Better Call Saul: Bob Odenkirk opens up about his heart attack on set

Bob Odenkirk gave everyone quite a fright when he collapsed on the set of Better Call Saul last year as the result of a heart attack. Thankfully, Odenkirk recovered and was back on the set a few months later. While speaking with the New York Times, Bob Odenkirk opened up about circumstances of the medical emergency and the choice that likely saved his life.

The cause of Bob Odenkirk’s heart attack can be traced to a build-up of plaque in his heart, which the actor had known about for several years. “I’d known since 2018 that I had this plaque buildup in my heart,” Odenkirk said. “I went to two heart doctors at Cedars-Sinai, and I had dye and an M.R.I. and all that stuff, and the doctors disagreed.” Unfortunately, Odenkirk wound up following the advice of the second doctor, who said that he didn’t need to start medication right away. Odenkirk said that everything was just fine right up until the moment “one of those pieces of plaque broke up.”

Bob Odenkirk doesn’t remember much about the heart attack, only that he had been shooting all day and took a break with his co-stars Patrick Fabian and Rhea Seehorn instead of heading to his trailer. He says that choice meant that he was able to receive help immediately, which likely wouldn’t have happened if he was alone in his trailer. After Odenkirk collapsed to the ground without a pulse, Better Call Saul‘s health safety supervisor, Rosa Estrada, and assistant director, Angie Meyer, performed CPR and hooked him up to an automated defibrillator. It took three attempts before they got his pulse back. Scary stuff. I think we can all be glad that Bob Odenkirk recovered.

The sixth and final season of Better Call Saul doesn’t have an official release date yet but a recent teaser has some fans convinced that the series will return to AMC this April.