Better Call Saul's Nacho and Lalo were first referenced in Breaking Bad season 2, but the prequel has now altered the context of those early mentions.

Caution: spoilers ahead for Better Call Saul season 6, episode 3

Recent events from Better Call Saul season 6 completely change the meaning behind Saul Goodman's famous Breaking Bad Nacho line. Vince Gilligan first sowed the seeds for his Better Call Saul prequel series way back in 2009 with Breaking Bad season 2. Seeking criminal representation, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman kidnap Bob Odenkirk's Saul Goodman for a violent trip into the desert. Before he realizes whom his captors really are, Saul pleads, "It wasn't me, it was Ignacio. He's the one!" Following a spot of Spanish begging, he then asks, "Lalo didn't send you?"

Thanks to Better Call Saul, we now know "Lalo" is Tony Dalton's Lalo Salamanca, and "Ignacio" is Nacho, played by Michael Mando. What we don't yet know is the full context behind Saul's two name-drops. Why is Saul Goodman looking over his shoulder expecting Lalo to pop out? And why would the shady lawyer blame Ignacio for whatever crime he thinks he's been captured for? Better Call Saul has inched closer to an answer over the course of 5-and-a-bit seasons, but hasn't yet struck upon a full explanation.

A long time coming, Better Call Saul season 6's "Rock & Hard Place" provides a pretty important piece of the puzzle. Caught between the Salamanca family and Gus Fring, Nacho sees no choice but to accept death, and in one final middle finger to the cartel, puts a bullet through his own brain. In this fateful moment, Nacho's Better Call Saul bullet also appears to kill Saul Goodman's Breaking Bad line stone dead. "It was Ignacio" - really, Saul? Four years after Ignacio's brutal death? There's no way Nacho could be a believable scapegoat for Saul's cartel misdeeds... Unless...

Reexamining Saul Goodman's Breaking Bad "Ignacio" line within the context of Nacho's Better Call Saul season 6 death, we can perhaps, finally, deduce what Bob Odenkirk's character was talking about during his 2009 desert debut. Saul mistakes Walt and Jesse for Lalo Salamanca's henchmen, but anyone working for Lalo would surely know Nacho was killed four years prior. That means whatever act Saul believes he's being punished for cannot be recent - it's something from Better Call Saul's timeline that the lawyer can get away with pinning on the long-dead Nacho. One major possibility is that between Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, Jimmy remains fearful Lalo will figure out Nacho wasn't the only person secretly in league with Gus Fring. So, when Walt and Jesse bundle him into a trunk and Saul mistakes them for Salamanca goons, he naturally tries to shift all the blame onto Nacho - "the assassination was all Ignacio, I wasn't involved."

Strangely, Nacho's death in Better Call Saul season 6 casts Saul Goodman in a far kinder light. If Nacho were still alive in Breaking Bad's era, Saul telling Lalo Salamanca's lackeys to go after "Ignacio" is a pretty cruel and cowardly act of self-interest. But if Saul knows Nacho is dead (which he inevitably would - probably via Mike), he's saving his own skin by passing the blame onto a man who's already deceased, rather than betraying someone who's still alive.

Better Call Saul season 6 will undoubtedly have more to say on Breaking Bad's "Ignacio" line before the end comes, especially with Lalo and Gus yet to settle their score. For now, however, Nacho's death effectively rules out Saul's "it wasn't me" moment having anything to do with crimes committed in later years, and is more likely a callback to the betrayals and botched assassination of Better Call Saul. Knowing what the Salamancas do to friends secretly working for Gustavo Fring, Saul would desperately be trying to avoid Nacho's fate.

More: Better Call Saul Season 6: Jimmy & Kim's Howard Scam Explained

Better Call Saul continues Mondays on AMC.