Despite the quality and success of AMC's Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad spinoff has had a difficult time when it comes to the award season.

Summary

• Despite its immense success and critical acclaim, Better Call Saul has surprisingly never won an Emmy Award, unlike its predecessor Breaking Bad, which won a total of 16 Emmys.
• The acting performances in Better Call Saul, from the leads to the guest stars, deserve recognition and suggest that the show should have won multiple Emmy Awards for acting alone.
• With 53 Emmy Award nominations, Better Call Saul has one last chance to break its streak and secure some Emmy wins at the upcoming 2024 Emmy Awards, with nominations including categories like Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actor.

Better Call Saul is the critically acclaimed prequel series to the worldwide pop culture success that is Breaking Bad, and despite its similar level of quality and influence, Better Call Saul has yet to match Breaking Bad in one particular aspect. Featuring many of the same actors from Breaking Bad as well as new faces, Better Call Saul centers around Jimmy McGill's transformation from a down-on-his-luck fledgling lawyer, to the notoriously sleazy yet affable Saul Goodman. Renowned for its brilliant storytelling, and incredible movie-like production values, Better Call Saul is arguably among the best TV shows of all time.

However, despite the massive success of Better Call Saul, it still comes up short in one surprisingly crucial way when compared to its era-defining predecessor. Whereas Breaking Bad firmly established itself as a seminal piece of art and entertainment with dozens of award wins, Better Call Saul is an unfortunate victim of falling prey to the unfortunate task of living in Breaking Bad's shadow. Six seasons and some of the best moments in the Breaking Bad universe later, Better Call Saul is still being overlooked by many.

Better Call Saul Has Somehow Never Won An Emmy Award (Despite Breaking Bad's Wins)

Breaking Bad won a total of 16 Emmys

While Breaking Bad has won a total of 16 Emmys ranging from acknowledgments regarding its writing, acting, and storylines, Better Call Saul has surprisingly never won any Emmys. The sheer number of Emmy Awards Breaking Bad has compared to Better Call Saul doesn't mitigate or erase the prequel series' massive success, but it is a surprising and disappointing statistic. With critically acclaimed episodes such as "Five-O," "Chicanery," "Bad Choice Road," and "Saul Gone," Better Call Saul has produced more than enough episodes alone to warrant quite a few Emmys despite the nonexistent amount it currently has.

The acting performances ranging from Better Call Saul's leads to its guest stars strongly suggest the show should have already won more than just a few Emmy Awards for acting alone. Additionally, Better Call Saul's ability to convincingly recontextualize not only its key characters but also its important and even minor events strongly speaks to the quality of the show's writing. While it is surprising that Better Call Saul has zero Emmy Awards to its name, it is perhaps because Breaking Bad has so many that the Emmys are balancing things out by awarding other quality shows instead. Better Call Saul has competed against incredible series over the past seven years.

Better Call Saul Has 1 Last Chance To Break Its Surprising Streak

Better Call Saul has 53 Emmy Award Nominations

Better Call Saul's lack of Emmy Awards despite its staggering 53 Emmy Award nominations is surprising, but with the 2024 Emmy Awards premiering soon, there's hope that the legal crime drama could secure a few Emmys. With stars, Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn in the running to win a Primetime Emmy Award along with creative and technical nominations, things look a bit more optimistic than before. Given the success of Better Call Saul season 6, and the many twists and turns applied to Saul and Kim Wexler, the show should, in theory, have a bigger chance now than before to win a few Emmys.

Related

10 Best Better Call Saul Episodes Ranked

The best episodes of Better Call Saul show why the show has been called even better than Breaking Bad.

With Andor, The Crown, Succession, and a string of other well-received TV shows up for Emmys, it's fair to say that Better Call Saul is facing some of its steepest competition since the series' debut. However, given the show's connection to the widely admired Breaking Bad, and its stellar sixth season, Better Call Saul is perhaps in the best position to receive at least one Emmy Award. This would break an unfortunate trend and rewrite the spinoff's lackluster Emmy Award history. While Better Call Saul certainly doesn't need any Emmys to validate its impact, it would be great to see the efforts of the series recognized at the highest professional level anyway.

Which Awards Is The Breaking Bad Prequel Nominated For At The Emmys 2024?

Better Call Saul is in the running to win seven Emmys at the 2024 Emmys

Better Call Saul is in the running for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Bob Odenkirk's work as Saul Goodman, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Rhea Seehorn's work as Kim Wexler, Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for two episodes, "Point and Shoot," and the series finale, "Saul Gone," Outstanding Picture Editing For A Drama Series, and Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series. Better Call Saul's awards history is disappointing and doesn't inspire much confidence that 2024 will be any different, but hopefully, the sheer quality and impact of its final season will be enough to perpetuate the show's legacy in TV history.

Better Call Saul

Release Date

February 8, 2015

Cast

Bob Odenkirk , Rhea Seehorn , Jonathan Banks , Patrick Fabian , Michael Mando , Giancarlo Esposito