page_title: Howard Hamlin
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Howard Hamlin / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: Patrick Fabian speaking at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego, California.
context_page_description: Howard Hamlin is a fictional character who appears in the crime drama television series Better Call Saul, a spin-off prequel of Breaking Bad. He is portrayed by Patrick Fabian, and was created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Hamlin is a foil for and long time antagonist of Jimmy McGill, the lead and titular character of the series.
context_section_description: In May 2014, Patrick Fabian was cast in Better Call Saul, with his character described as a "Kennedy-esque lawyer who's winning at life". Though initially reported as Burt, the character's name was later revealed as Howard Hamlin. In the series, Howard is portrayed as cocky, arrogant and self-centered. However, many fans of the show believe that Howard is actually a good person. Fabian commented by saying "You know, Jimmy [McGill] called Howard 'Lord Vader' in the very first episode of Better Call Saul. And when the lead character calls your character Lord Vader, the audience goes, 'Wow, what a dick that guy's gonna be.' Then everybody starts looking at everything that falls out of my mouth as evidence backing that claim up. And even when it goes in the opposite direction -- like at the end of Season 1, where it turns out I was sort of protecting Jimmy from Chuck [McGill], there is a bit of a hitch of 'Oh, maybe Howard's not so bad,' but as soon as I was quote-unquote being a dick to Kim [Wexler] in Season 2, they all got back on board and said, 'Yeah, he's Lord Vader.' I'm not complaining at all. It sort of parallels Howard's character in the show. Who's really supporting his point of view? Nobody. He's kind of on an island all to himself, saying 'This is not fair. This is not right. And it's also not my fault.' We'll see where those chickens come home to roost, as they say." Fabian has compared Howard to Peter Pan, saying, "I think of him as sort of a Peter Pan, living a great existence and then these McGill Brothers [...] are sort of mucking it all up." Howard drives a 1998 Jaguar XJ8.
caption: Patrick Fabian portrays Howard Hamlin in Better Call Saul
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