There are a lot of movies on the 2026 movie schedule that I know I'm going to go out of my way to see, and then there are the movies that will grab my attention with a trailer or a TV spot, and I'll decide to see it on the fly. That's what happened this week with Normal. Ben Wheatley's new action movie, which is also a bit of a crime thriller, wasn't on my radar until recently, but one trailer plus a glimpse of its cast was enough to get me to show up at the theater this week to check it out. I'm glad I did, because Normal was a ton of fun -- pretty much everything it was advertised to be. Beyond that, I had one clear thought about why I liked the movie so much, and it really comes down to Bob Odenkirk.

No major Normal spoilers ahead.

Bob Odenkirk Deserves A Lot Of Credit

I'm not here to give Odenkirk all of the credit for why I enjoyed the film, though he does deserve a lot of it, as he's not only the star but also one of the writers and a producer. What I've been thinking about is more than just seeing another great performance by the Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad star. Those of us who are familiar with Odenkirk's work on screen know what to expect from him. It's the movie itself that's elevated by Odenkirk and the rest of the cast's performances. This movie is a perfect example of why casting is so important, and why films that might be categorized as fun crime action thrillers can be really good movies with the right people involved.

What Normal Is About

Odenkirk plays Ulysses, an interim sheriff who's getting the lay of the land in small-town Normal, Minnesota. From the start, we're more or less in Ulysses' point of view as he meets with the locals and scopes out what seems like a dated but charming wintery town. It's clear from the start that something is off, but for the most part, Ulysses just asks questions and silently recognizes the cagey remarks he receives from just about everyone. And then the stuff hits the proverbial fan when two bank robbers show up and unknowingly tear the mask off this seemingly ordinary town.

Things escalate from there, with lots of action and violence throughout. All the while, we're still getting to know Ulysses, who's bearing the weight of his past as a lawman, and a handful of supporting characters who fall on either side of this rapidly and violently developing situation.

I Realized Partway Through That I Was Genuinely Invested In The Story

Here's the thing -- there are plenty of movies like Normal out there, and I won't pretend most of them are high-quality cinema. We enjoy them because they're fun, and because we want to see the good guys win and the bad guys get what's coming to them. In that respect, without going into specifics on who lives and who dies, Normal delivers, while also throwing in some twists and turns along the way.

Most importantly, Odenkirk made me care about his character from the start. Ulysses is a lot of things, including tired, frustrated, occasionally funny, remorseful, and a bit sad. He's also sharp and unrelenting when push comes to shove, which it does. Odenkirk brought so much to his character that I felt completely invested by the time the third act hit. Ulysses' backstory could have easily felt like filler with a lesser actor, but because Odenkirk brings all of his character's layers to the surface at the right times throughout the film, it makes Normal a truly satisfying story, in addition to being a fun bit of snow-covered action.

I also need to shout out the supporting cast. Henry Winkler plays the mayor in this film, and not a moment of his talent is wasted. Lena Headey delivers a subtle performance as Moira, another local, who connects with Ulysses early on. Reena Jolly and Brendan Fletcher play the bank robber catalysts of this whole situation, Lori and Keith, respectively. And then there's Jess McLeod's character Alex, a young adult who gets involved in the story partway through. I don't want to get into too many specifics about how they factor in, but I adored Alex from the start and was as invested in their story as I was Ulysses'.

It's Easy To Picture A Version Of This Movie I Watched Then Forgot All About

I can see a movie like Normal getting made with a cast that's fine enough, but as I picture it in my mind, that version of the film relies a lot on bullets flying, stunt sequences and one-liners. Don't get me wrong, those are some great staples of action films and thrillers. Those movies are fun while we're watching them, but don't leave much (if any) lasting impression. That's all fine and good, but Normal reminded me of how much better a movie like this can be with the right cast.

The version we got -- the one with Odenkirk as the star, and the great supporting cast -- is why I'll remember this movie beyond the next few days. It's also why I'll surely watch it again when it comes to streaming. And perhaps most importantly, it's why I hope we continue to see more fun movies like this that bring in great acting talent.

Normal is now playing in theaters. While I think it'd be a fun movie to watch whenever it's released on streaming, especially if you love a good action movie and crime thriller, I also think it's the perfect movie to watch on the big screen when you just feel like going to the movies. If this kind of movie is your thing, Normal checks all the boxes and more, plus the critics seem to like it overall.

Bob Odenkirk’s well-established career as a comic actor has seen quite the pivot over the past five years or so, since he starred as former assassin Hutch Mansell in the action flicks Nobody and Nobody 2. For his next movie, Normal, Odenkirk is continuing with the genre, playing the interim sheriff of the titular small town in Minnesota, who stumbles on a larger conspiracy while responding to a bank robbery. Normal reviews are here ahead of its April 17 release on the 2026 movie calendar, so what are critics saying?

Henry Winkler stars alongside Bob Odenkirk as the mayor, with Lena Headey, Jess McLeod, Brendan Fletcher and others co-starring. Siddhant Adlakha of IGN says Normal doesn’t quite stick the landing, but Odenkirk’s Ulysses is an interesting enough character with his murky past and attempts at uncomplicated heroism, which makes this flick a “worthwhile romp.” Adlakha gives it a “Good” 7 out of 10, writing:

Travis Hopson of Punch Drunk Critics rates it 3.5 out of 5 stars, saying the movie isn’t as slick as John Wick and it a lot sillier, “bristling with a Hot Fuzz-esque” energy that perfectly suits Bob Odenkirk. Hopson says in his Normal review that the Better Call Saul actor has completely won him over as an action star. The critic continues:

Kristy Puchko of Mashable appreciates how Normal includes real-world issues like gun violence, the ostracization of trans people and economic devastation, not to get preachy but to ground a movie that’s otherwise full of bonkers moments. Bob Odenkirk is perfect for the role, as the critic writes:

Fred Topel of UPI says Normal may not hold up to scrutiny, but watching Bob Odenkirk take on an entire town makes for an enjoyable 90 minutes as we wait for bigger upcoming action movies to come this year. Topel says:

Katie Rife of IndieWire gives it a B-, writing that it’s unclear if Normal is intentionally parodying action-hero clichés with its earnest dialogue. The movie is a mixed bag in that way, especially as the novelty of seeing Bob Odenkirk do action has worn off. What’s more, the title Normal is way too similar to Nobody and evokes the same sense of averageness. Still, the action is “consistently pummeling,” Rife says, writing:

It sounds like there’s a lot of comedy and action to be found in Bob Odenkirk’s latest foray into the genre. Critics have given it mostly positive reviews, leading to a 77% Rotten Tomatoes score, so if you want to see his followup to the Nobody films (some of Odenkirk’s best work), you can check out Normal in theaters starting Friday, April 17.

Will Arnett has done a lot of other projects since Arrested Development, but of course he’ll always be Gob Bluth to so many of us above all else since it’s considered one of the best sitcoms of all time. The actor, who’s been receiving a lot of praise for his role in Is This Thing On?, recently reflected on being on the set of Arrested Development in the early days, and how he had no idea it would become so beloved.

Arrested Development is the sort of show that has just kept coming back for Arnett, and his costars. The original run of the series (on Fox) was actually cancelled after three seasons, before it was revived by Netflix in 2013, and again in 2018. Arnett also regularly hangs out another member of the Bluths (one of the most famous sitcom families), Jason Bateman, on their successful podcast Smartless, which they started back in 2020. Here’s what Arnett recently told Rolling Stone about the early days of the series:

One can understand this. Sure, Arrested Development is undoubtedly funny, but it might not have been clear on set if the humor would come across. At the time, Arnett was new to the industry and said he was “desperate to get a sitcom.” He told the magazine that he wanted to do sketch comedy, improv or stand-up, but “didn’t have the luxury” to do so. So nabbing Arrested Development was the big break he was looking for. As he also shared:

Arrested Development may have been hilarious from the get-go, but it’s one of the many funny TV shows that got even more popular on streaming – leading to its revival later on. The series made Arnett famous for playing a TV character we love to hate in Gob Bluth, and as a result of being known for the role, the actor said that fans do everything from the chicken dance to telling him he’s made a “huge mistake,” like the character’s famous quote.

Right now, you check out Will Arnett in his new movie Is This Thing On? in theaters, which was directed by Bradley Cooper. The dramedy is about a man dealing with divorce who takes up standup comedy. And, of course you can stream Arrested Development with a Netflix subscription.

Comedy is a lot harder to pull off successfully than it's often given credit for. It makes sense that some of the best filmmakers in history began their careers as comics, or at least comedic actors, given how a great comedian's mind works. They see the world in completely different ways, and that way of looking at things often means great movies, like some of the best rom-coms of all time, but they aren't always comedies. Here is our list of great comics who became great filmmakers.

Mel Brooks

You really couldn't have this list without Mel Brooks. His movies, which he's been making for an astonishing seven decades, never fail to disappoint. His career stretches back to the 1940s! He reinvented comedy on film with his early movies like The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein, and while he doesn't do as much directing these days, he's still killing it when he does.

Jordan Peele

Of all the comedians-turned-directors on this list, the biggest departure from his acting career to his directing career has to be Jordan Peele. He first entered our collective consciousness with his legendary sketch comedy show Key and Peele, but starting with Get Out in 2017, he's become one of the premier horror directors in modern Hollywood.

Amy Poehler

Like so many comedians over the last 50 years or so, Amy Poehler got her big break on Saturday Night Live. She left the long-running comedy show in 2008 to work on her next hit show, Parks & Recreation. In 2019, she directed her first movie, Wine Country, and followed that up with 2021's Moxie.

Christopher Guest

Some of the most quotable movies of all time have come from the collective minds of the ensemble casts that Christopher Guest has assembled for his movies, like Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind. He serves as the director, but he gives great leeway to his fellow cast members in all of the movies.

Paul Feig

Though he's best known as a writer and a director these days, Paul Feig started as a stand-up comedian when he first arrived in Hollywood in the 1980s. He struggled as an actor before scoring a role in Heavyweights in 1995. While working on that movie, he met writer Judd Apatow and the two co-created Freaks and Geeks. The rest is history.

Ben Stiller

Ben Stiller's biggest early break came in the Ben Stiller Show on MTV, which blended sketch comedy with music videos. From there, Stiller basically took over Hollywood to the point that it seemed like he was making a dozen movies a year! Okay, maybe not that many, but he was in a lot of movies, including many that he directed, like Reality Bites, The Cable Guy, Zoolander, and Tropic Thunder.

Mike Nichols

EGOT winner Mike Nichols directed some of the most iconic movies in Hollywood history. Movies like The Graduate, Working Girl, and The Birdcage. Nichols started his career as part of the comedy duo Nichols & May alongside Elaine May, who also became a filmmaker of some renown.

Charlie Chaplin

There are few people in Hollywood history who are as important to the growth of the industry as Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin wrote, starred, and directed almost all his major hits from the silent era up until A Countess from Hong Kong in 1967. He even scored many of his movies. He started in show business in the very early 20th Century in comedic roles on stage before movies were even invented.

