Why Better Call Saul Fans Fear a Main Character Dies in Season 5 Finale

Better Call Saul viewers suspect the fifth season of the Breaking Bad spinoff will culminate with the death of fan-favorite Nacho Varga (Michael Mando) in Monday's season finale, ominously titled "Something Unforgivable." The penultimate episode of the season, "Bad Choice Road," ended with Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) — acting leader of the Salamanca gang — headed for Mexico alongside unwitting passenger Nacho, the double-agent supplying Mike (Jonathan Banks) and boss Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) with key information as Fring wages war against the Salamancas. Keeping Nacho in the game is a threat against his innocent father, Manuel (Juan Carlos Cantu), who refuses to run despite the danger posed by Fring's operation.

Mando will participate in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session on Tuesday following the Monday premiere of the Season 5 finale. "Dying to interrogate @MandoMichael? Ask Michael Anything," reads a tweet from the Better Call Saul Twitter account, igniting fears his character won't survive to see the sixth and final season.

The actor participated in a prior AMA session on August 29, 2018, following the airing of Season 4 episode "Talk," which Nacho survived. Responding to the tweet — and its use of the word "dying" — Better Call Saul fans are concerned they're being tipped off to Nacho's demise.

But a Season 2 episode of Breaking Bad could point to Nacho, full name Ignacio, surviving the events unfolding in Saul. In an episode titled "Better Call Saul," the criminal lawyer (Bob Odenkirk) is kidnapped by masked meth-makers Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), who Goodman mistakes for cartel members.

"It wasn't me, it was Ignacio! He's the one," Goodman pleads. When he realizes he's in the clear, Goodman asks, "Lalo didn't send you?" (Conversely, Ignacio doesn't need to be alive to be blamed in Goodman's case of mistaken identity.)

The events of the Breaking Bad episode are still some four years in the future: during the current events Saul, taking place in 2004, the lawyer formerly known as Jimmy McGill has yet to cross paths with "Heisenberg" and his protégé.

Better Call Saul concludes its fifth season with "Something Unforgivable," premiering Monday, April 20 at 9/8c on AMC.