Charles Lindbergh McGill is a fictional character and one of the main antagonists of the crime drama television series Better Call Saul, a spin-off prequel to Breaking Bad. He is portrayed by Michael McKean and was created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould.
Chuck was born in Cicero, Illinois, in the United States and is the eldest son of Ruth and Charles McGill Sr. He is the older brother of the titular character Jimmy McGill. Chuck is a successful attorney who runs a major law firm, Hamlin, Hamlin, & McGill (HHM), with business partner and friend Howard Hamlin. However, at the time the series begins, Chuck has become a recluse, believing that he has electromagnetic hypersensitivity. He was amicably divorced from Rebecca Bois, who is unaware of his psychosomatic illness, a few years before the events of Better Call Saul.
Although in the first season Chuck acts supportive of Jimmy, he in fact greatly resents his younger brother because of his charismatic personality and his past as a conman. From the second season onward, Chuck begins openly feuding with Jimmy and ultimately becomes his nemesis. His betrayal of and opposition to Jimmy and his subsequent death serve as a catalyst for Jimmy's transformation into Saul Goodman. Chuck's influence also deeply affects Howard Hamlin and Kim Wexler.
Chuck's character development and McKean's performance throughout the first three seasons received critical acclaim, with many critics arguing that McKean gave the best performance on television in 2017.
Conception and development Michael McKean had previously worked with Vince Gilligan as the recurring character Morris Fletcher who first appeared in The X-Files episode "Dreamland." The two kept in touch since about potential projects, although during that time much of McKean's work was in New York City for Broadway theatre while Gilligan was in Los Angeles working in television.
When Gilligan eventually contacted McKean about acting in Better Call Saul, he accepted the role knowing only the bare minimum regarding Chuck's electromagnetic sensitivity, since he was a fan of Breaking Bad and trusted Gilligan.
When filming of Better Call Saul started in 2014, McKean had to initially split his time between playing Chuck and performing in All the Way, a Broadway play that coincidentally also starred Bryan Cranston who had played Walter White in Breaking Bad. When McKean's casting was announced in April 2014, his character was deliberately misnamed as "Dr. Thurber," which McKean says was based on humorist James Thurber. Chuck's real name, Charles Lindbergh McGill, was inspired by the aviator Charles Lindbergh.
In interviews, McKean has stated that while Chuck did make efforts to foil Jimmy's attempts to get ahead as a lawyer, it wasn't always planned that Chuck would resort to underhanded tricks. He described Chuck as a person who, until the onset of his belief that he suffered from electromagnetic sensitivity, had "followed all the rules" and who suddenly saw all he had slip away. For this reason, Chuck could not understand how, in contrast, someone like Jimmy who didn't follow the rules could be thriving. Gilligan said that Chuck was originally planned as a Mycroft Holmes character, emotionally damaged but supportive of Jimmy's efforts, with Howard Hamlin to serve as the antagonist. However, as they filmed the initial episodes and saw the interactions, the writing team came to the idea of making Chuck the antagonist, while Howard would be more supportive of Jimmy, belying his outward rigor.
To aid in their portrayals of the characters, McKean and Odenkirk discussed Chuck and Jimmy's relationships with their parents and the way their parents would have treated them.
McKean stated that Gilligan and Gould told actors at the start of the season where generally they would like to see the characters go. Eventually, with little notice, Gilligan and Gould would give more specific direction to actors. Despite the short notice, McKean trusted that the showrunners were doing the right thing with the character.
Around the time of filming the third season's seventh episode "Expenses," McKean received Chuck's "death call." Gilligan and Gould informed him that Chuck would die in that season's finale, the tenth episode, "Lantern." McKean had been expecting the call based on the character's arc and had no regrets or issues with it. He said, "Chuck did not belong in Jimmy’s universe by the time he becomes Saul Goodman, so I knew that it was very possible [Chuck would die before that]."
Character biography Chuck McGill was born in 1944, and grew up in Cicero, Illinois. At the age of 14, he graduated from Francis Xavier High School as valedictorian, the youngest graduate in the school's history. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania and later graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center. After clerking at both the Delaware Court of Chancery and the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, Chuck joined George Hamlin's solo practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Over the next 23 years, the two men, later joined by George's son Howard, built Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill into one of the largest law firms in the Southwestern United States. Early in his career, Chuck excelled in criminal law, famously arguing and winning the precedent-setting case State v. Gonzalez.
In 1992, ten years before the events of Better Call Saul, Chuck defended his younger brother Jimmy after Jimmy defecated through the sunroof of a romantic rival's BMW, unaware the man's children were in the back seat. As a condition of helping Jimmy, Chuck demanded that Jimmy abandon his work as a con artist and take a legitimate job in HHM's mailroom. While working in HHM's mailroom, Jimmy was inspired by Chuck's skill as an attorney and decided to become one as well. To that end, he secretly completed his college degree, attended a correspondence law school, and passed the bar exam. However, while Jimmy's co-worker, later romantic partner, Kim Wexler, would become an associate attorney at HHM, Jimmy was not hired, so he left the firm's mailroom to build his own practice.