Rob Reiner

As the son of the great Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner has comedy in his blood. His biggest fame early came as Mike "Meathead" Stivic in All in the Family, but for most of the last half-century, he's been known for his writing and directing, creating such movies as This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, and When Harry Met Sally..., among many others.

Chris Rock

Like many SNL alums, Chris Rock has had an incredible career in Hollywood. He started acting as a teenager in New Jack City, but he quickly became known for his stand-up act and his work on SNL. He's long been a writer and producer, and he started directing in 2003 with his directorial debut, Head of State. He's been busy directing ever since, in addition to everything else he does.

Judd Apatow

One of the most successful comedy directors in the last few decades is Judd Apatow. He's a one-man show, in many ways, writing, producing, and directing hits like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, The King of Staten Island, and This Is 40. He's also produced a whole slew of successful comedies, like Bridesmaids, Anchorman, Step Brothers, and Pineapple Express. That doesn't even get into the TV shows he's produced or co-created, like Freaks and Geeks, Girls, and Crashing.

Harold Ramis

Without question, Harold Ramis belongs on the Mount Rushmore of comedy writers and directors. The list of movies he's directed and written (or co-written) is amazing. Caddyshack, National Lampoon's Vacation, and Groundhog Day are just the tip of the iceberg. Like so many in his generation of comedians, he started in sketch comedy at Second City in Chicago.

Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais gained worldwide fame when he co-created, co-wrote, and starred in the original version of The Office in the U.K. He's created a slew of shows since, and could even be credited with helping create podcasts with his early podcast, The Ricky Gervais Show. The stand-up comedian started directing films in 2009 with The Invention of Lying.

Penny Marshall

We lost a lot when Penny Marshall died in 2018 at age 75. She began her career in comedic roles, most notably as Laverne DeFazio, first on Happy Days, then in her own spin-off, Laverne & Shirley. Before long, though, she transitioned to directing. Her first movie, Jumpin' Jack Flash, introduced the world to Whoopi Goldberg as a comedic actor (her lone previous credit was in the drama The Color Purple) and went on to direct beloved hits like A League of Their Own and Big.

Seth MacFarlane

Seth MacFarlane started mostly as a comedy writer, which is hardly a surprise. He then created the animated shows Family Guy and American Dad for Fox. He made his directorial debut with Ted in 2012.

Albert Brooks

The legendary Albert Brooks started his career in sketch comedy in collectives like The Credibility Gap and appeared on variety shows in the late '60s and early '70s as a stand-up. His first directing gig was as part of the first season of SNL, before directing his first feature, Real Life, co-written with his buddy Harry Shearer. His later movies include classics like Defending Your Life, Mother, and The Muse.

Keenen Ivory Wayans

The Wayans brothers have certainly left a huge mark on Hollywood over the years, and the oldest sibling, Keenen Ivory Wayans, is the one who got them all started. He created and directed In Living Color, which made him a household name, but he had already directed I'm Gonna Git You Sucka before that. His biggest success, of course, is the Scary Movie franchise.

Carl Reiner

Carl Reiner got his start as a writer and actor in comedy sketches on two shows starring Sid Caesar, Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour. He then teamed up with fellow writer from the shows, Mel Brooks, and together they released comedy albums in the early 1960s. By the end of the decade, he was directing movies, with his two most notable hits, The Jerk and Oh! God, coming in the late '70s.

Cheech Marin

One of the biggest comedy duos of the '70s is, of course, Cheech & Chong. Before long, Cheech Marin was directing movies without his partner, including his directorial debut, Born in East L.A., in 1987.

Woody Allen

WE couldn't have this list without Woody Allen. Setting aside any personal feelings people may have towards the actor for his questionable personal life, Allen is, hands down, one of the most successful comedy film directors in Hollywood history. The list of movies he's written, directed, and starred in is far too long to list here. He developed his famous persona while working as a stand-up comedian in New York in the 1960s.

Michael Keaton

Michael Keaton was one of the most successful comedic actors of the 1980s with movies like Mr. Mom, Beetlejuice, and Johnny Dangerously. He started taking on more dramatic roles as the decade came to a close, and of course, he starred as the Caped Crusader in Tim Burton's Batman. He made his directorial debut in 2008 with the drama The Merry Gentleman and, more recently, directed the underrated Knox Goes Away in 2023.

Bob Odenkirk

Along with David Cross, Bob Odenkirk first broke big on Mr. Show with Bob and David, but that was after years in sketch comedy on shows like SNL and The Ben Stiller Show. He has gained his biggest fame more recently as the character Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad and the spinoff Better Call Saul (which somehow never won an Emmy).

Jerry Lewis

His comedy might not have been for everyone, but you can't argue with Jerry Lewis' incredible success over decades in Hollywood. Of course, he started as part of a duo with Dean Martin, but he soon took off on his own with movies like The Nutty Professor and The Bellboy. He directed both those movies as well, and would continue to direct his own movies throughout the '60s.

Donald Glover

While still in college, Donald Glover started doing sketch comedy in New York City. After graduating, he became a writer on 30 Rock first came to the public's attention in Community on NBC. His biggest critical success came with the show he created and produced the show Atlant,a in 2013. His first feature film directing gig came with Bando Stone & the New World, which is a companion piece to his album of the same name.

Jeff Garlin

For most people, Curb Your Enthusiasm is where they first saw Jeff Garlin, but his career goes back further than that. He also starred in The Goldbergs before abuse accusations led him to leave the show. Over the years, he's directed a number of movies, like the indie rom-com I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With and 2017's Handsome, which you can watch with a Netflix subscription.

Buster Keaton

Like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton was a huge figure in the silent era of Hollywood. Also like Chaplin, the comedian started in theater at the dawn of the 20th century and then began writing, directing, and starring in his own films in the teens. He was one of the biggest stars of the early film industry, making more than a dozen hits in the 1920s.

Bob Saget

Not only is one of the dirtiest comedians of all time (and his version of The Aristocrats joke proves it), Bob Saget was also so beloved TV dad and wholesome host of America's Funniest Home Videos. Saget's first directorial credit came in the hilarious and underrated Dirty Work, working with Norm McDonald and Artie Lang on what must have been just a wild film shoot.

Aziz Ansari

Aziz Ansari had his breakout role as a member of the cast of Parks and Recreation, but he was already an experienced stand-up when that show took off. He directed his first film, Good Fortune, which he also wrote and stars in.

Jerrod Carmichael

Jerrod Carmichael is one of the most popular stand-up comedians in recent years and got his first major exposure with The Carmichael Show on NBC in 2015. He made his directorial debut in 2021 with On the Count of Three, which he also stars in alongside Christopher Abbott and an ensemble cast that includes Tiffany Haddish, J.B. Smoove, and Henry Winkler.

Bo Burnham

Bo Burnham made his name as literally a one-man show with his musical comedy YouTube channel that he started in 2006 (the very early days of YouTube). His first job as a director came in 2018 with Eighth Grade, which he wrote and stars in, as well.

Robert Townsend

Robert Townsend was groundbreaking as a Black comedian-turned-filmmaker in the 1980s when he wrote, directed, and starred in movies like Hollywood Shuffle, The Five Heartbeats, and Meteor Man, which is a comic book movie that deserves a reboot.

Bobcat Goldthwait

Without a doubt, one of the strangest movies mentioned in this list is Shakes the Clown, which was the first film directed by legendary stand-up comedian Bobcat Goldthwait. He's directed seven independent films since Shakes and they are always unique and funny.

It’s been three years since fans last saw Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk don the loud suits and crooked smile of Saul Goodman. Yet the character still looms large in pop culture. Introduced in Breaking Bad before headlining his own spinoff (which many argue surpassed the original), Odenkirk transformed Saul from a comical sidekick into one of TV’s most unforgettable antiheroes. Now, the writer-turned-actor is opening up about what it would take for him to return to the Breaking Bad universe, and how, in his eyes, that story could continue.

During an exclusive interview with TODAY, Bob Odenkirk revealed that if Saul were to return, the story would need to reflect where viewers last left him, serving an 86-year prison sentence. Still, for Odenkirk, the role holds a deep personal significance, and he admits it wouldn’t take much to bring him back:

The Saul series finale saw Goodman finally confess to his role in Walter White’s empire and the death of Howard Hamlin, capping off years of transformation from Jimmy McGill, the struggling public defender, into Albuquerque’s most notorious criminal lawyer. As Odenkirk sees it, continuing Saul’s story means leaning into that consequence rather than undoing it. He continued:

Hey, that’s not a terrible idea. There are a ton of brilliant shows and movies that take place in a prison. Also, if anyone could find a way to make a compelling TV show set inside a prison wall, my money would be on Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould.

At the same time, Odenkirk is realistic about the chances of another Better Call Saul or Breaking Bad-related spinoff. Both Gilligan and Gould have moved on to new projects, and the actor says he doesn’t expect them to circle back anytime soon. He added:

He’s not wrong. Gilligan is currently developing Pluribus, a psychological sci-fi drama for folks with an Apple TV+ subscription starring Better Call Saul co-lead Rhea Seehorn. The series has already received a two-season order and is set in a reimagined version of modern-day Albuquerque, promising to take Gilligan’s signature storytelling in an entirely new direction. Bob Odenkirk has already had a sneak peek, beyond that unsettling teaser we all got, and he has nothing but praise.

Bob Odenkirk isn’t slipping back into Saul’s Italian loafers, yet he’s keeping plenty busy. His action sequel, Nobody 2, just hit the 2025 movie schedule and is currently in theaters. He’s continuing to explore new roles that take him beyond the morally compromised men he’s become famous for playing. On that note, both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are available to stream with a Netflix subscription.

Major spoilers for Nobody 2 lie ahead.

When Nobody was released in 2021, it was rightfully praised for Bob Odenkirk’s impressive action hero turn and its stylish action and A+ humor. Yet perhaps one of the film's flaws is the sidelining Connie Nielsen, who plays the lead character's wife. Nielsen is, of course, capable of so much more as an actor. In Nobody 2, which just opened in theaters alongside other 2025 movies, Nielsen's character, Becca gets the chance to do more. On that note, Nielsen spoke to CinemaBlend about getting to film Becca's big moment from the end of the sequel.

Connie Nielsen Was Very Excited To Save Hutch In Nobody 2

When I sat down with Connie Nielsen during the Nobody 2 press junket in Los Angeles, I asked her about the scene that stuck out to her the most when she first read the script. The actress initially kept her answer vague, saying:

While Nielsen tip-toed around the specifics of the scene, I had a feeling I knew exactly what she was talking about: the moment Becca saves Odenkirk's Hutch. That development at the end of Nobody 2 flips the script on what fans have come to know about Hutch and Becca’s dynamic as a couple. Ultimately, it only makes the movie, which focuses a lot more on the Mansell's relationship, even better. As Nielsen explained it:

In the final act of Nobody 2, Bob Odenkirk’s Hutch lures Sharon Stone’s Lendina into the water/theme park he’s been staying at with his family. However, when he comes face-to-face with the villain and her goons, it becomes a bit too much for Hutch. Becca, who secretly left their cabin of safety with a rifle, becomes her husband’s backup, and it’s not only a very sweet scene, it’s badass!

