10 Greatest Original TV Heroes Of The Last Decade

5. Jimmy McGill: Better Call Saul (2015-)

Better Call Saul isn’t the cultural juggernaut that Breaking Bad was, but it has served to turn Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy from hilariously fascinating support to totally compelling protagonist. Far less assured and connected than the crafty, criminal lawyer we know he will become, the ‘slippin Jimmy’ of Better Call Saul is one of TV’s great tragic characters.

Always fighting from underneath with varying degrees of belief and enthusiasm, Jimmy feels like a character adrift, who can never quite commit to a direction, whose schemes and plans always seem to come up short and who is unsure if he’s being unwittingly pulled into a world he doesn’t understand or if he is walking in of his own volition.

For a prequel to achieve this level of uncertainty is some achievement. The true brilliance of Odenkirk’s character lies in the flashes of Saul that we see breaking through. The little twinkle in his eye when a plan is forming that hints at the man he will become, but without betraying the painstaking character work that has gone in to showing the man he is today.

This isn’t a performance full of bells and whistles or a character with quotable catchphrases. What has turned him iconic is his endurance and coherence. Saul first appeared on our screens in 2009. Now more than 10 years and 8 series of fleshing out later, people are still clamouring to learn more about the character’s journey. He has gone through so much, changed and yet stayed the same, moved from a hit TV show to a god damn spin off and still feels true to the character he was 10 years ago.