2023 Emmys: A closer look at ‘Better Call Saul’s’ final 7 nominations

It has become a running record that “Better Call Saul” has yet to win a single Emmy Award from its now 53 nominations. But the AMC legal crime drama has seven last chances this year to nab a long-awaited and deserved trophy for the second half of its stellar final season, which aired last summer. Read on for a closer look at “Better Call Saul’s” final seven nominations.

While the “Breaking Bad” prequel has been hit-or-miss in a lot of other main categories in the past, it has kept a slot in the Best Drama Series category its entire run. This year, half of the lineup is a whole new crop of shows and with nomination tallies, “Better Call Saul” is in the same realm as Netflix’s former recipient “The Crown” with six and freshman series “Andor” on Disney+ and “House of the Dragon” on HBO with eight. That leaves Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” with three, and a trio of HBO series that triple all their counts with “The White Lotus” at 23, “The Last of Us” at 24 and reigning champion “Succession” at 27.

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SEE 2023 Emmys: Complete list of nominees

Bob Odenkirk lands his sixth nomination for Best Drama Actor and has submitted the series finale, “Saul Gone,” for consideration, an episode that is also up for writing, picture editing and sound mixing. The episode wraps up all the storylines in the “Breaking Bad” universe, mainly the endgame of Jimmy McGill as he confesses to all of his crimes in a court of law in front of his ex-wife Kim Wexler. Not only does Odenkirk give a rousing, poignant speech in the courtroom, he also goes through a range of emotions from fear and sadness before and after being caught, to narcissistically negotiating a plea bargain, to accepting his fate and reminiscing with Kim.

Rhea Seehorn portrays that female counterpart for Jimmy in Kim Wexler, and after finally getting into the Best Drama Supporting Actress category last year, she is back with her submission of the penultimate episode, “Waterworks.” In that entry, Kim confesses to her orchestration of a scheme that resulted in the demise of her former boss, Howard Hamlin. This is the first time viewers see Kim in the latest timeline of the show, and she has a myriad of memorable scenes like her fearful call with Jimmy for the first time in six years and her uncontainable emotional breakdown on the bus after confessing to Howard’s widow.

For the second time following 2020, “Better Call Saul” has double bids in Best Drama Writing. Showrunner Peter Gould penned the series finale and Gordon Smith acquired his fourth writing nomination for scripting the midseason premiere, “Point and Shoot.” Gould is also cited as an executive producer for the “Better Call Saul Filmmaker Training” series along with Dan Appel, Melissa Bernstein and Ariel Levine for Best Short Form Comedy/Drama/Variety Series, but that doesn’t count toward the show’s overall total.

SEE‘Better Call Saul’ has 7 last chances to win its first Emmy Award — something, anything

This final season of “Better Call Saul” was split into two halves to increase its Emmy recognition, so we’ll see if that strategy pays off with a win when the ceremony eventually takes place. Here are the 2023 Emmy nominations for “Better Call Saul”:

Best Drama Series
Producers TBA

Best Drama Actor
Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill, Saul Goodman and Gene Takovic (“Saul Gone”)

Best Drama Supporting Actress
Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler (“Waterworks”)

Best Drama Writing
Gordon Smith, Written by (“Point and Shoot”)

Best Drama Writing
Peter Gould, Written by (“Saul Gone”)

Best Drama Picture Editing (“Saul Gone”)
Skip Macdonald, ACE, Editor

Best Drama Sound Mixing (“Saul Gone”)
Larry Benjamin, Re-Recording Mixer
Kevin Valentine, Re-Recording Mixer
Phillip W. Palmer, CAS, Production Mixer

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