Becca's Big Action Moment Was A Longtime Coming For Connie Nielsen

I’m not at all surprised that Connie Nielsen’s favorite scene was Becca saving Hutch. That's especially because she said when she joined the franchise for the first movie, there was already talk of her having a bigger/more action-focused role in a potential sequel sequel.

During our interview, Nielsen said she told the filmmakers in a “very chill, laid back, but pointed way” that they shouldn’t “hesitate” to build out her character with more action sequences and stunt moments in future movies. So here we are with Nobody 2 and, should this franchise, continue, I'm hopeful that Becca will be able to get in on the action more and more as time goes on.

With the Nobody 2 now having been released in theaters, fans should go check it out. Also, take a look at CinemaBlend's review of the action flick. You can also check out our interview with Odenkirk, during which told the backstory behind Sharon Stone being cast as the villain.

Bob Odenkirk is well known for his comedic talents, be that on some of the best sketch comedy shows of all time (he’s been involved in several) or as the slippery attorney Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. However, in 2021, we saw a different side of the actor when he turned into an ass-kicking assassin in Nobody. Four years later, he’s back for the sequel Nobody 2, which hits theaters on August 15, and while the critics aren’t all in agreement, the consensus is leaning in one direction.

In addition to Bob Odenkirk, Nobody 2 returns many cast members from the first movie, including Connie Nielsen, RZA, Colin Salmon, Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath and Christopher Lloyd. New to the cast are John Ortiz, Colin Hanks and Sharon Stone in villainous roles.

CinemaBlend And Others Have No Fun At Nobody 2

While our own Eric Eisenberg picked this movie as one of this year’s flicks to absolutely see in theaters, this ended up being a disappointment. In CinemaBlend’s review of Nobody 2, Eisenberg says Odenkirk’s Hutch is unlikeable and hard to root for, and the plot leaves much to be desired. He rates it a 1.5 out of 5, writing:

Mark Kennedy of the AP agrees, giving Nobody 2 just 1 star out of 4 as it hits the 2025 movie calendar. The critic begs, “Somebody, anybody, should drag Odenkirk away from this nobody franchise,” continuing:

These critics may not have had any fun at the theater, but others found plenty to like.

The Majority Of Critics Find Nobody 2 A Ridiculous And Joyful Summer Flick

Of the 91 critics who posted to Rotten Tomatoes, 84% give Nobody 2 favorable marks, and that includes William Bibbiani of The Wrap, who finds glee in the elaborately choreographed violence. The critic compares the film to National Lampoon’s Vacation, only if Chevy Chase were a mass murderer, saying it’s as awesome as that sounds. Bibbiani continues:

Owen Gleiberman of Variety also is able to suspend reality long enough to recognize the upcoming action movie for what he says it is — ridiculous and “preposterously vicious” fun. Nobody 2 is even more heightened than the original, Gleiberman says, writing:

Eric Goldman of IGN, meanwhile, rates it a “Good” 7 out of 10, saying it’s not quite as strong as the first but still consistently reminds audiences how much fun it is to watch Bob Odenkirk unleash the action hero few expected he had within him. The critic continues:

Which of the above critics will you side with? There’s only one way to find out. Nobody 2 hits the big screen on Friday, August 15.

Ever since Sharon Stone was announced as the villain in Nobody 2 about a year ago, we’ve been curious about how the actress best known for Casino, Basic Instinct and Total Recall would bring to the action comedy about an assassin-turned-family man. When CinemaBlend spoke to Ben Odenkirk, the movie’s star and producer, he shared the story behind how he convinced her to join the franchise, and his beloved Breaking Bad spinoff, Better Call Saul, had something to do with it.

When I sat down with Odenkirk during the Los Angeles Nobody 2 press junket, I shared my curiosity about getting Sharon Stone on board for the movie. He luckily had a great story about how she joined the cast. In his words:

Considering how great Bob Odenkirk was as Saul Goodman in Better Call Saul over the years, the actor was nominated for a lot of major awards during its six-season run, including earning five Golden Globe nominations. As Odenkirk expressed, during one of the times he was at the award shows, he actually met Sharon Stone, and she revealed she’s a big fan of the series.

He later remembered her when it came to casting the villain for Nobody 2. Here’s what happened next:

While Odenkirk admitted Stone’s character, which has been called “batshit crazy” by the Nobody 2 director, isn’t a complicated role, he really wanted the chance to work with the actress. So he wrote her a letter making his case, and obviously it worked. She in turn plays Lendina, who Hutch crosses paths with while trying to leave behind his assassin ways on a family vacation. Bob Odenkirk also said this about getting to share scenes with the talented actress:

Now that the Nobody 2 release date is here, fans of the first Nobody movie can see what Sharon Stone brings to her role. The actress was actually originally going to play a DC villain in Blue Beetle, before she was replaced by Susan Sarandon. Thankfully, she found another juicy big bad role, this time with an actor she admired herself, in Bob Odenkirk.

And how sweet does this exchange sound? Bob Odenkirk and Sharon Stone seem to be genuine fans of each other’s work, and it ended in the pair getting to be in the same movie. You can see them in the latest of the 2025 movie releases, Nobody 2, now playing in theaters.

I can say that I’ve been a fan of Bob Odenkirk’s going back literal decades. In the 1990s, my introduction to him came via the hilarious and brilliant sketches on Mr. Show with Bob and David (along with one-off appearances on some of my favorite sitcoms), and like just about anyone else you might talk to, I was stunned by his turn to the dramatic playing the slippery Jimmy McGill a.k.a. Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. He’s repeatedly proven himself a smart and talented performer with tremendous range, and he has a unique charisma that lets him succeed as both a lead and in supporting roles.

For this reason, the Nobody movies frustrate me to a great degree. I was disappointed when I saw the original back in early 2021; like any fan, I expected to take delight in the actor’s first turn as an action star but instead found myself underwhelmed by poor writing and shocked by its bad messaging. Things only get worse in Nobody 2, as the script this time around is somehow even more rote, and it reveals Odenkirk’s Hutch Mansell as a hero that is pretty damn impossible to root for, even with the actor’s special charms.

Like its predecessor, the prequel entirely hangs on the audience’s desire to see a talent like Bob Odenkirk take part in some brutal cinematic violence – but the simple novelty of the basic idea is gone now, and there is no effort to compensate with anything else. What results is watching an unlikable protagonist get locked into a plot that offers no stakes and what amounts to an unpleasant and unfulfilling cinematic experience.

After spending Nobody conquering his boring suburban life by reengaging his love of violence, Hutch is reintroduced in Nobody 2 stuck in another rut: he is forced to perform wetwork jobs in order to pay off a debt incurred when he set fire to the Russian cash stash in the first movie, and a consequence is that he becomes distanced from his wife (Connie Nielsen) and two children (Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath). He is in need of a break, and with bizarrely little pushback from his handler (Colin Salmon), he makes plans for a family vacation.

Leaning into the nostalgia of the one trip he took with his father (Christopher Lloyd) and brother (RZA) when he was a child, Hutch takes the Mansell clan to Plummerville – a tourist trap with a water park and various other activities. What the exhausted assassin doesn’t know is that the place is a secret hub of criminal activity orchestrated by a boss named Lendina (Sharon Stone), and when he gets on the bad side of the local sheriff (Colin Hanks) and son of the town’s founder (John Ortiz), he finds himself as a target and his family in danger.

Bob Odenkirk's Hutch Mansell is a lousy main character who only gets worse in the sequel.

The key issue that haunts Nobody 2 is the fact that the protagonist generates all of his own problems, and he doesn’t have the likability to make us appreciate his efforts to dig himself out of the hole. The world of the film doesn’t actually impose any problems on him: when Hutch wants a vacation from his debt-clearing assassin work, it’s granted without any protest or consequence, and despite all of his selfish and violent behavior, there is seemingly no line that he can cross to earn what would be deserved ire from his family (Connie Nielsen’s Becca does draft a “We need to talk” text in the first act when he becomes an absence in her life, but that’s quickly deleted and substituted for an “Okay love u,” and a proper confrontation never happens).

He repeatedly claims that his big motivation is to have a fun vacation with his family full of happy memories… but that comes while ignoring that he could easily do that by just going anywhere other than Plummerville and take his loved ones to a place where their lives aren’t in danger. To be fair, there are moments where he makes strong moral choices (like the decision to rescue a kidnapped teenager he discovers during a confrontation in a crime den), but the movie puts a much greater emphasis on his applications of rage in personal and petty moments, and it renders him consistently challenging to root for.

Director Timo Tjahjanto's action skills are apparent in Nobody 2, but don't enthrall as they do in his other movies.

This bad storytelling can’t help but have a negative impact on what drives Nobody 2, which is the action. Director Timo Tjahjanto is an exceptional talent when it comes to crafting chaotic and brutal fight scenes (2018’s The Night Comes for Us is so jaw-dropping that it should be pre-empted with a “might cause TMJ” warning), and there is some fantastic choreography executed – but it’s all empty calories when the main character’s journey is so pointless and the danger never feels substantial. I can appreciate the fun that the filmmakers had coming up with ideas for how to turn a waterpark into a slaughterhouse with various weapons, riggings, and explosives, but that translates to just moments of fleeting fun on the big screen.

It’s made exceptionally clear throughout the brisk 89 minute runtime that Nobody 2 is not a film meant to be taken too seriously (best exemplified in the ludicrous scenery-chewing done by Sharon Stone in her weirdly truncated, one-note performance as the main baddie). But just because a movie is silly doesn’t automatically make it fun, and I definitely didn’t have any fun. It does a lot of what its predecessor did, only worse, and without even being able to activate the well-established charms of Bob Odenkirk, it’s a bad time at the movies.

Bob Odenkirk may be set to deliver some more beatdowns when the action sequel Nobody 2 hits the 2025 movie schedule on August 15, but he’s been known as a comedian and a TV star far longer than he’s been a big-screen badass. He’s also been friends with late night host Stephen Colbert for 30 years, give or take, so it’s only fitting that the Better Call Saul vet would have a take on The Late Show’s sudden cancellation at CBS.

Speaking with EW, Odenkirk shared that he doesn’t have any key insider information about the network’s headline-making decision, and that he wasn’t even sure how to go about weighing CBS execs’ money-saving reasoning against claims that the cancellation happened to curry favor with the President and the FCC so that the corporate merger between Skydance and Paramount Global could be approved. According to Odenkirk:

I don't know that anyone actually would expect Bob Odenkirk to offer concise insights into broadcast network cancellations, although I have little doubt he'd excel at playing a character pretending to know all about network cancellations. It's a thin line.

