Bob Odenkirk wanted Better Call Saul recast if he couldn't continue after heart attack

Bob Odenkirk retroactively reflects on the future of Better Call Saul in light of his "scary" health crisis

By Mary Kate Carr  |  December 6, 2022 | 2:30pm
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Bob Odenkirk wanted Better Call Saul recast if he couldn't continue after heart attack
Bob Odenkirk Photo: Theo Wargo

Better Call Saul ended its six season run in triumph, widely regarded as one of the best shows of the year (and with one more chance for the Emmy Awards to recognize it as such). But the ending could have looked a lot different if Bob Odenkirk hadn’t been there to see it through–something that seemed almost possible after the actor had a heart attack on set.

“It was a scary day for everybody there. I mean, I’ve heard the stories,” Odenkirk reflects in a behind-the-scenes featurette for the sixth season Blu-Ray (via Fandom). “I really went down, I really turned gray. It really seemed over.”

Production-wise, as showrunner Peter Gould points out, the show’s “leading man experiencing a health crisis” is “the one thing we could not have anticipated.” In a more awful alternate universe, Odenkirk reveals, “They would have just stopped the show if I wasn’t capable of doing it. They wouldn’t have tried to go on, which makes me feel bad.”

Some actors, in their ego, may have preferred no other performer take on their most iconic role. But not Odenkirk: “If that’d happened, I would have liked it if they got some actor to play him. Just to tell the story that they had written. Wouldn’t have been great, but it would’ve been better than nothing.”

Luckily, we never had to experience such a scenario, and instead, Odenkirk was able to finish Better Call Saul strong. (Are you listening, Emmy voters?) He shows no sign of slowing down, either, and has previously expressed he’d actually like to do more action movies in teh future à la his 2021 film Nobody: “I still train multiple times a week and if I get my way you’re going to see me doing more action,” he said at the Venice Film Festival earlier this year. “I found the action sequences a great deal of fun and close to doing sketch comedy…I love the early Jackie Chan films which had humor in them. I’d like to get that in in future.” May there be plenty more Odenkirk for many years to come.

 
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