Around the time of his divorce from Rebecca Bois, Chuck began to believe he suffered from electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) and took a leave of absence from HHM. During this time, Jimmy took care of Chuck by buying and delivering his groceries and newspapers every day.
Season 1
Jimmy continues to help Chuck with daily chores at his home during his leave of absence, where he still maintains his position as a senior partner. Howard attempts to buy out Chuck's share of HHM with a token payment, but Jimmy makes Howard back down by demanding that Howard pay Chuck the full value.
After Jimmy stages a fake rescue of a billboard worker to drum up publicity for his firm, he removes Chuck's local newspaper from his daily delivery to hide the fake rescue. Chuck resorts to stealing the neighbor's paper (leaving $5 as payment), which leads to the police breaking into his home and tasing him. Chuck is taken to the hospital, and the doctor proves to Jimmy that Chuck's illness is psychosomatic. Jimmy refuses the doctor's recommendation to have Chuck committed to a mental institution and insists that he can care for Chuck in Chuck's home.
Jimmy later suspects the Sandpiper Crossing retirement community is overcharging its residents, so he collects shredded documents from the trash and starts piecing them together at Chuck's house. Chuck is impressed with Jimmy's legal instincts and steps in to help, discovering key documents that prove Jimmy is correct. Jimmy and Chuck attempt to get Sandpiper to settle the case out of court, but Sandpiper's lawyers refuse. Jimmy and Chuck begin a class action lawsuit and continue to collect evidence, which rekindles Chuck's enthusiasm for the law. While working with Jimmy, Chuck absentmindedly goes outside to retrieve documents from Jimmy's car without his usual EHS precautions. Chuck suggests the case is too large for the two of them alone and that they should get HHM's help. Howard agrees to take the case and offers Jimmy a small of counsel fee and a percentage of the judgment or settlement, but cuts him out of active participation.
Jimmy soon discovers that Chuck secretly used Howard to get him off the case — the same way Chuck used Howard to block Jimmy from becoming an attorney at HHM. Jimmy confronts Chuck, who confesses that he doesn't consider him a "real lawyer", believing he is still the same "Slippin' Jimmy" from Cicero. Feeling betrayed, Jimmy cuts ties with Chuck and arranges for Howard to take over Chuck's care. Howard assigns Ernesto to care for Chuck.
Season 2
As the Sandpiper case grows, HHM brings in Davis & Main to assist. D&M hires Jimmy as an associate due to his familiarity with the case and rapport with the clients. Wanting to "bear witness" to his brother's work ethic, Chuck begins more frequently fighting his EHS to join in meetings, to Jimmy's discomfort.
Chuck later becomes suspicious of Jimmy's questionable tactics to obtain new plaintiffs in the case. Jimmy produces a television ad to reach even more potential plaintiffs and airs it without approval from Davis & Main, to the firm's great disdain. Afterwards, Jimmy decides to quit and behaves in a way that forces Davis & Main to terminate him without cause.
Due to Kim being aware of the ad, and not informing the partners of HHM, she is reassigned to entry-level document review work. To regain Howard's favor, she brings in a new client, Mesa Verde bank, however, she's still kept in doc review. Chuck convinces Howard to give her back her old position, while also attempting to steer her away from Jimmy's bad influence, revealing his belief that Jimmy stole thousands of dollars from their father's convenience store, forcing it to be shut down.
Kim eventually decides to leave HHM to start her own firm in an office space shared with Jimmy. She initially persuades Mesa Verde to become her client, but upon learning of this development, Chuck personally assists Howard in retaining Mesa Verde's business.
Chuck has a particularly bad EHS episode as a result of the trip, so Ernesto calls Jimmy for help, and he offers to stay with Chuck overnight. Annoyed at his brother for "taking Mesa Verde" away from Kim, he uses the opportunity to alter documents Chuck has prepared for a new Mesa Verde branch application. When the state banking board reviews the application, it discovers the errors, which results in a delay, a mistake Chuck vehemently refuses to believe he made. Mesa Verde's president and counsel take the bank's business to Kim, and Chuck immediately suspects Jimmy sabotaged him. He confronts Jimmy and Kim about the crime, with Kim defending Jimmy, though secretly aware of the truth.
Chuck has Ernesto track down an all-night copy store, which he suspects Jimmy used, and prepares to confront the clerk to identify Jimmy. However, Jimmy had arrived earlier and bribed the clerk for his silence. Chuck attempts to question the clerk, but his EHS causes him to collapse and hit his head on the counter. Jimmy, who had been watching from across the street, takes the risk and enters the store to administer first aid and has the clerk summon an ambulance. At the hospital, Chuck wonders how Jimmy was on the scene so quickly, and Ernesto falsely claims to have called him out of concern for Chuck's health. Chuck later appears to have a major mental breakdown, covering the entire house in foil and deciding to quit the firm, admitting to his "mistake". Feeling guilty, Jimmy confesses to the document tampering in an effort to calm Chuck down. After Jimmy leaves however, Chuck reveals a hidden voice recorder, which he activated before Jimmy's arrival.
Season 3