Who Is Alvarez In Better Call Saul? (2024)

In Better Call Saul, Ignacio Varga tells Juan Bolsa and the Salamancas that he was hired by Alvarez to aid in the attempt on Lalo's life, but who is Alvarez? Season 6, episode 3, "Rock and Hard Place," contains the first of several references to the mysterious Alvarez Better Call Saul character. Since he began working with Gus to thwart the Salamancas, Nacho has been playing with fire by aligning himself with dangerous Peruvian gangsters. Before he takes his own life, Nacho agrees on a plan with Gus Fring that ensures his father's safety, where he lies to Don Juan and the Salamancas by saying that he is working for "Alvarez. Los Odios, out of Peru."

Before Nacho's false confession, Alvarez and the Peruvian gang he works for are never mentioned by name. The one implication of the gang is in season 6, episode 2, when Mike plants bank documents in Nacho's safe from Peru, which sows the seeds for Gus' plan to clear his name. Although Bolsa could be lying about the Alvarez Better Call Saul character, it is more likely that he is real, which points to a larger world outside the scope of the show. Now that Better Call Saul's final season has made it to Netflix, there's no better time to look back at the Alvarez mystery.

Alvarez Is A Subtle Way To Expand Better Call Saul's World

The document that Mike plants in Nacho's safe shows records of transactions from a Peruvian bank. By placing the document in a sealed safe, Gus triggers Bolsa's suspicions when Bolsa cracks open the safe. The fact that it states that Nacho has received numerous payments of fifteen thousand dollars from accounts on the Cayman Islands compounds the idea of Nacho receiving illicit funds from an unknown Peruvian source. This does not prove the existence of the Alvarez Better Call Saul character and the Los Odios gang. Instead, it indicates that Gus planned to distance himself from the assassination attempt on Lalo Salamanca and divert it onto a Peruvian gang.

When Bolsa proclaims that "Alvarez we know. Los Odios we know," it seems to confirm Alvarez's existence. Bolsa may be bluffing, as it would look very bad on his behalf if he was not aware of a gang with such influence and ill will towards the Salamancas, but it's unlikely that Gus would risk placing the blame on an imaginary enemy. The existence of the Alvarez Better Call Saul character and other large, ambitious gangs are atypical worldbuilding for Better Call Saul, a series that primarily focuses on New Mexico and the Mexican cartels.

It implies that there are many other villains and anti-heroes to whom the Salamancas have tenuous connections that Better Call Saul will never have the time to explore. Due to Don Juan, and by extension Don Eladio, placing the blame on the Alvarez Better Call Saul character, audiences may have expected to have seen swift, undeserved retribution enacted on this mysterious character in Better Call Saul's final season. Nonetheless, since Gus works with the cartel in Breaking Bad, Nacho's lie will never be unearthed, and Alvarez never appeared in Better Call Saul.

Saul's Famous Line From Breaking Bad Foreshadows This Type Of World Building

While this type of worldbuilding doesn't seem typical for Better Call Saul, it was actually foreshadowed in an early episode of Breaking Bad – namely, Breaking Bad season 2, episode 8, "Better Call Saul." This sees Jesse and Walt kidnap Saul Goodman, holding the lawyer at gunpoint to intimidate him. In a plea for his life, Saul says, "It wasn't me! It was Ignacio, he's the one!" and asks if they were sent by Lalo. Breaking Bad's Lalo line paid off in Better Call Saul season 6 with the implication that Lalo actually partially blames Jimmy for season 5's assassination attempt.

While the series never chose to show the Alvarez Better Call Saul character, the line proves in a very simple way in which Breaking Bad's approach to world building is subtly brilliant. The fact that showrunners were able to develop a single line in the earliest season of Better Call Saul's parent series into a terrifying, fully realized character showcases that this type of gentle expansion is part of what made Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul such good companion pieces. The unseen Alvarez is most likely completely real. If any future spinoffs are confirmed, they may choose to explore this tiny detail in a similar depth to Lalo.

The Better Call Saul Alvarez Mystery Could Set Up A Spinoff

The Breaking Bad universe seems to have come to a close after Better Call Saul aired its sixth and final season. However, audiences are eager to see the worlds that Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have created further explored, and that could be done with a focus on the Alvarez Better Call Saul character and a Salamanca spinoff series. While nothing is currently in development, Raymond Cruz's Tuco Salamanca reuniting with Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston for a Super Bowl ad sparked the idea for a Salamanca spinoff among the fan community, and Cruz would be on board to return.

Cruz told ScreenRant, "It would be great for the Salamancas to all come together and break on a show, that would be amazing. They have so many options; they have such amazing storylines and amazing characters, and that's what the fans are drawn to." A Salamanca spinoff would afford the franchise to properly explore the Alvarez Better Call Saul character mystery. While Better Call Saul was one of the best shows of all time, many felt cheated out of getting to know who Alvarez was and his larger role in the story. A Salamanca spinoff would give the chance to rectify this mistake, while also broadening the Breaking Bad universe.