Both Breaking Bad and its prequel series Better Call Saul have a high body count. Centered around Walter White's descent from a chemistry teacher to a drug kingpin and the criminal underground of drug cartels, many characters succumb to the deadly side of the drug industry. While some characters had satisfying or arguably deserved deaths, others tragically died too soon.
Better Call Saul's final season is now available to stream on Netflix. Some viewers may have rewatched Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul and reflected on the most tragic deaths in the franchise. Across two shows and a movie, certain characters stand out for leaving viewers in tears as they made their final exit.
This article references suicide.
10 Domingo "Krazy-8" Molina (Breaking Bad)
Season 1, Episode 3
Krazy-8 initially survived a phosphine gas explosion after he attempted to ambush Walt and Jesse's RV in Breaking Bad. Walt faces a moral dilemma when he realizes Krazy-8 is still alive and decides to keeps him hostage in Jesse's basement. After concluding that Krazy-8 will probably target him and his family once more if he releases Krazy-8, Walt strangles him with a bike lock and dissolves his body in acid.
Better Call Saul explored Krazy-8's storyline from Breaking Bad. The prequel series showed a more sympathetic and sadder narrative of a man trapped within the cartels and being used as leverage against the cops. Moreover, after killing Krazy-8, Walt began to rationalize murdering others.
9 Steven Gomez (Breaking Bad)
Season 5, Episode 12
Steven Gomez was Hank Schrader's partner at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who helped him track down and arrest Walt. However, Walt called Jack Welker and the Nazis to come to the shoot-out, and Jack refused to back down at Walt's request. Jack proceeded to shoot Hank and Gomez, burying them in the middle of the desert.
Gomez was a more level-headed and less prejudiced agent than Hank. He was the first member of the DEA willing to take a chance on Hank's theory that Gus Fring ran a drug empire, despite his close ties to Albuquerque police organizations. Gomez's tragic death marked the end of a beloved Breaking Bad character.
8 Gale Boetticher (Breaking Bad)
Season 3, Episode 13
Due to Jesse's increasing defiance under Gus Fring's rule, Gus tasks Gale with learning Walt's exact meth recipe so he can replace Jesse and eventually Walt. Walt strikes a deal with Jesse to kill Gale to prevent Gus from murdering them and continuing cooking. Jesse later shows up at Gale's apartment and reluctantly shoots him in the head.
Gale didn't hold any ill will toward Jesse or Walt, as he actually admired Walt's cooking capabilities. As Gale pleads with Jesse for his life, it's an unbearably tense watch. Gale's death is one of the worst things that happens to Jesse, as his demise directly went against Jesse's strong code of ethics.
7 Chuck McGill (Better Call Saul)
Season 3, Episode 10
Jimmy humiliated Chuck in a court case that proved that his electromagnetic hypersensitivity was false. HHM's malpractice insurance subsequently supervise him, and a defiant Chuck leaves the firm in protest. Spiraling, Chuck tears out all of his home's electrical wiring and eventually kicks over the gas lantern, setting his house on fire with him inside.
Even Better Call Saul fans who hated Chuck thought his death was a brutal way to go. His departure set Jimmy squarely on the path to becoming Saul Goodman, abandoning his more earnest qualities as a lawyer. However, Chuck's exit was one of the most tragic death scenes on TV. The character's downfall was due to his insecurities about his brother.
6 Andrea Cantillo (Breaking Bad)
Season 4, Episode 12
After realizing Walt had poisoned Andrea's son, Brock, Jesse breaks off his partnership with Walt. This split resulted in Jack imprisoning Jesse. When Jesse tries to escape, the Nazis take Jesse to Andrea's house, shoot Andrea, and force Jesse to watch Andrea die.
Jesse's relationship with Andrea was a turning point for him - he was able to care for something much greater than his drug enterprise with Walt and found a second family. Jesse laid his life down numerous times to ensure the safety of Andrea's young brother and son. Her execution was a brutal scheme to eradicate everything Jesse loved.
5 Hank Schrader (Breaking Bad)
Season 5, Episode 14
Hank successfully arrests Walt after uncovering his drug empire under his alias Heisenberg. Before the arrest, Walt had arranged for the Nazis to take out Jesse, who was working with Hank. Despite Walt's pleas, Jack shoots both Hank and his partner Gomez. Jack buries Hank and Gomez in the desert where Walt stored his money.
Hank was not one of the most kind-hearted characters in Breaking Bad, as he only cared about himself. However, his mission to take down his brother-in-law was his most selfless act, as he tried to protect Skyler from Walt. His death marked a point of no return for Walt, as he loses the family he claims to have gone into the drug industry for.
4 Jane Margolis (Breaking Bad)
Season 2, Episode 12
Jane's relationship with Jesse reignites her drug addiction and worsens Jesse's when she introduces him to heroin. The drug causes Jesse to be frequently incapacitated and unable to cooperate with Walt. Walt attempts to wake Jessie but accidentally knocks Jane onto her back, causing her to choke on her own vomit. Walt notices she's dying but decides not to intervene.
Bryan Cranston cited Jane's death as the most difficult scene to shoot in Breaking Bad, as he pictured his own daughter while watching Jane die. Jane tragically succumbed to her struggle with addiction. To make things even worse, her death was a conscious choice on Walt's part.
3 Mike Ehrmantraut (Breaking Bad)
Season 5, Episode 7
The police seized Mike's funds for his family after Walt exposed his connections to Gus Fring to the authorities. In a confrontation with Mike, Walt demands the names of his prison associates. Mike says that he doesn't owe Walt a thing and things were better under Gus, causing a Walt to shoot Mike in a fit of rage.
Mike's death is perhaps the most prominent example of Walter White's ego getting the better of him. This action permanently shifted Walter's morally gray character to a villain. In Better Call Saul, fans saw that Mike was motivated to work with cartels to provide money for his granddaughter after his son's death. His unexplained disappearance is incredibly tragic.
2 Nacho Varga (Better Call Saul)
Season 6, Episode 3
Believing Nacho killed Lalo Salamanca, Nacho's father becomes a target of retribution. To save his father, Nacho surrenders to Gus in one final stand-off with the Salamancas. Nacho gleefully reveals that Lalo's death was all him and not Gus, and that he had caused Hector Salamanca's stroke. Then, Nacho died by suicide.
Although Nacho managed to have the last laugh in his stand-off against the Salamancas, fans were sad that he died so soon. Over the past few seasons, Nacho had worked hard to distance himself from the violence around him and save his father's life. His arc is similar to Jesse's in Breaking Bad, but Nacho's journey of redemption ended too soon.
1 Howard Hamlin (Better Call Saul)
Season 6, Episode 7
Howard showed up at Kim and Jimmy's apartment after being framed as a cocaine addict so Jimmy could settle the Sandpiper case. As he confronted them, Lalo Salamanca turned up for a meeting with his lawyer and revealed his plan to get Jimmy to kill Gus Fring. However, Lalo proceeds to shoot Howard in the head for witnessing the meeting.
Howard's execution was as sudden and brutal as they come, especially as he had no idea about Saul's ties to the cartel. During his final day alive, Kim and Jimmy humiliated him. This meant that not only did Howard die, but his peers' memories of him as an honest, hardworking lawyer died with him. Howard's burial - with his murderer and his location unknown to his loved ones - was a real gut-punch for Better Call Saul fans.
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