considering how many narrow scrapes he’s had in the past, there’s one significant piece of evidence that suggests Nacho might make it through Better Call Saul alive, and it’s a line dating all the way back to Breaking Bad season 2.
Saul Goodman is first introduced as a criminal lawyer in Breaking Bad season 2, episode 8, “Better Call Saul”, and over the course of the episode, he agrees to represent Jesse Pinkman and help Walter White build his criminal empire. During the pivotal scene in which he decides to help the two, he’s kidnapped and starts pleading for his life, yelling out excuses which he thinks may be able to save him. One of the excuses Saul shouts when he thinks Jesse and Walt are going to kill him is “Just tell me what you want!… It wasn’t me, it was Ignacio!”
As fans of Better Call Saul will know, Nacho’s first name is, in fact, Ignacio - and if Saul is blaming him for criminal activity all the way through the events of Breaking Bad season 2, then that would simply Nacho makes it out of Better Call Saul alive, given that the latter is a prequel and hasn’t extended to as far as season 2 of the flagship series - at least not yet.
Of course, Saul could be referring to a different Ignacio, but given the showrunners’ attention to detail, it seems unlikely they would choose the name “Ignacio” for a new character on Better Call Saul without having plans for him. So, with season 5 quickly approaching and season 6 on the horizon, fans of Nacho may be able to rest easy - if Breaking Bad is any indication, Nacho Varga will live to see another day. But then again, Better Call Saul could retcon Breaking Bad by killing off Nacho.
Read more: Better Call Saul Season 5 Could Finally Pay Off A Famous Breaking Bad Scene