In any case, Odenkirk then shared his thoughts on Colbert's future, and why that's the part of this big mess that he's not worried about, saying:

Though he's been one of the faces of CBS since he took over The Late Show in 2015, that's certainly not where Colbert's TV career kicked off. No, that happened with the sadly underappreciated 1996 sketch series The Dana Carvey Show, which also boasted Bob Odenkirk as a writer. The two funnymen also worked on Saturday Night Live, with Odenkirk exiting to make Mr. Show with Bob and David the year before Colbert joined the NBC staple via TV Funhouse.

In any case, Odenkirk seems more confident in Colbert's future in entertainment than he seems about the future of late night talk shows. As he put it:

Let's never forget the time that Odenkirk and Colbert played each other for a fake biopic of The Late Show.

If the reports about Colbert intentionally trolling studio higher-ups are true, fans might be seeing the late night host in another format far sooner than CBS' May 2026 deadline. Odenkirk opined that he could end up guiding his own future in the way that Conan O'Brien did when he vacated NBC for TBS and then Max, all while evolving the traditional talk show concept. I'd watch whatever comes next, and I won't exactly be mad if it involves zero political humor.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is airing four new episodes this week, featuring such guests as Bowen Yang, Jamie Lee Curtis, Liam Neeson, Renée Rapp, and more. Fans can stream eps the next day via a Paramount+ subscription.

I love a good action movie. Today, few franchises hold a candle to John Wick when it comes to action. The creativity and style of the fight and chase sequences help the movies stand out. However, there is a small film that, by virtue of sharing the same producer and the same writer as the original John Wick, comes closer to recreating that success than anybody likely expected: Nobody starring Bob Odenkirk.

Bob Odenkirk wasn’t exactly who people expected to lead a physical action-heavy movie, which is part of why it was all so good when it came together. I’ve been almost as excited for the Nobody sequel as I am for the next John Wick chapter, but after reading this description of Sharon Stone as the villain in Nobody 2, maybe I feel differently. Director Timo Tjahjanto, who is taking over the franchise, recently spoke to Empire, where he described Stone’s character saying,

The long-in-development Nobody 2 sees Bob Odenkirk’s character, Hutch, who has returned to his life of violence, attempt to take his family on a vacation only to inadvertently run afoul of a criminal empire run by Sharon Stone. While the trailers for Nobody 2 certainly show some of the “batshit crazy” that Tjahjanto is talking about, as the character seems to be larger than life – though considering the outrageousness of the premise, that’s part of the fun.

While we’ve seen Sharon Stone play some outrageous characters in her career, it’s been a while since we’ve seen the side of her that we saw in Basic Instinct or even Catwoman. That movie may have been terrible, but Stone certainly gave it her all. The director says Stone was his first choice for the role, though he never actually expected she’d take it; it turns out she surprised him. Tjahjanto said,

Timo Tjahjanto seems quite excited to have landed Sharon Stone. Nobody 2 will actually be one of the actress' most significant recent roles. The film also includes Colin Hanks as a corrupt sheriff, and sees the return of Connie Nielsen as Hutch's wife and Christopher Lloyd as Hutch's dad.

Sharon Stone was originally cast to play the villain in Blue Beetle, though she eventually had to pull out of the film. While Nobody 2 may not technically be a comic book movie, her character certainly sounds like some sort of supervillain. It’s a role she could certainly play once, and I’m certainly looking forward to seeing her do it here when the sequel arrives in theaters everywhere on August 15.

Just about anyone who has ever been on the Saturday Night Live cast has been a part of the writing staff. Yet, not everyone who has written a classic SNL sketch has been a part of the cast, but many of them would still go on to become comedy legends in their own right. Take a look at some of the most well-known names to ever work from behind the scenes at Studio 8H.

John Mulaney

During his SNL tenure from 2009 to 2012, John Mulaney created Stefon with Bill Hader and infrequently appeared on "Weekend Update" for a segment called "I Love It." The Chicago native went on to become one of the most acclaimed comedians of his time and returned to host enough times to join SNL's Five-Timers Club.

Paula Pell

Paula Pell boasts one of the longest runs as an SNL writer, sticking around from 1995 to 2013 and winning an Emmy in the process. The Girls5eva and Mapleworth Murders star would later share the screen with many SNL veterans in Netflix's Wine Country and voiced Mom's Anger in the Inside Out movies, to name a few notable examples of her acting career.

Bob Odenkirk

After writing at SNL from 1987 to 1991, during which he created Chris Farley's iconic Matt Foley character (as he revealed on Hot Ones), Bob Odenkirk went on to create and star in his own acclaimed sketch comedy series with David Cross called Mr. Show with Bob and David. The comedian's career would take an unexpected and exciting turn when he joined the Breaking Bad cast as Saul Goodman, which spawned the spin-off Better Call Saul and led to Odenkirk becoming an action star with Nobody.

Stephen Colbert

While he did not make the cut to join the cast, in 1996, Stephen Colbert landed a brief stint in the writers' room at Studio 8H, where he also starred in several pre-recorded SNL sketches as the voice of Ace from The Ambiguously Gay Duo. He also served as a writer and performer for the short-lived The Dana Carvey Show before becoming better known as a Daily Show correspondent, hosting his own political satire program, The Colbert Report, and succeeding David Letterman as host of CBS' The Late Show.

Hannibal Buress

Only one of Hannibal Buress' sketches made it to air during his brief stint as an SNL writer in the late 2010s. He would certainly make up for the lack of exposure at Studio 8H, however, when he became a top name in stand-up, served as the sidekick on Adult Swim's The Eric Andre Show, and joined the MCU as Peter Parker's gym teacher.

Larry David

As Larry David revealed to Vanity Fair, one of the best Seinfeld episodes was inspired by a time he angrily quit his brief tenure as an SNL writer in the mid-1980s and attempted to return to Studio 8H the following Monday like it never happened. The Curb Your Enthusiasm star would later return to the show as its resident Bernie Sanders and for multiple hilarious hosting gigs.

Adam McKay

If Adam McKay, who served as head writer for three of his six years at Studio 8H in the late '90s and early 2000s, had become a cast member, he would be among the few SNL stars to win an Academy Award. While also known for co-writing and directing some of Will Ferrell's best movies, his peak achievement is his Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for 2015's The Big Short, which he followed with the acclaimed satirical Dick Cheney biopic, Vice.

Steve Higgins

Steve Higgins started writing at SNL in 1995 and would maintain the position for decades, during which he would occasionally make appearances, such as in the monologue for Justin Timberlake's hosting debut. The father of Please Don't Destroy's John Higgins, even stayed on as a producer and writer after signing on as Jimmy Fallon's talk show sidekick on Late Night and The Tonight Show.

J.B. Smoove

Audiences may recognize the boisterous and irresistibly animated comic J.B. Smoove best as Leon on Curb Your Enthusiasm or from two of the MCU's Spider-Man movies as Peter Parker's teacher, Mr. Dell. Earlier on, he served as a writer on SNL for three years, during which he would sometimes appear on camera, such as when he impersonated Jimmy "JJ" Walker in a Good Times parody.

Conan O'Brien

Conan O'Brien would have never become one of the all-time most beloved late-night TV hosts if not for his three-year stint as an SNL writer, as it was producer Lorne Michaels who recommended he take over Late Night for David Letterman. The 2025 Mark Twain Prize recipient is also known as a writer for The Simpsons and, following his retirement from late-night TV in 2021, expanded his purview by hosting a hit podcast, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, and a travel docuseries, Conan O'Brien Must Go.

Harper Steele

Harper Steele wrote for SNL from 1995 to 2008 and was promoted to head writer for her final four seasons. She experienced an uptick in notoriety later in life when she came out as transgender, which was detailed in Netflix's award-winning documentary, Will & Harper, in which she travels cross-country with longtime friend Will Ferrell.

Tim Herlihy

Tim Herlihy, the father of Please Don't Destroy's Martin Herlihy, very rarely appeared on SNL during his five years as a writer, but does have a well-known character named after him: The Herlihy Boy, played by Adam Sandler. He and Sandler would also collaborate on movies like The Wedding Singer and The Waterboy, to name a few, in which he also appears in funny cameos.

Greg Daniels

Greg Daniels became Conan O'Brien's writing partner when they met at Harvard, years before being hired at SNL in 1988. He later achieved fame and acclaim as a creator and developer of various hit comedy series, most notably the American adaptation of The Office.

Jorma Taccone

Jorma Taccone has appeared in many of the best SNL Digital Shorts, which he and his partners from The Lonely Island, Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer, were in charge of creating during his writers' room tenure from 2005-2010. The comedian, musician, and filmmaker is also the mastermind behind the recurring sketch, "MacGruber," and directed the 2010 movie based on the SNL character as well.

Herb Sargent

Herb Sargent, who passed away in 2005, was hired as an SNL writer at the very beginning when the show was still called NBC's Saturday Night, and is even credited as the creator of "Weekend Update." Of course, his writing career predates the sketch comedy series, having also written for The Tonight Show in the 1950s, most notably. Sargent was also the Writers Guild of America, East, which named an award honoring comedic excellence after him.

Jack Handey

Despite never showing his face on the show, Jack Handey is a well-known name in SNL's history thanks to his recurring one-liner bits known as "Deep Thoughts" and "Fuzzy Memories." His decades-long tenure at Studio 8H began when frequent collaborator Steve Martin introduced him to Lorne Michaels.

Michael Schur

Michael Schur might be recognized best as Dwight Schrute's cousin, Mose, from The Office, which he wrote for and produced before. He would also team with Office developer Greg Daniels to create Parks and Recreation; he co-created Brooklyn Nine-Nine with Dan Goor, and he created The Good Place himself. However, his career began when he joined SNL's writing staff from 1998 to 2004.

Carol Leifer

Carol Leifer only wrote for one season of SNL: its eleventh, which is widely considered its weakest year. Nonetheless, she is recognized as a comedy legend for her stellar stand-up career and contribution to acclaimed TV sitcoms like Seinfeld, additional sketch comedy shows like MADtv, and awards ceremonies like the Oscars.

Dave Attell

Dave Atell is a relatively well-known name in the comedy world, having hosted a popular show on Comedy Central called Insomniac and appeared in hit movies like Pootie Tang, Funny People, and Trainwreck. One of the stand-up comedian's earliest gigs in show business was writing for SNL during the 1993-1994 season.

Akiva Schaffer

After he and his partners in The Lonely Island made a name for themselves by making short films for Channel 101, Akiva Schaffer would specialize in making shorts for SNL with them. In addition to making funny appearances in movies like Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, he has since become successful on his own as the director of films like 2022's Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers and the 2025 reboot of The Naked Gun.

Max Brooks

In addition to being the son of Mel Brooks (creator of many hilarious parody movies), Max Brooks is famous for writing one of the most acclaimed works of zombie fiction, The Zombie Survival Guide, and World War Z. Before then, he wrote for SNL from 2001 to 2003.

Chris Kelly

Chris Kelly found great success from co-creating the Comedy Central original series, The Other Two, with Sarah Schneider. Prior to that, both of them served as writers at SNL, and both became the head of the staff during their last season between 2016 and 2017.

