Better Call Saul Co-Creator Reveals What Would Have Happened If Bob Odenkirk Hadn’t Recovered From His Heart Attack

Better Call Saul co-creator Peter Gould reveals what the show would have done if Bob Odenkirk did not recover from his heart attack. Odenkirk suffered a massive heart attack on set during a break from filming the eighth episode of season 6. Fortunately, Odenkirk survived and made a full recovery. Filming later resumed with the actor, and Better Call Saul‘s ending, and the entire final season, went on to receive extensive acclaim, with much of the praise directed at Odenkirk’s phenomenal performance.

In Alan Sepinwall’s book Saul Goodman v. Jimmy McGill: The Complete Companion To Better Call Saul (via Rolling Stone), Gould was asked if he and his creative team ever discussed what they would do if Odenkirk was unable to return to the show, or if he could only return in a limited way. Gould shared that he and his team would have dropped Better Call Saul if Odenkirk could not return. While Odenkirk recovered, the focus was on shooting scenes without him, which primarily involved Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) and Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). Read Gould’s comments below:

Not really. Most of our conversations were, “What can we keep shooting right now?” And we got very lucky, because at that point in the season, suddenly you had a lot of material with Mike and with Gus, and we had some little pickups to do for previous episodes. So we were only down for three or four days, and then the crew was back to work and shooting.

But look, if he hadn’t been himself… [long pause] It didn’t really bear thinking about, but I will say, I think we would’ve just dropped the show. I think Sony would’ve had to take a terrible financial loss, because it would be an utterly incomplete story. And they were shooting the scene that comes immediately after Lalo has shot Howard. There’s no rewriting to get around that. That’s about all I can say. We were ready to dump the whole thing. I mean, I wasn’t thinking about that. It’s too complicated. It was too big to really kind of think it through. But I’m sure somebody deep in the bowels of Sony had to start doing some calculations about what kind of loss they’d have to take, and thank God it didn’t happen.

What This Means For Better Call Saul

The Show Couldn’t Go On Without Bob Odenkirk

Gould recognized that without Odenkirk, there was no Better Call Saul. He played the titular character, was the face of the show, and as important as Better Call Saul‘s other characters were, it was ultimately the story of Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill. It would have been both disingenuous and logistically impractical to finish making the show without Odenkirk. No amount of rewriting, recasting, or technology could do justice to the character the way that Odenkirk had done since he was first introduced in Breaking Bad season 2.

Better Call Saul being a prequel not only for Saul, but for all of Breaking Bad ensured there was still plenty to film without the protagonist, especially where Mike and Gus were concerned. While this was what Gould and his team focused on, they were prepared to drop the show entirely and leave it unfinished if Odenkirk was unable to recover and return. Odenkirk’s successful recovery and his return to filming ensured that this was not the end result.

Without Bob Odenkirk, Canceling Season 6 Would’ve Been The Right Call

Gould’s comments speak volumes about the integrity that he and his team had, along with how much they valued Odenkirk. Better Call Saul ending after season 5 would have been controversial, but it would have been the right decision. Jimmy’s full transformation into Saul, Jimmy’s relationship with Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), Kim’s fate, and other storylines would have been left unresolved. This never became the reality, though, as Odenkirk returned and delivered arguably the best performance in his entire career as Better Call Saul concluded on a deeply satisfying note.

Source: Saul Goodman v. Jimmy McGill: The Complete Companion To Better Call Saul (via Rolling Stone)

Better Call Saul

Release Date

2015 – 2021

Showrunner

Peter Gould

Directors

Vince Gilligan, Thomas Schnauz, Peter Gould, Michael Morris, Adam Bernstein, Colin Bucksey, John Shiban, Michelle MacLaren, Melissa Bernstein, Larysa Kondracki, Terry McDonough, Gordon Smith, Minkie Spiro, Jim McKay, Daniel Sackheim, Andrew Stanton, Norberto Barba, Rhea Seehorn, Scott Winant, Michael Slovis, Keith Gordon, Deborah Chow, Giancarlo Esposito, Bronwen Hughes

Writers

Ann Cherkis, Marion Dayre, Ariel Levine, Jonathan Glatzer