Bob Odenkirk Reveals The Real Episode He Had Heart Attack On While Filming “Better Call Saul”

It’s public knowledge that the Breaking Bad actor Bob Odenkirk suffered a serious heart attack while he was on set, filming one of the episodes of the final season of “Better Call Saul.” It’s also public knowledge that he made a tremendous recovery five weeks later and returned on set to continue filming and also go on to finish the final episodes of AMC’s Breaking Bad prequel that he anchors.

If we can recall, it was just this past week that the Emmy-nominated actor revealed that it was the ninth episode of the season, “Fun and Games,” in which the heart attack occurred. Well, turns out, that’s not quite correct. Odenkirk wants to set the record straight.

Bob Odenkirk — On What Happened After His Return

The tragedy with a happy ending actually occurred during the filming of episode 8, “Point and Shoot,” as the actor was working on the key scene in Jimmy’s apartment when Lalo (Tony Dalton) lays out his chilling plans for Jimmy and Kim (Rhea Seehorn).

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Odenkirk explained that on his return onset to resume filming, instead of finishing off that scene from “Point and Shoot,” he instead began working on scenes from “Fun and Games,” which led to his mix-up. (It’s also understandable, as he notes that he has no memory of that time period around the heart attack. In addition, the show does film some scenes out of sequence.)

“Episode 9 is all stuff we shot after my heart attack, and in fact, it is the first stuff I shot,” said Odenkirk. “The pick-up scenes [from episode 8] were not the first things we shot. So in my brain, I was like, ‘Wait a second, the first things I shot when I came back from the heart attack was [episode] 9.'”

“And that’s true. Where I screwed up was like: ‘Of course, we didn’t come back and immediately just shoot what we were shooting that day — we carried on shooting.’ We had a different director. We had Michael Morris directing. We started in on that stuff. And then at some point in shooting that stuff, we stopped, Vince [Gilligan, Saul co-creator who directed “Point and Shoot”] came back and we picked up the final moments of the scene with me and Lalo and Kim. My brain just had a brain fart and I apologize to the world.”

“But if you’re looking to compare a human being pre- and post-heart attack,” he adds with a laugh, “you’ll want to look at the scene with Kim and Jimmy, when Lalo was talking to them about the plan.”

What Bob Odenkirk’s Return On Set Was Like

So, what was it like for Odenkirk to return to the set to film these pivotal scenes?

“The impact of that incident with my heart is something that’s resonated and continues to in my life. Like today. Like through time. I think about it all the time. I think about what matters to me and how to live my life and make the most of it and value each day the most. But the crew and the cast were really devastated by the incident because they were very present consciously and I was not. I was unconscious. So for me to come back, they were extremely sensitive.”

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“Everyone was very emotional and sweet and kind — and a little too concerned. [Laughs] Very worried about everything that I did… It was kind of funny and sweet and touching. And you could see it in everyone’s eyes. They were all looking at me like, ‘Is he really okay? Is he going to be all right?’ And the truth was, I was still recuperating. My stamina came back a little more every week.”

Odenkirk’s most frequent scene partner was certainly thrilled to welcome him back. Speaking with EW, Seehorn said, “You can’t get away from the joy and the emotion you feel about one of my closest and dearest friends being alive, It’s like one of the worst days of my life was followed by one of the best days of my entire life — that he was fine, that he was okay.”

“But at the same time, he and I care so deeply about and respect the work that we need to do so much. He came back really feeling like he didn’t want to hold the crew back anymore. We’d been shooting for almost a year and it was important to him to [say], ‘Let’s do the work, and let’s kind of take a break from the overwhelming feeling of what just happened.’ It wasn’t about ignoring it. It was actually lovely to just get back to doing Kim and Jimmy — and back to something that he and I both love working on.”

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