Emily Spivey

Former MADtv writer Emily Spivey's Emmy-winning tenure in the Studio 8H writer's room lasted from 2001 to 2010. She would reunite with other female SNL alumnae from that era in the Netflix movie, Wine Country, and also wrote for shows like The Last Man on Earth and How I Met Your Father.

Tom Gammill

Tom Gammill and his longtime writing partner got their start at SNL in the late 1970s. They would go on to join the staff for Late Night with David Letterman, Seinfeld, and The Simpsons, most notably.

Matt Graham

Talented stand-up comedian Matt Graham was a writer for the likes of Saturday Night Live and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and even for game shows like Chain Reaction. Yet, his bigger claim to fame may be his title as the World Scrabble Championship runner-up when he represented the United States in an international competition in 1997, according to The New York Times.

Bruce McCulloch

Multi-talented Canadian comedian Bruce McCulloch was part of the SNL writing staff from 1985 to 1986. Just a few years later, he became a part of the comedy troupe, The Kids in the Hall, who started their own popular, self-titled sketch comedy series that ran from 1989 to 1995.

J. J. Philbin

You can probably tell from her last name that J.J. Philbin has a famous father named Regis. On top of that, she has a famous husband, Michael Schur, whom she met while she was writing for SNL in the late 1990s. However, she would later make a name for herself by writing for shows like Dead Like Me and The O.C., co-creating ABC's Single Parents, and executive producing Only Murders in the Building.

Sam Jay

Sam Jay is the star of some great stand-up comedy specials on Netflix (as well as part of the platform's Roast of Tom Brady), a talk/variety show on HBO called Pause with Sam Jay, and a Peacock original comedy series called Bust Down. Prior to those achievements, she became the first Black, lesbian SNL writer in 2017.

Charlie Grandy

Charlie Grandy is best known for his many collaborations with Mindy Kaling, including The Office, The Mindy Project, and Velma. One of his earliest gigs, however, was writing for SNL from 2001 to 2008, during which he earned one of his two Primetime Emmy Awards.

Streeter Seidell

Comedian Streeter Seidell first made a name for himself on the popular website CollegeHumor.com, on which he released his web series, Prank Wars, which was picked up by MTV as Pranked. In 2014, he found himself on the SNL staff, for which he co-created the character of David S. Pumpkins, and was promoted to head writer status eight years later.

Simon Rich

Simon Rich is one of the youngest SNL hires in the show's history, having joined the writing staff right out of college from 2007 to 2011. He would leave Studio 8H to work for Pixar and later created the surreal romantic-comedy series, Man Seeking Woman (based on his short story collection, The Last Girlfriend on Earth), on FXX in 2015.

Andy Breckman

Andy Breckman is the writer and director of, arguably, Eddie Murphy's single greatest SNL sketch, "White Like Me." He also wrote for Late Night with David Letterman, but is best known as the creator of the Emmy-winning, long-running detective dramedy, Monk.

The next time you watch a comedy movie, see if you can picture the star engaging in fisticuffs with a criminal and taking down their henchpeople in a shootout. You never know: they could be Hollywood’s next great action hero.

It may seem unlikely until you realize that many of the best action movies and TV shows of all time have been led by or featured pivotal roles played by stand-up comedians or actors who broke through in funny flicks or even classic TV sitcoms. See for yourself by taking a look at some comedically talented actors who beat the odds by becoming action stars.

Will Smith

After initially coming to prominence as a rap artist, Academy Award winner Will Smith proved he had a charismatic onscreen presence as the star of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air cast in the early 1990s. In 1995, he was cast in director Michael Bay's buddy cop movie, Bad Boys, and, the following year, led Roland Emmerich's action-packed alien invasion flick, Independence Day. There would soon be so much more where those came from.

Cheech Marin

Along with his partner, Tommy Chong, Cheech Marin essentially became the face of stoner comedy, especially after co-leading the classic '70s movie, Up in Smoke. His career would take a turn when he appeared in 1995's Desperado, leading him to become a staple of Robert Rodriguez's movies, and, eventually, began portraying a type of character his roles from the Cheech & Chong movies would try to avoid alongside Don Johnson in the hit cop show, Nash Bridges.

Chris Pratt

By channeling much of the same comedic energy from his scene-stealing breakout role in the Parks and Recreation cast as Andy Dwyer, Chris Pratt helped make 2014's sci-fi odyssey, Guardians of the Galaxy, a light breath of fresh air into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His fun, heartfelt performance as Peter "Star-Lord" Quill also convinced Hollywood he was leading man material, opening the door for him to star in the Jurassic World movies and Amazon Prime's The Terminal List, to name a few.

Paul Rudd

Paul Rudd made his major motion picture debut in the hilarious high school movie classic Clueless before later hit comedies like Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Knocked Up made him one of Hollywood's most sought-after actors in the genre. He found the perfect role to become inducted into the MCU in the form of Ant-Man, playing the shrinking superhero with the same everyman quality that made him an A-lister.

Michael Keaton

Because Michael Keaton got his start in stand-up comedy and had been best known for movies like Night Shift and Mr. Mom at the time, comic book fans were up in arms over Tim Burton's decision to cast him in his live-action Batman movies, Batman and Batman Returns. The Oscar nominee has since been regarded as one of the best actors to play the Dark Knight (if not the best) and would even return to superhero movies as one of the best Spider-Man movie villains, Vulture, in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Nicolas Cage

It is easy to forget that Nicolas Cage started out in comedies like Valley Girl and Peggy Sue Got Married before blowing us away in high-octane thrillers like Con Air, Face/Off, and Gone in 60 Seconds. Then again, it is also easy to tell that the Oscar winner has a comedy background from some of his action movie credits, including the three listed above and his even Cagier roles, like from Mandy and Willy's Wonderland.

Damon Wayans

You may have forgotten he was on Saturday Night Live, but you should surely remember Damon Wayans from his days on the In Living Color cast and from sitcoms like My Wife and Kids. Hopefully, you did not also forget about his roles in '90s crime thrillers The Last Boy Scout (opposite Bruce Willis) and Bulletproof (opposite Adam Sandler) or when he took over as Roger Murtaugh for Fox's series adaptation of Lethal Weapon.

Robert Downey Jr.

After lasting one season on Saturday Night Live, appearing in several '80s teen comedies like Weird Science, and earning his first Oscar nod for playing Charlie Chaplin, Robert Downey Jr.'s career would hit a snag in the early 2000s. Luckily, he would make an inspiring comeback after leading the 2005 noir thriller Kiss Kiss Bang Bang before kicking off the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the title role of Iron Man and playing Guy Ritchie's version of Sherlock Holmes.

Eddie Murphy

Many credit Eddie Murphy with single-handedly saving Saturday Night Live in the early 1980s, right before making his feature debut alongside Nick Nolte in Walter Hill's 1982 buddy crime thriller, 48 Hrs. Just two years later, the comedian led his own acclaimed action-comedy movie called Beverly Hills Cop, which made him Hollywood's biggest star.

Bruce Willis

In the mid-to-late 1980s, Bruce Willis was best known for playing David Addison on Moonlighting, starring opposite Kim Basinger in Blind Date, and appearing in commercials for Seagram, which is why audiences initially laughed when they saw him as John McClane in the trailer for Die Hard. However, the 1988 action classic would immediately skyrocket the actor to stardom and turn him into a top Hollywood action star, later known for leading thrillers like The Fifth Element, Armageddon, and Sin City.

Jamie Foxx

Jamie Foxx's stand-up career led him to join the In Living Color cast and lead his own self-titled sitcom before his Oscar-winning performance in the 2004 music biopic, Ray, and Oscar-nominated performance in Collateral the same year opened wider doors for him. He went on to star in more thrillers like Jarhead, The Kingdom, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as Electro, and White House Down.

Alan Ritchson

One of Alan Ritchson's first major acting credits was playing doltish college football player Thad Castle on the uproarious sitcom Blue Mountain State before landing a small role in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, doing performance capture for the 2014 and 2017 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, and playing Hank "Hawk" Hall on Titans. The 6'3" actor's defining, star-making turn came when he was cast in the title role of the hit Amazon Prime TV show, Reacher, leading to his casting in Guy Ritchie's The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Lucy Liu

Lucy Liu landed her breakthrough role on the hit workplace dramedy Ally McBeal as Ling Woo. Soon after, she achieved cinematic stardom in 2000's Charlie's Angels, teamed up with Antonio Banderas in the 2002 spy thriller Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, and was cast as ruthless assassin O-Ren Ishii in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.

Bob Odenkirk

Bob Odenkirk wrote for Saturday Night Live for years in the 1980s before co-leading his own acclaimed sketch comedy series with David Cross called Mr. Show, which was his main claim to fame for years. However, he stumbled onto a new career path when he joined the Breaking Bad cast as Saul Goodman, who earned his own prequel spin-off called Better Call Saul, before leading his own action flick called Nobody.

Martin Lawrence

Martin Lawrence led a successful stand-up career that turned into a successful TV career with his hit sitcom, Martin, in between starring in movies like Do the Right Thing and Boomerang. In 1995, he played Det. Marcus Burnett, for the first of multiple times in Bad Boys and even went on to play a cop in a few more overt comedies, namely Blue Streak and Big Momma's House.

Ryan Reynolds

For years, even after starring in more earnest thrillers like Smokin' Aces and Safe House, it seemed like Ryan Reynolds' defining performance would forever be the title role of National Lampoon's Van Wilder, which paved the way for him to star in more raunchy comedies like Waiting... or Just Friends. However, that would change in 2016 when he led Deadpool, which is still very much on the side of silly but is also as action-packed as any other comic book movie.

Sam Richardson

Sam Richardson quickly became a favorite in the comedy landscape for his hilarious performances in shows like I Think You Should Leave, Veep, and Ted Lasso. He would later go on to impress audiences in Amazon Prime's action-packed time travel movie The Tomorrow War opposite Chris Pratt, as the lead of the 2021 horror-comedy movie Werewolves Within, and in Paramount+'s Star Trek: Section 31.

Keanu Reeves

As the star of franchises like the John Wick movies and the Matrix films, in addition to favorites like Speed and Point Break, Keanu Reeves is one of the most prolific action stars in cinema history. Thus, it is sometimes hard to believe that he is the same actor who, excellently, played one-half of the titular duo from the Bill & Ted movies.

John Goodman

John Goodman began rising to prominence on the groundbreaking sitcom Roseanne as Dan Conner (whom he would reprise in the revival series The Conners). However, he has managed to cover just about every genre you can think of throughout his career, including action films like Kong: Skull Island and Atomic Blonde.

Emily Blunt

It might seem like a stretch to call Emily Blunt a comedy star, but she did find her breakthrough film role with a hilarious scene-stealing performance in 2006's The Devil Wears Prada. She would later prove she could play someone with a rougher exterior when she starred opposite Tom Cruise in the thrilling time loop movie, Edge of Tomorrow, and in Denis Villeneuve's stunning Sicario.

