Better Call Saul Just Set Up Howard Hamlin's Season 6 Death
Better Call Saul season 6 appears to be setting up a conflict involving Howard Hamlin. Due to Saul's criminal dealings, this could spell doom for him.
Better Call Saul is setting up a potential season 6 death for Patrick Fabian's Howard Hamlin. The new trailer for the final season of Breaking Bad's spinoff prequel series indicated there will be a new conflict between Jimmy McGill, a.k.a. Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) and Hamlin. Due to the former's criminal dealings, this could spell doom for the latter.
Howard Hamlin has been a major supporting character throughout Better Call Saul, acting as one of the lead managing partners of HHM, the law firm established by his father as well as Jimmy McGill's brother, Chuck (Michael McKean). Debuting as Jimmy's primary rival in season 1, Howard's role is gradually taken over by Better Call Saul's Chuck once it's revealed that he's the one who has been deliberately sabotaging Jimmy's attempts to advance in his law career. Following Chuck's death in season 3, Hamlin becomes less prominent in the series as Jimmy begins to fully adopt his Saul Goodman persona and begin to affiliate himself with Albuquerque's criminal underworld. However, as the trailer for Better Call Saul's sixth and final season shows, Hamlin seems to be taking on a larger role again, and one that will likely have a dark outcome.
In the trailer for Better Call Saul season 6, Howard is shown speaking to Kim (Rhea Seehorn), and it's revealed that he is building a case against Jimmy. As of right now, it's unclear whether this has to do with the harassment campaign he experiences at the hands of Jimmy in Better Call Saul season 5, or whether this will involve whatever Kim has planned for him. Whatever the case may be, it appears that Howard will once again be a major threat to Jimmy in the final season. That being said, this threat will likely be cut short if his meddling leads him to cross paths with Saul Goodman's business associates, such as Gus (Giancarlo Esposito) and the Salamancas.
Better Call Saul has seen the worlds of Jimmy McGill and Saul Goodman gradually collide. This comes to a head in season 5 when Kim is roped into Saul's dealings with Lalo Salamanca. It's not much of a stretch to imagine that Howard will eventually discover Saul's criminal activities once he takes his case against Jimmy to the absolute extreme. It's also hard to imagine that Gus and the Salamancas will allow him to live if it means their businesses are exposed, which obviously won't happen since Better Call Saul (barring the "Gene" flashforwards) is a prequel series. This leaves Howard in an especially grim predicament, as his case will have the unfortunate consequence of his untimely demise should he cross paths with Saul Goodman's "business" partners.
As of now, there is no indication that Howard's case will ensure his death. However, the trailer for Better Call Saul season 6 sets up a much darker tone than what the series has been accustomed to, which indicates that nothing will be held back this time. Given his prominence at the beginning of the series, killing off Better Call Saul's Howard will solidify that dark shift.