‘Better Call Saul’ Season 6 on AMC: Writer Gordon Smith explains Lalo's death, 'we gave him the gift of getting everything'

"I suppose there was a world where Lalo limps away and Gus has to chase him down, but that felt like territory we’d already covered," Smith said
Tony Dalton as Lalo Salamanca in 'Better Call Saul' Season 6 (AMC)
Tony Dalton as Lalo Salamanca in 'Better Call Saul' Season 6 (AMC)

As 'Better Call Saul' Season 6 hurtles to an end, there have been questions about who makes it out alive. The AMC drama's midseason premiere opened with a bang with the death of Lalo Salamanca. While the character's death was presumed early on, it was the manner in which it was done. Shedding light about it was the show's writer Gordon Smith who also scripted the Mike Ehrmantraut flashback episode.

"We had no interest in losing Tony Dalton, obviously. He’s incredible," Smith told Rolling Stone. "He’s so much fun on set (Lalo). We really didn’t want to lose the character, either. But we felt like we had set these forces in motion, and we were having these two titans of our story clash, and unfortunately, we knew Gus had to come out the other side.

ALSO READ

'I am fully aware of their size': Florence Pugh blasts 'VULGAR' trolling over see-through dress

IS THIS WHEN IT BEGAN? James Webb telescope releases stunning image nearly 13 BILLION years old

"I suppose there was a world where Lalo limps away and Gus has to chase him down, but that felt like territory we’d already covered. We were happy to give him a big, big, big out. And he gets what he wants. He’s been searching since the end of Season Four for something he thought was going on. He was searching for Werner, chasing down all these leads. So we gave Lalo the gift of getting everything — his heart’s desire — and it destroys him."

TOP STORIES

Who is Melody Maldonado? Superhero mom clings to SUV after carjacker drives off with her children

Internet fumes as bodega worker Jose Alba is charged while victim's GF who stabbed him walks FREE

The showdown between Gus and Lalo ends with the latter dying and that marks the start of the body count with five episodes remaining. When asked whether burying Lalo and Howard together felt symbolic of the idea of those two separate shows being permanently joined. "I love the way you put that. I don’t know what the burial was. But certainly, the fact of bringing all these things together was our way of saying, “No, no, this is why we’ve been doing these two things, because there was going to be a point where we brought these two things together.”

'Better Call Saul' airs Mondays at 9 pm ET on AMC

GET THE BIGGEST ENTERTAINMENT STORIES
STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX.

MORE STORIES

Several of Season 3’s dangling mysteries were built specifically to pay off in the next chapter
1 day ago
‘Aquamarine’ sequel series adds a new ensemble along with two OG characters to round out their cast
1 day ago
The Jacobite Rising is about to tear both ‘Blood of My Blood’ couples apart in Season 2
1 day ago
Netflix is expanding the ‘Manifest’ universe with the same team behind the original hit
1 day ago
Maurice Benard previews major changes for Sonny while teasing that a member of his family will soon return.
2 days ago
Jason’s decision to leave Sonny’s organization has raised questions about Steve Burton’s future on the ABC soap.
2 days ago
Jason’s arrival in Amanda’s reality changes what the series has established about the Box and gives Ryan a possible route home.
2 days ago
Amazon just greenlit a murder mystery where literally every character has a body to hide, and Penn Badgley has been appointed as the lead star.
2 days ago
The upcoming 'The Rookie' spinoff series will feature Jay Ellis as the new lead rookie, Alex Holland, and move the franchise away from Los Angeles.
2 days ago
‘Silo’ Season 3 Episode 9 features a surprise Peter Gabriel cameo as a nuclear explosion and major twists push the story toward its finale
2 days ago