Rick Moranis

Rick Moranis is one of the most treasured comedic actors of his time, from his days at SCTV starring alongside Dave Thomas as the McKenzie Brothers (who led their own 1983 movie, Strange Brew), to appearing in films like Ghostbusters, Little Shop of Horrors, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. In the middle of those comedy classics was a role in Walter Hill's dystopian "Rock 'n Roll fable," Streets of Fire.

Bill Burr

Bill Burr used to mock the Star Wars movies in some of his stand-up bits, which gave The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau a funny idea to bring him into the galaxy far, far away. He cast the Massachusetts-born comedian on the series as a mercenary named Migs Mayfield, which Burr has since recognized as one of the highlights of his career.

John Leguizamo

Despite getting his start as a stand-up comedian, many of John Leguizamo's earliest acting roles have actually been in action movies, including Die Hard 2 and Executive Decision. In addition to more humorous credits, like To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar and the Ice Age movies, more thrillers would come his way, such as the John Wick movies and Violent Night.

Owen Wilson

Owen Wilson may be closely associated with comedies like Bottle Rocket, Meet the Parents, and Zoolander, but the actor has diversified his talents over various styles. He has even tried his hand at the action genre a few times, most notably in Behind Enemy Lines, No Escape, and Disney+'s MCU-canon series, Loki

Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks' first major show business breakthrough was a sitcom called Bosom Buddies, which led to roles in comedy films like Bachelor Party and Turner & Hooch. It was his Oscar-winning roles in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump that opened the door for him to star in intense dramas like the acclaimed war movie Saving Private Ryan and the sci-fi epic Cloud Atlas.

Val Kilmer

Some of Val Kilmer's most iconic roles include Iceman in Top Gun, Doc Holliday in the Western movie classic Tombstone, and the title role of Batman Forever. However, his breakthrough films were the ridiculous spy parody, Top Secret!, and the college comedy, Real Genius, in the early-to-mid 1980s.

Mila Kunis

Mila Kunis rose to fame as Jackie Burkhart in the That '70s Show cast and as the voice of Meg on Family Guy before acquiring A-list fame. Her action movie credits, namely the video game movie adaptation Max Payne and the Wachowski's ambitious sci-fi adventure, Jupiter Ascending, have not been her most esteemed efforts, but we will still count them.

Randall Park

Randall Park is best known for leading the sitcom Fresh off the Boat, his hilarious cameo on The Office as "Asian Jim Halpert," and for hit comedy movies like The Interview and Neighbors. He has also become a staple of the comic book movie genre with his role in the MCU as Agent Jimmy Woo and as Dr. Shin in the Aquaman movies.

Shia LaBeouf

Shia LaBeouf started making a name for himself when he was a teen as Louis on the Disney Channel original comedy series, Even Stevens. He went on to make a Hollywood breakthrough in the Transformers movies, which led to his roles in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and, eventually, David Ayer's 2014 war drama, Fury.

Malin Akerman

Before she became the first actor to play Silk Spectre II in live-action in 2009's Watchmen, Malin Akerman rose to fame in comedy movies like 2007's The Heartbreak Kid and shows like Children's Hospital.

Jim Belushi

Just like his late older brother, John, Jim Belushi broke out on Saturday Night Live. Unlike John, Jim achieved a brief career in action movies, such as Red Heat with Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Principal, and Oliver Stone's Salvador.

Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine was already an Oscar-winning movie star when he was cast as the lead of the hit sitcom, McHale's Navy. Eventually, he would appear in more earnest action-oriented titles, such as a made-for-TV adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front, John Carpenter's Escape from New York, and 2010's RED.

Better Call Saul is a (law school) textbook example of a TV spinoff that matches its predecessor in terms of quality storytelling, and it helped turn Mr. Show icon Bob Odenkirk into a dramatic powerhorse. But as it often goes with incredibly amazing television standouts, an ill-sighted network note nearly clipped the actor’s Saul Goodman character from existence before he could bring his signature sleaze to some of Breaking Bad’s best episodes.

Better Call Saul co-creator and esteemed Breaking Bad writer Peter Gould dropped this gobsmacking nugget of info in the impending BTS extravaganza Saul Goodman V. Jimmy McGill: The Critical Companion to Better Call Saul (via EW), penned by Alan Sepinwall and out on February 4, 2025. The Emmy winner dug into the origins of the flagship drama’s Season 2 episode “Better Call Saul,” by first admitting that when Season 2 was being crafted, he wasn’t entirely sure what the tone was, and defaulted to creator Vince Gilligan for guidance.

The basic idea was that Bryan Cranston’s Walter White needed a lawyer, and the writers initially went a little overboard in the conception phase for that character that eventually became Saul. As Gould put it:

As a kid, the idea of a pneumatic tube connections was the stuff of dreams, so I would have been down with that idea all the way. But I digress.

Continuing his explanation, Peter Gould said that as opposed to being conceived as a standalone character with the potential to expand this crime drama saga, Saul Goodman was just meant to be a means to an end for Walt's story, albeit a means that was more amusing than perhaps expected. Which sparked some nervousness when it came to how the shyster would properly fit into the deadly serious story. And as Gould put it, those nerves were fully justified.

You gotta love a higher-up boss who can look at something and, probably without making an attempt to grasp how much work went into it, ask if it could be done all over again from top to bottom. Wait, did I say "love?" I meant "rage out against."

Thankfully, Vince Gilligan made the decision to speak up in defense of the colorful attorney, making it possible for Better Call Saul's A+ episodes to exist and entertain in perpetuity. According to Gould:

And here I thought the wildest change-in-decision behind the scenes of Breaking Bad (at least ones concerning Bob Odenkirk's character) might have been flipping Saul from having a Hot Topic job to working at Cinnabon. But this is on a whole other level of "What the hell was that one person thinking?"

All episodes of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are available to stream with an AMC+ subscription, and if there’s ever a point when it looks like BCS doesn’t exist anymore, that’s how you’ll know you unwittingly slipped into that alternate universe where AMC execs got their way. Good luck getting home!

Learning that Bob Odenkirk actually demanded that Jesse Eisenberg stop trying to copy Adam Sandler should be one of those tales that gets its own movie immediately. Some crazy ideas and stories get turned into films and this one feels perfect for that treatment. However, while this tale may not be on our 2025 movie schedule or screens anytime soon (or ever), the story is just too wild not to relish.

While Jesse Eisenberg is best known for his performances, he has now joined the ranks of great actors who are also screenwriters because of his 2024 movie, A Real Pain. So, he sat down with THR for a roundtable with Payal Kapadia, Justin Kuritzkes, James Mangold, Halina Reijn, and Jason Reitman to discuss writing. The screenwriters spoke about the films they recently made as well as how they got started, which is what led to this wild story involving the Better Call Saul star.

The Zombieland actor explained that after landing a role in one of Bob Odenkirk's projects, the comedy veteran agreed to look at Eisenberg’s writing. The feedback he got back wasn’t anything he was expecting, but it was incredibly sound advice, as The Social Network star explained:

It sounds about right for the former SNL writer to tell Eisenberg to not mimic Sandler's style (no one can replicate him, truly, anyway).

Plus, Odenkirk and his best movies and shows have been a model of the range and capability an artist can have. The 62-year-old has added comedian, actor, producer and writer to his resume, with no plans of slowing down anytime soon. He is a perfect model for younger stars like Eisenberg to take note of, and it seems like he has.

This advice set the Now You See Me actor on his journey to becoming a successful writer, even if it did bruise him a little in the process. Now, his film is among the 2025 Golden Globe winners, thanks to Kieran Culkin's performance in it, and Eisenberg's writing, directing and performance are being praised as well. So, it all worked out, as he explained:

It’s surprising to think that we all have Bob Odenkirk to thank in part for Eisenberg’s incredible stories.

A Real Pain has an incredible amount of humor and sadness that are perfectly combine and masterfully portrayed by Eisenberg and Culkin. Along with the 2024 success, the writer also penned When You Finish Saving the World, which was originally an Audible Original turned 2022 movie. Who knows what we could’ve had in store from the young writer-actor and if any of his Sandler stuff would’ve seen the light of day–I, for one, am glad to have the present works.

Maybe someday we’ll get a cinematic retelling of this wild story of Bob Odenkirk redirecting Jesse Eisenberg’s writing career. However, for now, I’m just glad to know the tale at all. And I'm even happier that this advice eventually resulted in such brilliant work like A Real Pain.

As many Better Call Saul fans are well aware, one thing that made the AMC prequel stand apart from its predecessor was the use of black-and-white flash-forwards that gave audiences a peek into Saul Goodman’s life after splitting ties with Walter White. Gene’s introduction in Better Call Saul’s series premiere was an immediate callback to Breaking Bad, which set up Bob Odenkirk’s character managing an Omaha Cinnabon. But I was shocked to discover Saul was nearly set up in a different part of the mall: Hot Topic.

No, the man born Jimmy McGill wasn’t meant to be showcasing a previously untapped love of metal band T-shirts and Nightmare Before Christmas merch, at least not that we know of. It was just a creative choice that creator Vince Gilligan and the writers landed on when crafting Breaking Bad’s fifth and final season, with a coporate mall gig poking fun at how far away that kind of professional life is from Saul Goodman’s illegal dealings.

Breaking Bad writer and Better Call Saul co-creator Peter Gould took to BlueSky after stumbling upon an early draft of the second-to-last installment of the widely acclaimed drama, “Granite State,” and shared the page where the original idea for Saul’s follow-up gig was typed out, with the following message:

The scripted scene in question is taking place when Robert Forster's Ed is meeting with Bryan Cranston's Walter White and Odenkirk's shifty lawyer, and here's how Saul originally worded his assumed fate:

• Saul: I mean, a month from now, best case scenario, I'm managing a Hot Topic in Omaha.

For whatever reason, a Hot Topic in Omaha comes across as even more of a desolate situation for Saul than a Cinnabon in the same location. It would be very weird to pass by the semi-goth store and see someone with Gene's demeanor and mustache stocking shelves.

Why Breaking Bad Went From Hot Topic To CInnabon

Obviously the Breaking Bad episode that made it to air had no mention of that particular mall chain, which was replaced by the now-ubiquitous dessert brand Cinnabon. While it would be interesting to hear that the switch came about due to some deep character development ideas, it turns out Hot Topic was avoided for other reasons. As Gould explained in the comments beneath the post:

At which point someone pointed out that Cinnabon sounds funnier than Hot Topic anyway, to which Gould replied:

Never forget that the franchise's generosity included once giving Gene/Saul major props as its "favorite team member." At least, before things went far screwier in later seasons.

Don't get me wrong, I would have absolutely loved to have seen Saul-as-Gene dealing with Hot Topic inventory and customers, though it would have been the flip side of the bright, white aesthetics of Cinnabon's interiors. Plus, we wouldn't have gotten the all-time great cinnamon bun montage, which would be a crime against TV audiences.

But for those who would still like to know what Bob Odenkirk might have looked like as a more extreme Hot Topic manager, here he is in Mr. Show's Norma Jean Monster sketch.

