Bob Odenkirk is spilling fresh details on his terrifying 2021 on-set collapse during Better Call Saul filming. The actor went grey and help was delayed as crew thought it was a joke.
Bob Odenkirk opened up to The Times about the July 2021 incident that left him fighting for his life on the Better Call Saul set. He described going down as co-stars Rhea Seehorn and Patrick Fabian rushed over screaming, only for distant crew to mistake the panic for laughter. “I went down and Rhea and Patrick grabbed me and they were screaming, but (the crew members who noticed) thought they were laughing,” he said. Delays followed because the team was spread far apart, and the on-set medic had never performed CPR before. Odenkirk added he turned grey and was essentially gone before being rushed to hospital, where doctors fixed a complete blockage in his widow-maker artery without surgery. He has little memory of the event itself but remembers the overwhelming support afterward, posting on X that he was “going to be ok thanks to Rosa Estrada and the doctors.” The experience left him feeling delighted and engaged with life in the weeks that followed, calling it a strange kind of gift.