news Bob Odenkirk Wanted ‘Better Call Saul’ to Continue Even If They Had to Recast Him Post-Heart Attack

Bob Odenkirk knew the show must go on.

In a behind-the-scenes clip from the “Better Call Saul” Season 6 Blu-ray, lead Odenkirk revealed that he wanted the AMC series to continue even if he could not film post-heart attack. Odenkirk collapsed on set in July 2021.

“It was a scary day for everybody there,” Odenkirk said in the clip (via Fandom). “I really went down, I really turned gray. It really seemed over.”

Odenkirk continued, “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! 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.”

As to the possible recasting, he added, “It wouldn’t have been great but it would have been better than nothing.”

Earlier this year, Odenkirk reflected on how the life-or-death experience changed his approach to acting.

“I came out of it with a strangely fresh energy towards my whole life, like I was born again,” Odenkirk told NPR. “Like, ‘Hey, everybody! Let’s go back to work and make stuff!'”

The “Breaking Bad” alum noted, “It made it easier to be in the moment, which is your job as an actor. That’s the weird mind game you play, is getting yourself in the moment of someone else’s life, but really feeling on the edge of, ‘I don’t know what happens next here.’ And it was easier for me to do with this kind of weird, newfound POV on the world. I really want to stay in touch with what happened there because it really was a great reconnection to being alive. And so I’d love to ruminate on it every day and try to reconnect.”

“Better Call Saul” showrunner Peter Gould also noticed a difference in Odenkirk’s performances heading into the series finale. “It was a very suspenseful moment, because I was not there when Bob got sick, but I was there when he came back,” Gould said. “And we were all wondering, ‘What’s it going to be like?’ And it turned out it was great. It was one of the most hopeful things imaginable.”

Bob Odenkirk explains why he would have wanted 'Better Call Saul' finished without him if needed, in this exclusive clip from the Season 6 Blu-ray
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— Fandom (@getFANDOM) December 5, 2022
 
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