If you’re not watching Better Call Saul, you’re missing out on one of the greatest shows on television. now’s the perfect time to catch up on this drama starring Bob Odenkirk and Michael Mando that follows the misadventures of Jimmy McGill (Odenkirk) before he became Saul Goodman, the competent lawyer and consigliere of Walter White in Breaking Bad. Michael Mando plays Nacho Varga, an intelligent, ambitious member of Hector Salamanca’s drug ring who also works for his father’s upholstery shop. Nacho Varga: The Smart Ambitious Enforcer of Hector Salamanca’s Drug Ring
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Who is Nacho Varga?
Nacho Varga is an ambitious member of drug kingpin Hector Salamanca’s ring. He is also a down-on-his-luck upholsterer in his father’s business. Nacho found himself caught between these two worlds when he was tasked by Tuco to kill his Uncle Tio. He left Los Pollos Hermanos with a box full of cash and decided to go back to school where he completed a degree in law. After years spent doing upholstery, he’s made good on his promise to leave that life behind and has become an essential part of Hector’s expanding drug empire.
Where is he from?
Nacho is from Mexico City. He left his wife and son there to help run his father’s upholstery shop in Albuquerque as well as act as an enforcer for drug kingpin Don Eladio Vuente. Nacho says he is not a violent man but that he joined Hector’s crew because it was simply too easy to make money. He takes orders and doesn’t have to answer questions or do any work that he doesn’t want to do; if you don’t like killing someone, you can just incapacitate them instead (i.e., blinding Tuco).
His life before Breaking Bad
We know very little about Nacho before he entered our lives in Better Call Saul. We do know that he was a part of Hector Salamanca’s drug ring and apparently had ambitions to be higher up in that organization. His job there was to enforce order and follow instructions from higher up. He also worked at his father’s upholstery shop part-time, which we see as an asset for him when we first meet him on Breaking Bad.
How did he join the Salamanca family?
Nacho was born into a family of drug dealers; he never had any real plans beyond learning how to sell drugs. His father and his uncles all worked in that business, and Nacho was well aware that he’d end up working there too. It wasn’t until a run-in with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman in Season 4 that things started to change for him. After being humiliated by both Walter and Jesse (who used pepper spray on him in their first encounter), Nacho vowed revenge…but it wouldn’t be easy for him to get it.
What does he do in season 4?
Nacho is set to play a bigger role in season 4 and as a result will be getting more screen time. In particular look out for his growing role as an entrepreneur within Hector Salamanca’s drug ring. With Gus Fring out of the picture Nacho has been expanding his entrepreneurial endeavors from Chachi and Nacho upholstery to also include auto-garage and restaurant fronts. He has proven himself loyal to both Don Eladio (leader of a rival cartel) and El Gordo (the head honcho) but it remains to be seen if he will be able to avoid any future conflicts between them.
What’s next for him?
As a relatively new player on Better Call Saul, we can’t help but wonder where Nacho will go from here. Unlike Gus Fring or Mike Ehrmantraut, who are major players in Breaking Bad lore, Nacho is a bit more mysterious to us. Still, we’ve seen him kill at least once and most likely has had more blood on his hands than we know about. We do know that he wants to climb up the ranks in both Hector Salamanca’s drug ring and his father’s upholstery shop. He also loves taking care of his adorable granddaughter Isa with whom he shares an especially close bond.
What You Should Know About the Character
Nacho is smart and ambitious. He’s also very loyal to his boss, Hector Salamanca (played by Mark Margolis), a high-ranking member of drug kingpin Gus Fring’s (Giancarlo Esposito) organization. But Nacho yearns for more. He has ambition to do something bigger than grunt work in an upholstery shop and he hopes that one day he will be able to prove himself to be The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Hector. And based on what we know about Season 2 of Better Call Saul , it looks like his wish may come true sooner than later.
How Has His Character Developed?
When we first meet Nacho in Season 1, he’s just a member of Tuco’s gang. He doesn’t even have a name; it isn’t until Season 2 that we learn his full name is Nacho Vargas. We see him work with Tuco and become increasingly disgusted by his boss. By Season 3 he sees opportunities to advance himself and take over as leader without having to worry about other people getting in his way. In Klick, when he sees Mike deliver a message to Hector directly through Don Eladio on behalf of Gus Fring, he comes up with an idea—with Fring dead, what would stop him from taking control?
