Breaking Bad: Where Bill Burr’s Kuby Is During Better Call Saul
Breaking Bad's Kuby (Bill Burr) is one of the most popular recurring characters from Breaking Bad, but where is he during Better Call Saul?
Patrick Kuby, played by Bill Burr, is among Breaking Bad‘s many memorable supporting characters, but he’s yet to appear in the prequel show Better Call Saul. Burr made his debut as Kuby in Breaking Bad season 4, working with Skyler to help her and Walter buy the car wash that they’d use to launder money. An associate of Saul Goodman, he would go on to appear in several more episodes of the show, and becoming a fan-favorite in the process.
Kuby becomes an important, if relatively minor in terms of screen time, figure in helping Walt’s drug empire, and is part of an incredible and oft-hilarious partnership with Huell, with the pair being written into Breaking Bad meme history in the scene where they lie down on top of Walt’s pile of money. Huell has since gone on to appear in several Better Call Saul episodes, establishing his relationship with the titular character and fleshing him out further ahead of the parent show’s timeline. Kuby’s final appearance came in the Breaking Bad episode “Rabid Dog”, in which he tried to locate Jesse for Walt and Saul, and it’s unclear exactly what happened to him in the end. Despite Huell recurring, he hasn’t appeared in Better Call Saul.
It’s somewhat possible that Kuby hasn’t yet made it to Albuquerque by the time of Better Call Saul. In “To’hajiilee”, the thirteenth episode of Breaking Bad season 5, DEA Agent Steven Gomez mentions that Kuby was run out of Boston by its police department a few years ago. This takes place in 2010, so it depends on how long Gomez means by a few as to whether Kuby is still in Boston at this point or not: Better Call Saul has so far spanned from 2002-2004, so is still several years away from that point in the timeline. Kuby may be in Boston, or if he is in Albuquerque, might not have established a connection with Saul Goodman yet.
There are some unfortunate real-life circumstances, however, that mean Burr’s Kuby hasn’t appeared yet on Better Call Saul. The actor and comedian was supposed to appear in Better Call Saul season 5, but had to pull-out as he had a friend who was dying at the time, and he needed to say goodbye. It was, of course, a difficult but understandable decision for Burr. His role in Better Call Saul was seemingly given over to Steven Ogg, who returned as Sobchak (having first appeared in season 1), playing a role that was clearly intended for Kuby.
It remains to be seen whether Burr will make an appearance as Kuby in Better Call Saul season 6, but it is certainly possible. The final season of the show will be taking the Jimmy of the prequel even closer to the Saul of Breaking Bad, and it would make sense for Kuby to be a part of that, not least for the payoff of showing the formation of his relationship with Huell, which is the kind of fitting fan-service it’s easy to imagine Vince Gilligan writing in at this point.
