Better Call Saul fans in ‘meltdown’ over ‘jarring’ recast of key character

Some viewers failed to recognise the character after reshoots had forced the role to be recast

Better Call Saul fans were taken aback by a not-so-familiar face in the latest episode of the hit AMC drama.

“Nippy”, the tenth episode of Saul’s sixth and final season, debuted on Monday night (25 July) in the US, and focused entirely on the “future” timeline of Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill.

Spoilers follow for the latest episode of Better Call Saul...

In the episode, which takes place entirely in black-and-white, Jimmy is still living in Omaha, Nebraska under the alias of Cinnabon manager Gene Takovic.

Carrying on from last season’s flash-forward, we know that Jimmy had been recognnised – by a cab driver called Jeff.

Jimmy manages to recruit Jeff into an outlandishly intricate scheme to steal high-end clothing items from a mall, eventually securing his silence through mutual criminality.

However, while Jeff was originally played by the actor Don Harvey in seasons four and five, he was replaced in “Nippy” by Pat Healy.

Jeff, as portrayed by Don Harvey (left) and Pat Healy (right) (AMC)

The change was made after Odenkirk suffered a heart attack while filming season six of Saul. Harvey was unable to make the newly rearranged dates, as he was busy filming parts in the HBO drama We Own This City.

While the casting change was unavoidable – and Healy’s performance has been praised by viewers and the show’s writers – many Saul fans said they were thrown by the change of cast.

Many, in fact, claimed to have made it through the entire episode without realising who the new Jeff was supposed to be.

“F***ed up of Better Call Saul to bring back a character who showed up, like, one time, recast them on top of that, and expect me to know who they are. Whole time I’m like ‘they’re acting like I’m supposed to know who Jeff is. who is Jeff’,” one person wrote.

“So am I the only person who watched that entire episode of #BetterCallSaul and failed to realise the guy ‘Gene’ was scheming with was the cab driver who recognised him???” asked another. “They clearly recast the role and I was sitting wondering where this guy was gonna fit into the story.”

Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill in ‘Better Call Saul’ (© 2022 Sony Pictures Television & AMC Film Holdings LLC. All Rights Reserved.)

“The new Better Call Saul episode is great but the Jeff recast is a bit unfortunate,” someone else wrote.

“As entitled and annoying as everyone was about it, gotta agree this Jeff recast is jarring. Has a totally different demeanor from the guy in season five ep one,” another fan wrote.

“Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul community really be having a meltdown of their lives over a recast,” one fan joked.

Saul continues next Monday on AMC, with episodes arriving the following morning on Netflix in the UK.