What’s in Store for Season 4?
Nacho will have a lot to take care of in Season 4. He’s still struggling to break free from his father’s shadow and make a name for himself in Salamanca’s empire. On top of that, he needs to go up against Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) in court so he can remove his name from Mesa Verde’s documents and open another Lalo-owned business there. Nacho will probably never get out from under Hector or his father, but I imagine Nacho will always try hard to prove himself to them nonetheless—whether they deserve it or not.
Does Nacho Varga appear in Breaking Bad?
In Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul , Nacho (Michael Mando) is an enforcer for drug kingpin Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis). He also works at his father’s upholstery shop. But that job might be a cover, considering that he has been referred to as the brains behind their organization. Is Nacho smarter than he seems? We do know one thing—he likes to cook. Perhaps he can teach Walter White a thing or two about cooking meth.
Who is Nacho on Better Call Saul?
Nacho is a recurring character on AMC’s Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. On Breaking Bad, his name was Tuco, and he was played by Raymond Cruz. (Note that Michael Mando did play Tuco in one episode on Breaking Bad — Grilled, season 4 episode 5.) Nacho is an intelligent and ambitious member of Hector Salamanca’s drug ring who also works for his father’s upholstery shop.
Is Nacho Varga Vaas?
Nacho Vargas is a fan favorite and with good reason. He’s a cold, calculating enforcer for Hector Salamanca and his drug ring. His eye patch conceals a secret from his past that influences many of his actions in Breaking Bad. But does it make him Walter White? In fact, not only does Nacho not share any traits with Walter White… he’s even smarter than Walt!
Is Nacho A Salamanca?
While Nacho has been shown to be loyal to Hector Salamanca and his drug ring, we know very little about his background. Has he always worked for Salamanca? Did he start off as an upholsterer? Did he have some kind of shady dealings in his youth that eventually brought him into Salamanca’s employment? If so, could those have anything to do with how he lost his hand? These are all questions we hope Better Call Saul will answer.
Why did Nacho switched the pills?
Nacho switched the pills because he wanted to gain leverage over his father and let him know that he was being watched. He knows that eventually Hector will figure out that Nacho is playing both sides of his drug ring and will kill him.
Is Don Eladio a Salamanca?
Don Eladio is not related to Nacho Vargas or any other member of the Salamanca family. Nacho is a distant relative (or descendant) on Don Eladio’s wife’s side of his family. However, Nacho took on his alias to seem like he was more involved in Mexico’s criminal underworld than he really was. He did so with much success until Gus Fring ruined everything for him by almost blowing up his cover.
How old is michael mando?
Michael Mando is 33 years old. He was born in Québec City and brought up in Pointe-Claire where he attended Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf before heading to Montreal for classes at McGill University. At 19, he began his acting career with a role in STRAVAGANZA: A Mediæval Odyssey at Théâtre St-Denis.
Are Lalo and Tuco brothers?
Although there’s been a lot of speculation about whether Nacho and Tuco are brothers in Better Call Saul , executive producer Peter Gould confirms that it’s true. There is a family relationship between Nacho and Tuco, and we will eventually reveal what that is. It will eventually be explained—not necessarily on Better Call Saul , but possibly in some future thing.
What happens to Lalo in Better Call Saul?
In Better Call Saul, one of Jimmy McGill’s most vicious legal rivals is Lalo. When we first meet him in Season 1, Episode 6 (Bingo), he and Jimmy are in a game together at a senior center where they’re competing for clients. But by Season 2 Episode 3 (Sunk Costs), it becomes apparent that Lalo isn’t just an attorney — he also runs a street gang that sells drugs on behalf of Tuco. He even has his own personal enforcer, named Nacho Vargas. Nacho helps run some errands for Tuco before eventually graduating to working as Lalo’s right-hand man in Season 2… and then he hires Gus Fring to assassinate him so he can take over his territory. It all happens so fast!