Now to wash that image out of one's brain, both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul can be streamed in full with a Netflix subscription. Both shows go great with a nice, warm, fluffy, cinnamon bun.

After decades of doing comedy work and then jumping into dramatic territory with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Bob Odenkirk made his action genre debut in 2021 with Nobody. The movie quickly earned positive critical reception and performed decently at the box office, so talk of a potential sequel was inevitable. Now we know that Nobody 2 will be among the many offerings on the 2025 movies schedule, and director Timo Tjahjanto has explained how the sequel is going to differ from its predecessor.

We learned that Tjahjanto had been tapped to direct Nobody 2 back in June, taking over helming duties from Ilya Naishuller. Fast forward five months, the director shared that following what went down in the Nobody ending, Odenkirk’s Hutch Mansell will have to grapple with having returned to his violent roots and his family being aware of his lethal skills. As Tjahjanto put it to Empire:

When the events of Nobody started unfolding, Hutch was eventually forced to inform his children that he used to work as an “auditor,” i.e. an assassin for the United States Intelligence Community, something his wife already knew. He left this life behind him when he spared a target, saw them go on to form a family and decided he wanted that, too. Unfortunately, his conflict with Russian mafia boss Yulian Kuznetsov drew him back into the violence, and considering that Nobody’s final moments teased that Hutch might be dealing with more trouble, apparently this genie can’t be put back in the bottle.

While Nobody 2 will almost surely operate in R-rated territory again, Timo Tjahjanto also mentioned that the sequel won’t feel as dark as the first movie, at least aesthetically speaking. In his words:

Bob Odenkrik will reunite with Connie Nielsen, RZA, Christopher Lloyd, Colin Salmon, Michael Ironside, Gage Monroe and Paisley Cadorath on Nobody 2. The lineup of new faces includes Sharon Stone playing the main antagonist, as well as Colin Hanks, John Ortiz, McKenna Grace and Chris Pine. While Derek Kolstad handled scripting duties just like on the first movie, this time he was aided in that effort by Odenkirk, Aaron Rabin and Umair Aleem.

Nobody 2 hits theaters on August 15, 2025. Stream Nobody with a Peacock subscription while you wait for more news on what the sequel holds in store.

Earlier this summer, the internet was obsessed with actors who they thought looked like “sexy rats,” and for ages, there’s been a lot of chatter about people falling for celebrities who aren't necessarily considered "conventional" crushes. Now, a thread on Reddit has gone viral about the topic of unconventional crushes, and their choices and reasoning for them are A+.

Considering House of the Dragon just wrapped up its second season on the 2024 TV schedule, let’s start this round-up from this Reddit thread with @mismorningstaarr’s pick. They went for Matt Smith, and when we’re thinking about him specifically as Daemon Targaryen, I can see why they wrote this:

Like Matt Smith, Willem Dafoe’s filmography is filled with quirky characters – I’m thinking about Poor Things, The Lighthouse, and even Spider-Man – and bold choices, which is why @AudreySimmons85 wrote:

I think they’re so right! I adore Willem Dafoe!

The choices continued as @Accomplished_Egg6239’s pick was one of Parks and Recreation’s best guest stars. Best known for her supporting roles and voicing Marcel the Shell, Jenny Slate is a star, and I totally agree with this person:

There was a lot of passion behind this next pick, which tracks considering he’s a beloved actor who won four Emmys for playing Tyrion Lannister in the Game of Thrones cast and has gone on to prove his range and charisma through quite the catalog of roles. @xiahabi wrote:

Staying on the Game of Thrones train, @Level_99_Healer gave some love to Brienne of Tarth, writing:

There was a lot of appreciation for Jack Black after @GGATHELMIL named him. @raccoonlovechild gave their reasoning for this choice in the comments, writing:

From really leaning into the hilarious “Peaches” discourse when the Super Mario Bros. Movie came out, to dancing and singing on the red carpet of the Kung Fu Panda 4 premiere, Black has proven this point in dividends over the last year alone. However, his whole career is a giant highlight reel of this…I mean we all saw The Holiday, it was impossible not to fall for him.

This list was full of incredible comedians, and it showcased that there’s something so attractive about a good sense of humor. @SamsaraBug showed some love for a beloved SNL alum, writing:

Along the same lines, @Take-to-the-highways posted about their favorite actors (especially those who are naturally funny), noting the lead actor of Better Call Saul is their top choice:

Shifting gears, there was also many who posted about crushes they have on actors who have played darker and more sinister roles. For example, @koalasarecute22 chose a legendary actor from the Harry Potter cast as their crush, writing:

We’ll end on an incredibly timely pick considering the hit that is Fallout. Many of us fell in love with The Ghoul on the Amazon Prime show, and in return, Walton Goggins found a whole new group of admirers. While I don’t know if @maverick1ba fell in love with the actor because of one of Prime Video’s best shows, I do agree with their sentiment now that I’ve seen the video game adaptation:

Overall, all these picks are incredible, and in a lot of cases, the reasoning for them is hilarious and relatable.

Attractiveness is more than just looks, and don’t get me wrong, all these people are good-looking, but there’s so much more to them! While they may be considered unconventional choices at first, all these people deserve all the love in the world.

Having already been a comedic talent for several decades, and then making a big splash in the dramatic realm through Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, among other projects, Bob Odenkirk made his action genre debut in 2021 with Nobody, which may end up being considered one of the best action movies in the coming years. Now Odenkirk is gearing up to reprise retired assassin Hutch Mansell, and the latest thing we know about Nobody 2 is who will play the villain. Although it’s a surprising choice, I’m still eager to see how brutal the brawls between these two characters get, assuming they come to blows.

Just one month after it was confirmed that Nobody 2 was moving forward, it’s been announced that Sharon Stone has boarded the sequel. Although no official plot details have been revealed yet by Universal Pictures and 87North, THR has heard that Stone has been tapped to play the main antagonist. This news follows five months after the release of What About Love, the 2024 movie that Stone starred in with Andy Garcia and Iain Glen.

From Total Recall and Basic Instinct to Casino and Antz, Stone has formed an impressive filmography over her nearly 50-year-long acting career. In recent years though, she’s focused more on TV work, with those credits including Mosaic, Ratched and The Flight Attendant. As already mentioned, it remains to be seen if Stone’s Nobody 2 character will actually fight Bob Odenkirk’s Hutch or if she’ll be a villain directing her goons to kill him, though I certainly hope it’s the former. I’m already on board for seeing this sequel, but seeing those two actors go mano a mano would only increase my interest.

While Odenkirk and Stone are the only actors attached to Nobody 2 so far, there’s also behind-the-scenes talent to keep track of on the sequel. The Night Comes for Us’ Timo Tjahjanto will direct the feature off a script written by Nobody writer Derek Kolstad, Odenkirk, Jack Ryan’s Aaron Rabin and Kate’s Umair Aleem. Odenkirk is also producing Nobody 2 with Marc Provissiero through their Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment banner, and the other producers include Kelly McCormick and David Leitch from 87North, and Braden Aftergood from Eighty Two Films.

Nobody 2 is set to be released August 15 on the 2025 movies schedule, the same day that Ryan Reynolds’ Animal Friends will arrive. Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more news on how the sequel is coming along. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, Nobody cannot be streamed, though it can be purchased/rented on digital platforms. If you’re looking for newer Sharon Stone content to watch, her appearances in The Flight Attendant can be accessed with a Max subscription.

While it may still be too soon to declare Nobody to be one of the best action movies of all time, there’s no question that Bob Odenkirk’s entry into this genre earned a lot of positive reception, ranking at 84% among critics on Rotten Tomatoes and boasting a 94% Audience Score. Since its release in 2021, there’s been talk about making a sequel, but now there’s been substantial progress on the project. Word’s come in about Nobody 2 finally taking a huge step forward, which is a welcome surprise after so much uncertainty about if it would actually happen.

First off, as one would hope for another Nobody movie, Bob Odenkirk has reportedly signed on to reprise Hutch Mansell, a.k.a. the titular protagonist, in Nobody 2. Additionally, Deadline has shared that The Night Comes for Us’ Timo Tjahjanto has been tapped to direct the sequel coming from Universal Pictures and 87North from a script penned by Nobody writer Derek Kolstad, Odenkirk, Jack Ryan’s Aaron Rabin and Kate’s Umair Aleem. Odenkirk will also produce Nobody 2 alongside Marc Provissiero through Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment, and the project’s other producers include Kelly McCormick and David Leitch through 87North and Braden Aftergood through Eighty Two Films.

As if all that wasn’t a big enough deal, Universal has also slated Nobody 2 to come out on August 15 on the 2025 movies schedule. The only other movie set for that date so far is Ryan Reynolds’ Animal Friends, though the weekend beforehand will bring The Bad Guys 2, Vicious and an untitled “event film” from Paul Thomas Anderson. Nobody was released on March 26, 2021, so it’ll be interesting to see how its successor does as a late summer release.

Following his turn into dramatic territory by playing Saul Goodman in the AMC shows Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Bob Odenkirk got to play around in action territory with Nobody, which followed Hutch Mansell as a seemingly ordinary suburban husband and father who was once a government assassin. After two thieves break into the family’s home one night, Hutch breaks out his old skills to retrieve his daughter’s bracelet that he believes they took (they didn’t), which then leads to him getting into conflict with a Russian crime lord. Odenkirk’s costars included Connie Nielsen, Aleksei Serebryakov, RZA, Michael Ironside, Colin Salmon and Christopher Lloyd, among others.

Although Odenkirk is the only actor attached to Nobody 2 so far, assuming the sequel doesn’t see him venturing into another part of the world on his own, it stands to reason that some familiar faces from the first movie will be back. Namely, we’ll likely see Hutch’s wife (Nielsen), son and daughter back, and I’m also hoping that his brother (RZA) and father (Lloyd) are thrown back into the mix since they share his unique set of skills. For now, there are no plot details to mull over, and it’s also unclear when production will start.

Regardless, it’s good to hear that Nobody 2 is now on the way rather than a hypothetical prospect, and we’ll pass along any other major news about the sequel that comes in. If you’re now in the mood to stream Nobody, all you need is an Amazon Prime Video subscription.

As a show that takes place almost entirely in the next millennium, Futurama doesn’t automatically seem like the kind of show that would boast tons of cameos from modern day celebrities, athletes, politicians and scientific geniuses. Yet that’s exactly what the animated sci-fi comedy has delivered with each season that’s aired, even when occasional cancellations kept those seasons airing years apart from each other. And what’s more, quite a few of those guest stars have also popped up in co-creator legend Matt Groening’s other beloved toon series, The Simpsons.

While there are certainly far more celebrities who have only appeared on one show or the other — for instance, relatively frequent Futurama guest star Al Gore was previously tapped to host a “Treehouse of Horror” ep, but it never happened — the number of shared famous faces may be surprising to longtime fans. So let’s pop open a six-pack of Slurm and dive in, while noting right away that the aforementioned Groening isn’t on this list, despite appearing in both shows. Note that we also left out Simpsons regulars Hank Azaria and Dan Castellaneta. (Also note that The Simpsons can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription, while all eps of Futurama are available with a Hulu subscription.)

