Kim Wexler

Lore & Background

Kim Wexler was born in 1968, according to her driver's license in "JMM". She was raised in several Nebraska towns, including Red Cloud, but is intentionally vague about her past. In a flashback in "Wexler v. Goodman", Kim is shown to have become self-reliant as a teenager due to her mother's alcoholism. In "The Guy for This", she claims that as a child, her mother frequently moved them from place to place to keep one step ahead of landlords to whom they owed back rent, and never had a place to call home herself. Kim further claims she moved to Albuquerque because of the limited opportunities available in her hometown. Kim's mother used her in shoplifting and petty theft schemes, such as stealing a necklace and earrings which Kim has kept through adulthood, as shown in "Axe and Grind". Kim worked in the mailroom at Hamlin, Hamlin and McGill (HHM), where Howard Hamlin and Chuck McGill were lead partners. With HHM lending her the money to pay for law school, she completed her education and then joined the firm as an associate. After attaining admission to the bar, Kim quickly became one of HHM's top lawyers, and her success inspired Jimmy to secretly attend a distance learning law school and become an attorney. With Kim's encouragement, Jimmy started a solo practice after HHM decided against hiring him as an associate. During the period leading up to the events of Better Call Saul, Kim and Jimmy are shown to have developed a close personal relationship, which eventually turns romantic.

In Their Own Story

In 2002, Jimmy McGill is angered by how his brother Chuck and Howard have treated him. Kim follows Howard's direction to talk to Jimmy, but finds Jimmy's use of con games interesting; Jimmy suggests that she should leave HHM and set up a firm with him. The fallout from Jimmy's actions causes Kim to temporarily lose her standing within HHM. Reduced to entry-level document review work, she becomes more disenchanted with HHM after Jimmy brings the firm a potentially multi-million dollar class-action lawsuit against the Sandpiper retirement communities, only for Chuck to use Howard in blocking Jimmy's participation on the case. When the case grows in size, HHM calls on the services of another firm, Davis & Main, and Kim recommends Jimmy to them due to his familiarity with the case and rapport with the clients. Her recommendation results in Jimmy being offered an associate's position with D&M. Jimmy is reluctant to take the job at Davis & Main, and hides away at a luxury hotel using an assumed name and stolen credit card. Kim tracks him down and tries to convince him to take the job. Instead, Jimmy brings her in on a con, convincing another hotel patron to pay for an expensive bottle of tequila. The con is a success, and they spend the night together; Kim keeps the elaborate bottle stopper as a memento. Jimmy accepts the Davis & Main job and works with Kim on the Sandpiper lawsuit. Jimmy skirts the law when soliciting Sandpiper residents to become plaintiffs, creating the potential for damage to Davis & Main's reputation among its more conservative clients. Later, he prepares a television advertisement to attract more plaintiffs, and airs it without getting the approval of his D&M superiors. Kim covers for him at HHM, staining her reputation even further. Jimmy offers to quit Davis & Main to restore Kim's stature, but she insists on reclaiming it on her own. Kim works her law school and professional contacts in the hopes of obtaining a major new client for HHM, and succeeds in convincing a large regional bank, Mesa Verde, to retain HHM as outside counsel. Howard is happy to have the business, but denies Kim credit. Reduced to meaningless work such as arguing unwinnable motions in court, Kim's courtroom proficiency draws the attention of Richard Schweikart, a partner at Schweikart & Cokely (S&C). Schweikart offers her a position at his firm. Kim considers the offer while sitting at a bar, and begins talking to a man she recognizes as a potential mark. She calls Jimmy to join her, and they successfully complete another con, followed by another night together. Kim decides to leave HHM and establish a solo practice, with Jimmy forming a solo practice in the same office so they can share expenses. Kim appears to succeed at bringing Mesa Verde with her, but Chuck wins t

Reader's Guide

Kim Wexler's arc through the fifth season is called by Gilligan an "impending tragedy", as her nearly illegal actions are towards "self-destructive behavior". Katie Beth Hall portrays a young Kim in flashbacks in "Wexler v. Goodman" and "Axe and Grind". During the first two seasons, Kim was rarely seen without a business suit or a tight ponytail, a choice made between Seehorn, Gilligan, Gould and stylist Trish Almeida to show that Kim was "all business". In the third season, Kim gets into a car accident, breaking her arm which in actuality would make it difficult for Kim to put up her hair in a ponytail without significant effort. At this point, as Kim's character was starting to become unravelled, Almeida and Seehorn used how tight the ponytail was set as an implicit sign of Kim's internal turmoil: when it was set tight, Kim was focused on her job, but if it was loose, it meant she was struggling with sadness and worry. The writers saw Kim no longer being as moral as planned and gave her a darker side that arose from her childhood, something that gave her a chip on her shoulder that would make her give in to more unethical approaches if it got the job done, and thus one that readily fell into work alongside Jimmy in his cons after fighting her reluctant nature to join in. Gould called this "The emotional connection between these two characters had a gravitational pull that started twisting the whole story around."

Did You Know?

• Kim Wexler was born in 1968, according to her driver's license in the episode "JMM".
• Rhea Seehorn auditioned and got the role in April 2014, about two months before the pilot was shot.
• Katie Beth Hall portrays a young Kim in flashbacks in "Wexler v. Goodman" and "Axe and Grind".
• Kim's mother used her in shoplifting and petty theft schemes, such as stealing a necklace and earrings which Kim has kept through adulthood.
• Gilligan called Kim's arc through the fifth season an 'impending tragedy', as her nearly illegal actions are towards 'self-destructive behavior'.