Better Call Saul Star Bob Odenkirk Explains Why the Strike Is Important While Picketing

Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad star Bob Odenkirk is on the picket line with his fellow Hollywood creatives, as both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA unions for writers and actors (respectively) are officially on strike. With SAG showing solidarity by striking alongside the WGA, Hollywood TV, and movie productions have ground to a halt, and if you’re looking for your favorite actors right now, you’d do best to keep an eye on social media videos of them on the picket line, sharing their respective messages and views on the situation. 

“Hi, I’m Bob Odenkirk. I’ve been a SAG-AFTRA member since 1988,” the writer/actor/producer says in the video. “And we have to do this now. And we have to do this right. So that we don’t have to do this for another 20 years. Let’s do it right. Hang in there.”

Bob Odenkirk has indeed been working in Hollywood since the late 1980s, starting with bit roles on Saturday Night Live in 1988, before continuing to get bit parts in films and TV series that include Roseanne, Wayne’s World 2, The Cable Guy, and Seinfeld, while also landing regular slots on The Ben Stiller Show and The Larry Sanders Show. Odenkirk couldn’t just rely on acting to find success: his writing carried him into the ranks of the comedic elite, working on Chris Elliot’s Get a Life, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, SNL, The Ben Stiller Show, The Dana Carvey Show, The Jenny McCarthy Show, his own Mr. Show with Bob and David (Cross), and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! 

As you can see, Odenkirk is one of the most well-suited figures in Hollywood to understand both what the actors and writers are fighting for, and what the business demands are for a film and/or TV show. It’s especially noble of Odenkirk to be out there on the front lines, given all the success he’s had in the last decade. After years of being a forgotten face, or a key ingredient behind the scenes, Odenkirk got a breakout role as criminal lawyer (and crook) Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad. He was so good in the role that creator Vince Gilligan spun him out into his own (arguably more ambitious) series, Better Call Saul, which functioned as a prequel, midquel, and sequel to Breaking Bad. Those roles led to Odenkirk’s first big leading film role, in the cult-hit action-thriller Nobody. 

Since Better Call Saul ended last year, Bob Odenkirk has popped up in a new TV series (AMC’s Lucky Hank), as well as a pivotal cameo in FX on Hulu’s breakout hit series The Bear. But even in finally achieving that level of success, Odenkirk clearly hasn’t forgotten what it is to struggle as a writer and an actor. 

Lucky Hank is streaming on AMC+. The Bear is streaming on Hulu.