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Kim Wexler's journey on Better Call Saul continues to be the most talked-about and analyzed plotline in contemporary television. Throughout the series, her evolution from a moral lawyer into a morally ambiguous criminal partner kept viewers speculating about her final destiny.
It inspired an infinite number of fan theories, one of the most widely circulated of which was that Kim was in secret working for drug lord Gus Fring.
Though this premise intrigued a few of the show's watchers, the creators of the show wisely eschewed this course of action. And they're lucky they did so — the theory might have undermined the tone, character integrity, and general sense of the series. In its last seasons, Better Call Saul had the challenging task of bridging its narrative to that of Breaking Bad, while also concluding its own storylines.
Kim's character was central to this balancing act. If the writers had leaned in on the theory that she was somehow associated with the criminal activities of Gus Fring, it would have brought huge complications and risks to the story. Steering clear of this specific fan theory wasn't only a creative decision — it was one that had to be made in order to keep both series consistent and keep the integrity of Kim's narrative intact.
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How the theory caught up in Better Call Saul
The theory that Kim Wexler was covertly working with or for Gus Fring wasn't conjured up from nothing. It grew out of her quick wit, strategic mind, and incremental moral erosion. By season 6, Kim had already started masterminding complex cons with Jimmy, like the one that totally ruined Howard Hamlin's career.
To viewers of Better Call Saul, it wasn't hard to picture her legal brain being a valuable addition to Gus, a man who liked to keep himself surrounded by super-skilled and super-stealthy professionals.
Others thought even more schemingly that Kim's eventual absence from Jimmy's life indicated she was still working behind the scenes in Breaking Bad — perhaps even masterminding legal moves on behalf of Gus.
The theory further picked up steam online after episodes displayed Kim as able to manipulate individuals and systems without guilt, while having a steady and composed public facade — traits that Gus himself appreciated in his business partners. Yet, no matter how hard it seemed on the surface, the theory didn't quite stand up to examination.
Why would it have been a misstep in Better Call Saul
To include Kim as part of Gus Fring's business would involve rewriting or retconning a lot of Breaking Bad. Kim is never mentioned or hinted at in that show, the slightest, and bringing her in would cause inconsistencies in an already tightly wound universe.
More significantly, it would alter the whole course of her character, inserting her into a narrative that never was hers to start with.
Better Call Saul never concerned how everyone in the cast was tied to Gus or Walt. It concerned how characters such as Jimmy and Kim made choices that gradually pushed them apart or steered them toward peril.
Moving Kim into the orbit of Gus would have detracted from the emotional resonance of her own arc. Her decisions, her guilt, and her final choice to leave Jimmy behind would have been less like personal aha's and more like calculated moves, which would be short of the emotional essence of her character.
What the show did instead
Instead of assigning Kim to a crime syndicate, Better Call Saul provided her with an arc that was more personal and more tragic. In season 6, after the disastrous aftermath of their plot against Howard and the fatal results that ensued, Kim takes a radical step: she abandons Jimmy, quits her legal practice, and walks away from their established life.
In the episode "Fun and Games," she recognizes that she and Jimmy are "poison" to one another, an admission that implies extensive personal regret and responsibility.
This decision provided Kim's journey in Better Call Saul with a realistic, emotional payoff that was faithful to her character's complexity. Her departure from Jimmy's life wasn't because she had greater criminal aspirations or another master to obey — it was because she couldn't continue to justify the ethical compromises she'd made. The show honored that realism and let her arc conclude not with a revelation, but with a reckoning.
The danger of overcomplication
If Kim had been a part of Gus Fring's operation, the writers of Better Call Saul would have to account for how she could function in that world without running into Saul Goodman a second time — something Breaking Bad explicitly established never occurred.
It would have also put Kim in the type of high-stakes criminal sphere that probably would have resulted in her being arrested or killed, which would have further made her absence in Breaking Bad impossible.
Additionally, casting her alongside Gus in Better Call Saul would have oversimplified her journey. Kim wasn't on a power grab course — she was a multidimensional, conflicted character trying to do what is right and what is fair. Reducing her narrative to a secret alliance with a confessed villain would have deprived the audience of the human, multi-dimensional drama that characterized her.
Ultimately, Better Call Saul did the smart thing by sidestepping the Kim-Gus theory. It kept the integrity of both her character and the universe created by Breaking Bad intact.
Kim Wexler's exit and subsequent existence as a humble, regretful civilian was much more impactful than any revelation that she worked behind the scenes for a drug cartel. The decision not to make her a part of Gus was a story relief as much as it was an exercise in restrained storytelling.
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The show avoided a bullet by being true to its form: character-led drama, slow-burning storytelling, and emotional realism. By doing so, it kept Kim Wexler one of the most interesting and innovative characters on television, without ever having to get involved with the cartel.
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