Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text Nobody has had a career quite like Bob Odenkirk. It was one thing to go from a comedy writer and performer on SNL in late '80s to his own beloved HBO sketch comedy series, Mr. Show with Bob and David, in the mid-'90s. But to reinvent himself as an equally effective comedic and dramatic actor in his late 40s and 50s - largely due to his roles as Saul Goodman and Jimmy McGill on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul - is something nobody saw coming. The later career twists and turns for the 7-time-Emmy-nominated actor weren't over yet, as Odenkirk took on yet another challenge that nobody anticipated: action franchise star. Related Stories Movies 'Nobody 2' Review: Bob Odenkirk Faces Off Against a Scenery-Chomping Sharon Stone in Entertaining Sequel Movies After Crediting 'Nobody' Workouts for Saving His Life, Bob Odenkirk "Never Stopped Training" for Sequel In 2019, Odenkirk starred in and produced Ilya Naishuller's Nobody right before his 57th birthday, and the actioner about long-retired assassin (aka "auditor") Hutch Mansell released to strong reviews during COVID in March 2021. The action-thriller took in a box office haul of $57.5 million against a $16 million budget, which was music to the pandemic-stricken industry's ears at the time. Odenkirk spent years training for the action role, utilizing the same program that John Wick co-directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski designed in order to turn Keanu Reeves into John Wick. Thankfully, Odenkirk's fitness regimen helped save his life when he suffered a near-fatal heart incident on the set of Better Call Saul's final season in July 2021. Once he received a clean bill of health, he recommitted himself to his rigorous Nobody workouts regardless of his and Universal's interest in a Nobody 2. "It was more that you've got to exercise when you get older," Odenkirk tells The Hollywood Reporter. "[David Leitch's] 87North and [Chad Stahelski's] 87eleven are two different concerns now, but they lift from every kind of fight tradition, so there will be people at their gyms who do jiu-jitsu, karate, judo and boxing. It just makes for a more entertaining workout." In the first Nobody, Odenkirk's Hutch has to reignite the sleeping assassin within himself after his family was frightened by a botched home invasion. This story point was inspired by a couple break-ins that Odenkirk's own nuclear family endured over the years. In the now well-received Nobody 2, Hutch, his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) and their two kids are all leading separate lives and sorely need a vacation to reestablish their familial bond. So Odenkirk once again channeled his real life by having the Mansells travel to a waterpark-centric town à la the Wisconsin Dells that his family of origin twice went to in the '70s. "The family I grew up in, we went on two vacations in my life. There were seven kids in my family, and we didn't have enough money to go to Hawaii or Disneyland," Odenkirk recalls. "So we went to the Wisconsin Dells in a station wagon, and the kids were in the back, sweating and complaining. Of course, the Dells was not as impressive as it is now." As a result, Nobody 2 director Timo Tjahjanto combined the thrilling mechanics of Naishuller's Nobody with elements of National Lampoon's Vacation. However, the fun and games on the screen had a brief period of concern behind the scenes due to Odenkirk's various responsibilities as a leading man, uncredited writer and producer. "There was a point where I was losing a lot of weight. I could tell people were worried, but I feel fine. When you get closer to filming, you do two workouts a day, and when you're doing that, you're stressing as well," Odenkirk says of his then 62-year-old self. "I don't have a writer's credit, but I was deep into the writing on these films, especially the second film. So I didn't go home and have a massage and go to sleep. I went home and worked on the next day's screenplay." At this past Monday's red carpet premiere, Odenkirk was joined by his Better Call Saul partner in crime, Rhea Seehorn. The dear friends remain supportive of each other's work, including Seehorn's highly anticipated upcoming series, Pluribus. Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, along with co-EP Peter Gould, once took Odenkirk aside on the Bad set to gauge his interest in a spinoff series that would eventually become Better Call Saul. Gilligan then gave Seehorn the same treatment on the Saul set by offering her the chance to lead his very secretive new sci-fi endeavor for Apple TV+. As expected, Odenkirk is hyped to see his friends' creation. "I know it's going to be massive. Massive! It's going to be the biggest thing, well, since sliced bread, but really since Game of Thrones.