Better Call Saul Stars Open Up About Bob Odenkirk’s On-Set Heart Attack

Better Call Saul recently aired the midseason finale of its sixth and final season, and the road to the final episodes saw some unexpected challenges behind the scenes. Bob Odenkirk, who plays the titular role, suffered a heart attack on set during production in New Mexico. Back in April, the actor spoke with People and admitted his health scare was probably scarier for his co-workers. “I would say that the cast and crew were more traumatized than me, because I have a blank space where I had this heart attack,” the actor explained. Recently, co-creator Peter Gould and more spoke with Variety and echoed that sentiment by recapping the events of the day it happened. 

Patrick Fabian (Howard Hamlin) and Rhea Seehorn (Kim Wexler) were chatting when they saw Odenkirk fall over. The actor was watching a Cubs game while on an exercise bike. “We ran to catch him because it’s a concrete floor and didn’t want him to hit his head,” Seehorn explained, “and then realized that something much bigger was going on. We realized that he was having some kind of cardiac arrest.”

“I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone in my life as upset as Rhea was that evening,” Gould shared. “I’m sure she held it together in front of people, but I think she was rocked in just a profound way.” Seehorn explained that she and Fabian ordered “a ton of pho from our Vietnamese restaurant,” and invited some of their co-workers over to the house for support. “We were in shock,” she revealed. “It was awful. We didn’t know if he was going to make it, even after they got him to the hospital. I barely remember, but I’m sure I had a lot of wine.”

Odenkirk recalled, “After hearing all the stories from all the people and hearing what Rhea and Patrick did, kneeling down, Rhea holding my head, Patrick grabbing my hand, them yelling at me to stay here, I mean, it was a massively impactful, devastating scenario that everyone participated in except for me. But having heard it, it sits with you and it will resonate through the rest of my life … And our friendship will too.”

As for Better Call Saul, the 13-episode final season is expected to be the last time Odenkirk plays “Slippin’” Jimmy McGill, completing his transformation into the Saul Goodman fans met in Breaking Bad. 

“[It sunk in Saul was ending] a few weeks ago,” Odenkirk told Variety about filming the series wrap on the AMC drama in February. “It hasn’t hit me yet. I have to watch the end. I really feel like when I watch the finale is when it will hit me.”

“It’s weird, but we’ve been planning it and writing it, [Gilligan and Gould] have been writing it for years, and we always take breaks between seasons — we even had a big, long break because of Covid — so my brain is kind of like, ‘When are we going back?’” Odenkirk explained. “I think the truth is when I see it, even though I’ve played it already, even though I did it, when I see it I think it will have great closure.” 

Better Call Saul‘s final season returns on July 11th.