Bob Odenkirk Reflects on Harrowing Heart Attack on 'Better Call Saul' Set
Bob Odenkirk opens up about his near-fatal heart attack during the filming of Better Call Saul, revealing the delayed response and his subsequent recovery.
Bob Odenkirk has revisited the life-altering moment he suffered a heart attack on the set of Better Call Saul in 2021. The incident occurred during the filming of the show’s sixth and final season. Odenkirk famously portrayed Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman in both Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad for a combined 11 seasons, spanning from 2008 to 2022.
In a recent interview with The Times, Odenkirk recounted the event, noting that initial reactions from the cast and crew were delayed due to the ambiguous nature of the situation.
"I went down, and Rhea [Seehorn] and Patrick [Fabian] grabbed me and they were screaming, but [the crew members who noticed] thought they were laughing,” the actor shared. “So there were delays in reacting because we were all so far apart from each other.”
"I was gone. I turned grey,” Odenkirk continued. “Eventually, the on-set medic showed up, and he didn’t know what to do. He’d never done CPR.”
Bob Odenkirk in ‘Better Call Saul’. CREDIT: AMC
Following the on-set emergency, Odenkirk was swiftly transported to a local hospital where he received treatment without the need for surgery. He later addressed his fans on X/Twitter, expressing his gratitude: “Hi. It’s Bob,” he posted. “Thank you. To my family and friends who have surrounded me this week.
And for the outpouring of love from everyone who expressed concern and care for me. It’s overwhelming. But I feel the love and it means so much.”
He told The Times that his memory of the event is fragmented. “A lot of people get that wonderful reel of film of their life, or they have a person who says, ‘Do you want to go back?’ None of that for me,” he said. “The first memory I have is leaving the hospital a week after I got there.”
Despite the severity of the incident, Odenkirk expressed a renewed appreciation for life, describing his recovery as “such a gift” and noting that he felt “very, very delighted and engaged.”
Peter Gould, co-creator of Better Call Saul, had previously revealed the uncertainty surrounding the show's future after Odenkirk's heart attack.
Gould stated, “The doctors said [Odenkirk] needs to sit in a room lit by candlelight and he needs time to recover. Honest to God, we didn’t know if we were going to have a show or if we were going to finish it. And it felt so completely irrelevant, because it’s when you realise it’s just a fucking piece of entertainment.”
He continued: “We were ready to dump the whole thing. I mean, I wasn’t thinking about that. It’s too complicated. It was too big to really kind of think it through. But I’m sure somebody deep in the bowels of Sony had to start doing some calculations about what kind of loss they’d have to take, and thank God it didn’t happen.”
Odenkirk himself had previously commented on the incident in 2022, acknowledging the critical role of those present: “If nobody had been there, I’d have been dead in a few minutes.”
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