Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk recently opened up about the heart attack he suffered on the show’s set last year.
“We were shooting a scene, we’d been shooting all day, and luckily I didn’t go back to my trailer,” Odenkirk told The New York Times. Apparently, Odenkirk had some downtime between scenes and joined his co-stars Rhea Seehorn and Patrick Fabian in a cast lounging area. Suddenly, Odenkirk lost consciousness as the result of a heart attack. “I went to play the Cubs game and ride my workout bike, and I just went down,” the actor said. “Rhea said I started turning bluish-gray right away.”
When Odenkirk collapsed, Seehorn and Fabian’s screams for help alerted Better Call Saul‘s health safety supervisor Rosa Estrada and assistant director Angie Meyer. The two crewmembers rapidly administered CPR and hooked an unresponsive Odenkirk up to an automated defibrillator. While the first electric-shock attempts only briefly restored an irregular pulse, the defibrillator’s zaps eventually returned Odenkirk’s heartbeat. “The third time,” Odenkirk said. “It got me that rhythm back.”
After his pulse became stable, Odenkirk was transported to Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque and given a preventive procedure. “Around 5 a.m. the next morning, they went through right [at the wrist area] and blew up the little balloons and knocked out that plaque and left stents in two places,” he explained. Odenkirk discovered his heart had a plaque buildup in 2018. However, he decided to delay medication since differing medical opinions downplayed the severity of his condition. This unattended coronary ailment then caused a broken piece of plaque to ignite his on-set heart attack.
In September 2021, a recovered Odenkirk returned to Better Call Saul‘s set and continued filming the AMC series’ final season. Although the show’s concluding chapter has been largely kept under wraps, the Emmy-nominated actor offered Better Call Saul fans some vague plot hints. “It’s not flashy,” Odenkirk revealed. “It’s substantial, and on some level it’s things I hoped for, for years, in this character’s brain. But what I like about it is, it’s not cheap. It’s not easy. It doesn’t feel cartoonish. It’s pretty great, I think. It’s pretty great.”
Speaking on Better Call Saul‘s last episode, Odenkirk said, “I would wanna end with this kind of character-development focus.” The Breaking Bad prequel series, which has earned widespread acclaim, follows con-artist Jimmy McGill as he transforms into the seedy lawyer Saul Goodman. However, despite the series’ notable violence, Odenkirk has also confirmed that the character-driven finale will only feature moderate gun-slinging action (much unlike the firearm-heavy Season 5 finale). “That’s what it’s about, instead of something that just has guns in it,” he said. “I guess there’s a few guns, but they’re not like in other episodes.”
Better Call Saul Season 6 is expected to premiere sometime in 2022 on AMC.
Source: The New York Times, via Variety