Despite a number of nominations, Better Call Saul has failed to pick up any Emmys at the 74th Television Academy Awards, marking a sixth year without a win for the drama series.
Better Call Saul, created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, was nominated for four awards this year. These nominations included awards for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Bob Odenkirk, who plays titular character Saul Goodman), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler), and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (Thomas Schnauz for ‘Plan and Execution’). In addition, the crime television series was also nominated for its soundtrack, including picks for Outstanding Music Supervision, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour), and Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour). Rather than picking up any of the prizes, however, the award for the Outstanding Drama Series went to Jesse Armstrong’s Succession, which also picked up the award for the Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and another in the category of Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series. Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae (as Seong Gi-hun) took out the prize for Lead Actor, and Julia Garner won the Supporting Actress award for her role as Ruth Langmore in Ozark.
This comes as the crime-drama series has had forty-six nominations in the past since the 67th Emmy Awards in 2015, where the series was originally nominated for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Leader Actor in a Drama Series (Odenkirk), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Jonathan Banks), and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. These awards were taken instead by HBO’s Game of Thrones (Outstanding Drama and Writing), Mad Men’s Jon Hamm (Lead Actor), and Game of Throne’s Peter Dinklage (Supporting Actor). Since 2015, Better Call Saul has repeatedly received nominations for Outstanding Drama Series (2015–2017, 2019–2020, 2022), Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (2015–2017, 2019, 2022: Odenkirk), Outstanding Supporting Actor for a Drama Series (2015–2017: Banks, 2019–2020, Banks and Giancarlo Esposito), Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (2015: Gordon Smith, 2017: Smith, 2019: Schnauz and Peter Gould, 2020: Schnauz and Gould, 2022), and a nomination for Best Directing for Vince Gilligan’s work on ‘Witness.’ Despite the high number of nominations, Better Call Saul is yet to receive an Emmy in any category.
Better Call Saul has had success in receiving multiple awards and nominations throughout the years in other ceremonies. The series has been successful for four years (2015–16, 2018, 2021) in receiving the American Film Institute Awards’ Television Programs of the Year, as well as winning the Creative Arts Emmy Awards’ Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series title in 2017 and 2020, the Critics’ Choice Television Awards’ Best Short Form Series in 2021, and the Eddy Awards’ Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television in 2018, 2019, and 2021. A number of other awards have also been received over several categories at the Peabody Awards, Saturn Awards, TCA Awards, and the Writers Guild of America Awards. For his role as Saul Goodman/ Jimmy McGill, Odenkirk has also received several awards for Lead Actor categories, including winning Best Actor in the 2021 Satellite Awards.
Better Call Saul is part of the Breaking Bad series and follows the life of Jimmy McGill, a criminal lawyer, before his run-in with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. The series explores the story of the former con-man trying to become a respectable defense attorney, showcasing what happens approximately six years before the events of Breaking Bad. The series also stars Michael Mando as Nacho Varga and Patrick Fabian as Howard Hamlin.
Season six of Better Call Saul is currently streaming on AMC.