Rhea Seehorn Finally Gets The Recognition She Deserves For Better Call Saul
For the past seven years, actress Rhea Seehorn has portrayed Kim Wexler on AMC's "Better Call Saul." In the first episode of the "Breaking Bad" spin-off series, Kim, a fellow lawyer, is introduced as a friend and potential love interest for Jimmy McGill (aka Saul Goodman) (Bob Odenkirk). Unlike Jimmy, Kim takes her firm dedication to the law incredibly seriously, even condemning some of Jimmy's early schemes. However, by the sixth season, Kim becomes Jimmy's wife and is perfectly content to participate in schemes as long as the end goal is a morally justifiable one.
For many viewers, Kim is one of the most compelling characters on TV — all thanks, in large part, to Seehorn's nuanced performance. However, despite copious praise from critics and fans alike, Seehorn did not receive any Emmy nominations during her first five seasons on the series. As a result, there have been plenty of think pieces published about why critics believe Seehorn deserves that Emmy nod. For example, The Hollywood Reporter literally published a piece titled "Why 'Better Call Saul' Star Rhea Seehorn Deserves an Emmy Nomination," in which Daniel Fienberg pleaded to the Television Academy, writing, "How can you possibly keep ignoring Seehorn?"
Even Seehorn's co-stars have spoken up about her lack of nominations. Earlier this year, Odenkirk quote-tweeted a Variety article about Seehorn's chances of landing the nomination, writing, "Everybody wise up!"
Luckily, it turns out the Academy did wise up.
Seehorn received two Emmy nominations
With this year's Emmy nominations now officially out, we can finally say that Rhea Seehorn is an Emmy nominee — in other words, the Television Academy is finally recognizing her captivating performance as Kim Wexler, a feat that many will agree is long overdue.
According to Deadline, Seehorn received a nomination for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series. In this category, she finds herself competing against Patricia Arquette of "Severance," Julia Garner of "Ozark," Jung Ho-yeon of "Squid Game," Christina Ricci of "Yellowjackets," J. Smith-Cameron of "Succession," Sarah Snook of "Succession," and Sydney Sweeney of "Euphoria." Last year, Gillian Anderson won this category for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher on Netflix's "The Crown" (via New York Times).
Notably, Seehorn's first year of Emmy nominations doesn't end there. The actress also received a second nomination for outstanding actress in a short-form comedy or drama series for her work on "Cooper's Bar," a digital series produced for AMC (via Variety).
While Seehorn herself has not yet reacted publicly to the exciting news, her co-star, Bob Odenkirk, took to Twitter to write, "Hard to express how thrilled and [pleased] I am that Rhea has been nominated. It's the capper on a great morning. Thanks everyone for the good vibes this whole year." Odenkirk was hardly alone in congratulating the star. Patrick Fabian, the actor who played Howard Hamlin in the series, also reacted to the news on Twitter with a long string of blue hearts. Additionally, the official "Better Call Saul" Twitter page and the official AMC-TV Twitter page tweeted out their own congratulations to Seehorn.