'Better Call Saul' ended its mid-season finale with a shocking moment no one saw coming

• Warning: There are massive spoilers ahead for "Better Call Saul" season six, episode seven.
• The show's mid-season finale ended on a shocker with a massive character death.

Monday's mid-season finale of "Better Call Saul" ended not only on one of the series' most shocking moments, but on a moment that will going to go down as one of the most shocking television scenes of 2022.

In the episode's final minutes, Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian) confronts Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) and Kim (Rhea Seehorn) at their apartment to congratulate them on pulling off a successful scam to make him look unstable in front of his colleagues during an important meeting.

The two never admit to any wrongdoing. Instead, they attempt to usher him slowly out of their apartment.

Before they can, cartel member Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) arrives shocking Jimmy, who thought him to be dead. As Howard continues blabbing away, Lalo stands quietly behind him, slowly putting a silencer on a gun. As Howard realizes he should probably leave, Lalo shoots him dead mid-sentence to Kim and Jimmy's absolute horror.

Howard falls to the ground and he dies none the wiser about why Jimmy and Kim had it out for him.

The death came as a massive surprise for fans of the series. The entire episode hinted that Lalo planned to make a move against his true target and nemesis Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) who planned a failed hit against him on season five.

And while Kim and Jimmy wanted to hurt Howard and knock him down a few pegs, but they never wished him physical harm.

Howard's death wasn't planned until the beginning of season six

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, "Better Call Saul" coshowrunner and executive producer Peter Gould said that Howard's death wasn't planned out for seasons.

"We didn't really understand this is where it was going to go until we started talking at the beginning of this season," Gould said, adding that the decision came from Kim's suggestion at the end of season five that she and Jimmy scam Howard on season six.

"We started to talk about, "What is the plan that these two are going to put into action, and what effect is it going to have?'" Gould added. "The more we talked about that, the more we realized that Jimmy and Kim are sort of the bridge between these worlds, the legal world and the world of the cartel and Gustavo Fring and the Salamancas."

He added: "In some ways, you know, they've opened the door to hell. They didn't fully understand what they were doing."

Fabian kept his character's death a secret from his costars

On the series' aftershow, "Talking Saul," Seehorn said she and Odenkirk didn't know Fabian's fate on the series until receiving the mid-season finale script. It was a shock to Seehorn who has lived with both Fabian and Odenkirk while filming the series.

"Bob and I actually didn't know until we read that script," Seehorn said of how she learned about Howard's death. "Obviously, Peter [Gould] is respectful of the actors and calls you ahead of time so Patrick did know ... and then lied to our faces. I couldn't believe that he kept that secret."

"I read the script and reacted, like I'm sure, many of you watching it," Seehorn added. "It's so out of the blue and mid-sentence."

During the aftershow, Odenkirk hinted that Howard's death may be the very thing that tears Jim and Kimmy apart.

"This is a master stroke of storytelling," Odenkirk said of Hamlin dying in front of Kim and Jimmy. "There's so much that's great about it because of what it does to Jimmy and Kim, personally. It's just such a wrong thing to happen and they've been so giddy and jazzed by their little plays and ploys."

"It's so unfair," he added. "I think it's the kind of thing that's in your life everyday from then on."

"Better Call Saul" will return for its final six episodes on AMC on July 11.