Howard Hamlin

Lore & Background

Howard Hamlin is a skilled and affluent lawyer and one of the managing partners of the Albuquerque law firm Hamlin Hamlin & McGill (HHM). The firm was originally established by Howard's father George and Chuck McGill, who later added Howard as a partner. When George died and Chuck became housebound as a result of his supposed electromagnetic hypersensitivity, Howard became the firm's managing partner. When Chuck brings his younger brother Jimmy from Chicago to turn him away from his conman past, Howard agrees to employ Jimmy in HHM's mail room. After Jimmy passes the bar exam, Chuck secretly instructs Howard to deny him advancement at HHM. Unaware of Chuck's machinations, Jimmy becomes resentful towards Howard and starts his own practice from an office in the back of a nail salon. With Chuck unable to leave his house, Howard attempts to buy out his share of the partnership with a token payment. As Chuck's caregiver and de facto guardian, Jimmy refuses and demands that if Howard buys Chuck out, he pay the full value. Howard drives a dark green 1998 Jaguar XJ8, with the license plate 'NAMAST3' (namaste).

In Their Own Story

The season six episode 'Plan and Execution' features the murder of Howard by Lalo Salamanca. The writers explored dozens of possible ways for Howard's story to end. One idea they considered involved Lalo taking Howard, Jimmy, and Kim hostage but they thought Lalo killing Howard was 'a perfect way to scare the ever-living shit out of Jimmy and Kim, to put a bullet in this stranger's head and move on to part two of his plan.'

Reader's Guide

Howard Hamlin is a skilled and affluent lawyer and one of the managing partners of HHM. Initially a foil for and longtime antagonist of Jimmy McGill, his hostility and actions towards Jimmy are later revealed to have been largely due to pressure from Chuck McGill. His attempts to correct his past behavior towards Jimmy culminate in devastating consequences. In the series, Howard is portrayed as cocky, arrogant, and self-centered. However, many fans of the show believe that Howard is actually a good person. Fabian commented by saying 'You know, Jimmy called Howard 'Lord Vader' in the very first episode of *Better Call Saul*. And when the lead character calls your character Lord Vader, the audience goes, 'Wow, what a dick that guy's gonna be.' Then everybody starts looking at everything that falls out of my mouth as evidence backing that claim up. And even when it goes in the opposite direction—like at the end of Season 1, where it turns out I was sort of protecting Jimmy from Chuck, there is a bit of a hitch of 'Oh, maybe Howard's not so bad,' but as soon as I was quote-unquote being a dick to Kim in Season 2, they all got back on board and said, 'Yeah, he's Lord Vader.' I'm not complaining at all.' Fabian has compared Howard to 'sort of a Peter Pan, living a great existence...' before he meets Chuck and Jimmy McGill who '[muck] it all up.' Vince Gilligan said Howard was initially meant to be the series' antagonist, and Chuck as being supportive of Jimmy's efforts, but as they filmed the initial episodes and saw the interactions, the writing team came onto the idea of making Chuck the antagonist, while Howard would be more supportive of Jimmy, belying his outward rigor. In a later interview, Fabian also implied that he does not view Howard as an antagonist.

Did You Know?

• Howard drives a dark green 1998 Jaguar XJ8 with the license plate 'NAMAST3' (namaste).
• Patrick Fabian was cast in May 2014, with his character initially described as 'Kennedy-esque lawyer who's winning at life' and originally reported as Burt before being revealed as Howard Hamlin.
• Vince Gilligan said Howard was initially meant to be the series' antagonist, but the writing team changed course to make Chuck the antagonist after seeing early interactions.
• The season six episode 'Plan and Execution' features Howard's murder by Lalo Salamanca; the writers considered dozens of possible endings, including Lalo taking Howard, Jimmy, and Kim hostage.
• Howard's hostility towards Jimmy is later revealed to have been largely due to pressure from Chuck McGill, his business partner and Jimmy's elder brother.