Rhea Seehorn Was Worried About Being Compared to ‘Breaking Bad’ Stars
Better Call Saul added Rhea Seehorn’s Kim Wexler to the Breaking Bad universe as a co-lead and love interest to Saul Goodman. But Seehorn was understandably nervous about entering such a popular franchise, especially one that had so many successful female actors.
Rhea Seehorn revealed how she felt about living up to ‘Breaking Bad’ stars
Seehorn was cast as the co-lead in the Breaking Bad prequel as attorney Kim Wexler. She joined a franchise known for featuring top actors who’ve already given highly praised performances. Anna Gunn, who played Skyler White, had even won an Emmy for her performance in the series. Being a fan of Breaking Bad herself, Seehorn was a huge fan of Gunn’s work.
“She brilliantly fulfilled the obligations of her role and how you’d really react if your husband was acting like that and doing those things,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
But Gunn’s success and resonance with the show’s fandom also presented some concerns. Seehorn worried fans wouldn’t have seen her as a worthy member of the Breaking Bad franchise.
“So I kept hoping I could live up to how great she was, and being somebody that was new to the Breaking Bad family, I felt that way about all of the cast members,” she said. “But, certainly as a female co-star, I specifically thought about her and Betsy Brandt. I was like, ‘What if they compare me to them and I’m not as good?’ So I was actually worried that the fans would not accept non-Breaking Bad family members.”
In the end, Seehorn seemed to have little to worry about, however. Her performance as Kim received constant glowing reviews over the course of the show’s six seasons. She even earned a Best Supporting Actress Emmy nomination twice for her role. Seehorn’s character also seemed to be more accepted by the show’s fan base than Gunn’s Skyler White.
Rhea Seehorn explained why fans may have liked Kim Wexler more than Skyler White
Although Gunn’s performance earned praised, her character received a lot of vitriol from fans. And some of that hatred spilled over to the actor herself. Vocal fans reacted harshly to the way Skyler treated Bryan Cranston’s Walter White throughout the show. As much as she enjoyed playing Skyler, Gunn admitted to being hurt by the constant hatred.
“It shook me,” Gunn once told Entertainment Weekly. “As an actor, my job is not to always play characters who make everybody happy. That’s not interesting. In fact, characters that are more difficult in a way are more interesting. But when you are on a show that has become that big and people are identifying you so much with somebody that they dislike, you can’t help but feel like you get folded into it.”
Gunn theorized that the comments came from fans who strongly identified with the show’s main character and saw Skyler as an obstacle to Walter’s goals.
“It was a combination of sexism, ideas about gender roles, and then honestly, it was the brilliance of the construct of the show. People did find a hero in Walt, but they wanted so much to connect with him so viscerally that to see the person who often was his antagonist—therefore the show’s antagonist in a way—they felt like she was in the way of him doing whatever he wanted to do, and that he should be allowed to do what he wanted to do,” she said.
Seehorn felt similarly. In an interview with Uproxx, it was mentioned that Kim Wexler was received a lot more favorably than Skyler was in the beginning. But Seehorn found Kim to be not as big of an obstacle to Saul’s goals as Skyler was. In some cases, Kim both enabled and supported Saul’s antics.
“I think it’s because [Kim] enjoys the parts of [Saul] that the audience enjoys, too. I think it’s nice,” Seehorn said.
Seehorn also shared that she didn’t know about all of the Skyler hate until much later on.
“I was unaware of it all,” Seehorn said. “She is amazing in that role, and 100 percent reacts authentically to what her husband is doing. And to behave in any other way, I can’t imagine how it would be anything except not real. And that’s a very rich role and is a tough spot to be in whenever you are, as you said, the impediment to your hero or your anti-hero. People get mad.”
