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For the fans of Breaking Bad, the Bob Odenkirk spin-off series represented a limb that could never exist detached or severed from its host body. Better Call Saul was an extension of that universe and Vince Gilligan made sure it was just as effective and impactful upon the audience who were reeling from the end of an era after Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul’s groundbreaking finale.
Better Call Saul [Credit: AMC]In its sheer legacy alone, Better Call Saul has a presence in pop culture that can defy even Breaking Bad when compared to the character growth and arc of the two storylines. While one portrays the turn to evil and self-destruction, the other overcomes the darkness to emotionally mature and evolve through love and sacrifice.
However, even with its legacy-making presence, Better Call Saul came up short in one aspect that ultimately ended up saving Bob Odenkirk’s life.
Bob Odenkirk doesn’t owe his life to Better Call Saul
Nobody (2021) [Credit: Universal Pictures]It may be a little ungrateful to say this out loud but Bob Odenkirk really does not owe his life to Better Call Saul. His career, perhaps, but not his life. That honor goes entirely to the underrated $57 million John Wick-inspired action-flick Nobody which came out in 2021, swept through the theaters worldwide, and quickly disappeared into the ether without a trace.
Nobody neither celebrated its arrival nor held court over its performance. Critics did not waste their breath debating over how the film challenged Hollywood’s obsession with macho alpha heroes and its psychological ramifications on modern men aged 25 to 50. Instead, Nobody plucked an Everyman from his routine monotony and threw him into a blender with bullets flying around.
For Bob Odenkirk, the quirky action flick with serious inflections of John Wick-inspired stunt choreography deserves all the credit for pulling him back from the clutches of the afterlife. Odenkirk believed that the action-heavy film put him in such good shape that his body was able to fight the near-fatal heart attack he suffered on the sets of Better Call Saul: “Exercise and it’ll help you through everything.”
The strange link between Nobody and Better Call Saul
Bob Odenkirk in Better Call Saul [Credit: AMC]On July 27, 2021, Bob Odenkirk suffered a near-fatal heart attack while filming the final season of Better Call Saul in New Mexico. The actor revealed that he neither had a pulse nor remembered the incident when it happened, including the week after. According to the crew on set, Odenkirk would not have survived the medical event if he hadn’t received immediate CPR.
Odenkirk himself recalled the incident later and claimed he would have been “dead in a few minutes” after collapsing on set if he wasn’t helped by his crew members. Five weeks later, he returned to set to finish the final episodes of Better Call Saul – delivering a long-awaited closure to the chapter of Jimmy McGill aka Saul Goodman.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Bob Odenkirk revealed that the ambulance hadn’t arrived on set for nearly half an hour after he collapsed. Considering the probability of survival in such a dire situation, Odenkirk thinks back to his grueling training for Nobody and credits the movie for getting him into shape enough to fight his way back to life.
Nobody is streaming on Peacock and Nobody 2 will premiere on 15 August 2025.
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