Dick Clark

• Futurama: Season 1 “Space Pilot 3000”
• The Simpsons: Season 11 "Treehouse of Horror X"

True to his real-world persona, the animated Dick Clark was also known in both animated series for hosting New Year's Eve countdowns, though he only did so as a head for Futurama. He suffered a weirder phenomenon on The Simpsons when Y2K hit and turned him into a Terminator-esque cyborg.

Leonard Nimoy

• Futurama: Season 1 “Space Pilot 3000,” Season 4 "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" 
• The Simpsons: Season 4 "Marge vs. the Monorail," Season 8 "The Springfield Files"

An icon in the world of science fiction and beyond, Leonardy Nimoy was a welcomed figure on both animated comedies. where he played himself for two episodes of each series. Arguably the best would be Futurama's "Where No Fan..." since it brought in other Star Trek vets as well.

John Goodman

• Futurama: Season 2 “XMas Story”
• The Simpsons: Season 11 "Take My Wife, Sleaze"

Longtime Futurama fans might not remember that Roseanne and The Conners lead John Goodman was the first to voice Robot Santa, with John DiMaggio taking over the role in later seasons. The Big Lebowski vet had a slightly different vibe going when portraying biker gang leader Meathook on The Simpsons.

Conan O'Brien

• Futurama: Season 2 “XMas Story”
• The Simpsons: Season 5 "Bart Gets Famous"

Having served as a writer on The Simpsons ahead of landing NBC's Late Night — he's spoken about his favorite character to write for — talk show maestro Conan O'Brien appeared as himself on both shows, interviewing Bart for his former employer, and appearing in jarheaded form for Futurama. Note that he is one of the only celebs whose head pokes out of the top, which is a joke about the comedian's larger than average dome.

Nichelle Nichols

• Futurama: Season 2 “Anthology Of Interest 1,” Season 4 "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" 
• The Simpsons: Season 15 "Simple Simpson"

A beloved member of Star Trek royalty, Nichelle Nichols portrayed herself three times across both shows, always with shows references to fall back on. (Unlike Nichols and other Trek elite, William Shatner turned down the opportunities to appear.)

Stephen Hawking

• Futurama: Season 2 “Anthology Of Interest 1,” “The Beast With A Billion Backs,” Season 6 “Reincarnation”
• The Simpsons: Season 10 "They Saved Lisa's Brain,” Season 16 "Don't Fear the Roofer," Season 18 "Stop or My Dog Will Shoot," Season 22 "Elementary School Musical"

Perhaps it's no surprise that one of TV's brainiest animated shows would repeatedly bring in one of the smartest people who ever lived. Physicist and author Stephen Hawking appeared as himself, perhaps obviously, thrice on Futurama, and is part of the four-timers club on The Simpsons.

Parker Posey

• Futurama: Season 2 “The Deep South”
• The Simpsons: Season 11 "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge"

For Futurama's mermaid-focused Season 2 episode, Parker Posey lent her voice to Umbriel, not to be confused with any other size-specific mermaids out there. Over in Springfield, Posey portrayed Otto's girlfriend Becky in a role that was initially pitched to Drew Barrymore.

Sarah Silverman

• Futurama: Season 2 “The Cryonic Woman,” “Bender’s Big Score,” Season 7 “Game of Tones”
• The Simpsons: Season 21 "Stealing First Base," Season 24 "Moonshine River," Season 26 "Clown in the Dumps," Season 28 "Treehouse of Horror XXVII"

Comedian Sarah Silverman joined the world of Futurama as the recast voice of Fry's not-so-wonderful girlfriend Michelle from the '90s, with three appearances to date. (Kath Soucie voiced her in the pilot.) She was also a romantic interest on The Simpsons for Bart in a pair of eps as Nikki McKenna, while also voicing herself and others in later seasons.

Jan Hooks

• Futurama: Season 3 “Bendless Love”
• The Simpsons: Season 9 "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons," Season 10 "I'm With Cupid," Season 11 "Eight Misbehavin'," "Take My Wife, Sleaze," Season 12 "Bye Bye Nerdie," Season 14 "Large Marge"

Saturday Night Live vet Jan Hooks brought her comedic skills to Futurama as the criminal-loving fembot Angleyne, and while she may have wooed Bender, Hooks technically has had a larger impact on The Simpsons, where she played Apu's wife Manjula across a half-dozen appearances.

Lucy Liu

Lucy Liu was part of a Futurama cameo like few others, in that she voiced various bot-cloned versions of herself, with Fry dating one of them, as well as the "real" Lucy Liu's head in a jar. (Her second episode utilized excess dialogue she'd recorded the previous season.) Over on The Simpsons, she played the adoption agent tasked with deciding whether or not Selma is worthy of parenting a Chinese baby.

Bob Odenkirk

Bob Odenkirk tapped into both Saul Goodman and some of his Mr. Show characters to bring the ego-driven Chaz to Futurama as Leela's temporary romantic interest. And in an episode penned by his brother Bill Odenkirk, the Breaking Bad vet portrayed Fat Tony's lawyer (whose character went by that very moniker) for a Simpsons ep.

George Takei

One of the most seasoned guest stars of any Matt Groening series is Star Trek vet George Takei, who portrayed himself mostly in jar-head form for Futurama. While he did play himself for one Simpsons episode, he also voiced Happy Sumo waiter Akira, an unnamed Chinese restaurant waiter, and game show host Wink.

Mark Hamill

Having played one of cinema's most beloved heroes, Star Wars vet Mark Hamill took on voicing a somewhat equally important character for Futurama, at least to a certain segment of the population: holiday mascot Chanukah Zombie. For his single Simpsons ep, Hamill voiced himself at as sci-fi con and the bodyguard-training specialist Leavelle.

Penn & Teller

The most celebrated magical duo in history, Penn Jillette and his largely silent partner Teller appeared on Futurama in their entertainment hub of Las Vegas, or rather New Mars Vegas. (I guess it's up for debate whether Teller actually appeared, considering the state of his head.) On The Simpsons, Homer attempted to create a viral moment by interrupting one of their specials, and returned for a later episode centered on Lisa diving into the world of magic, with fellow illusionists David Copperfield and Ricky Jay also appearing.

Snoop Dogg

Rapper, actor and pop culture mainstay Snoop Dogg achieved his highest ranking yet within Futurama, with his head serving as a Chief Justice alongside the heads of Paula Abdul and Ruth Bader Ginsberg. He also played himself on The Simpsons as part of an all-star rap group Hate Squad alongside Common and Rza.

Patton Oswalt

Comedian Patton Oswalt is no stranger to self-deprecating humor, so perhaps it's fitting that his guest spot on Futurama was as Giant Unattractive Monster, who did not take kindly to Fry's insinuation that his mother's looks were to blame. He was the offspring of Portlandia vets Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein's characters' on The Simpsons, voicing their son T-Rex. He returned in a later episode to voice the slime-covered entitye that served as Bart Simpson's Guilt.

Buzz Aldrin

The second person to ever set foot on the moon, former astronaut Buzz Aldrin can also boast a guest spot as a science fair judge on Futurama, in which he delivered an unexpectedly funny joke for someone of such real-life stature. Aldrin also appeared, perhaps unsurprisingly, in the Simpsons episode in which Homer goes to space, and the family's patriarch is actually dubbed a "hero" by Aldrin.

Wanda Sykes

Comedian extraordinaire Wanda Sykes delivered the robotic goods as the soda-dispensing vending machine Bev, who has a love-hate relationship with Bender while also heping to get Fry hooked on Slurm Loco. Sykes' SImpsons spot had her portraying a nameless Springfield Elementary counselor who loses her job in the middle of dispensing advice, and then calls out Milhouse for being boring. Mic drop.

Patrick Stewart

For all his years portraying Jean Luc Picard across the Star Trek universe, Patrick Stewart opted for something slightly less sci-fi for his Futurama appearance as the master of a fox-hunting club that Bender joins, complete with fancy mustache. For The Simpsons, he also went old school as the Stonecutters leader Number One, and later appeared as a bald-but-virile power plant worker whose confidence inspires Homer. (An amusing story for an actor who was initially advised to wear a wig for his Next Generation audition.)

Robert Wagner

Two and a Half Men and NCIS recurrer Robert Wagner's fame is definitely still intact in the 3000s, at least per his guest spot on Futurama, where Calculon's Walk of Fame star is replaced by a second star for Wagner, who shares a few words as an appreciative head in a jar. His Simpsons appearance seemed tailor-made for Troy McClure, as he introduced himself as an "actor, smooth customer and women's health advocate" during an instructional video teaching aging women about menopause. (Barely.)

Adam West & Burt Ward

'60s Batman stars Adam West and Burt Ward paid tribute to their respective roles during a Futurama scene parodying the comic book show's wall-climing cameo sequences, for which West voiced an actual bat-man-thing. He also appeared on The Simpsons as a car show celeb, and later teamed up with Ward for an installment featuring a faux Batman episode with Krusty as the guest star.

Seth MacFarlane

Seth MacFarlane and Family Guy are often jokingly portrayed as rivals of Matt Groening and The Simpsons universe, but he's appeared twice on Futurama - once to lay his dulcet tones down for Vegas-esque theme, and once as the dream sequence voice of Fry's dog Seymour, whose martini in hand was a tip of the wet nose to FG's Brian. He also appeared on The Simpsons as a man Marge secretly befriended during a temporary marital rut.

Kathy Griffin

As a celeb who'd previously been "canceled" over controversial photos in 2017, Kathy Griffin was an understandable choice to guest star as one of several ship captains who were sidelined for their behavior, including the titular Zapp Brannigan. She also played something of a problematic character on The Simpsons as the bully Francine, who inspired Lisa to pinpoint the phereomon that causes bullies to antagonize nerds.

With more episodes of The Simpsons and Futurama still to come in the future, the possibility for more shared guest stars is a big one.

The Bear cast is made up of colorful and unique characters, from the loud-mouthed Richie and the more cool-headed Sydney, to the eager-to-learn Marcus and the veteran chef Tina. At the center of this kitchen-based craziness is Jeremy Allen White’s Carmy Berzatto, the award-winning chef who returned to Chicago to take over his brother’s restaurant, and as of the Season 2 finale is now running a new dining establishment.

As Hulu subscribers know all too well, Carmy keeps a wide circle of people in his life, between the members of his family, which are comprised of both blood relatives and longtime friends, as well as the staff he works with on a daily basis and various other individuals with whom he has special ties. We’re here to talk about these most prominent of The Bear characters while we wait for news on The Bear Season 3 and continue relishing how the show netted six wins at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Spoilers from the first two seasons of The Bear are included in this article...

The Berzatto Siblings

Every primary character in The Bear is tied to the Berzatto siblings in one form or another, and in the main cast, Carmy is joined by his sister, Abby Elliot’s Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto. Then there’s their brother, Jon Bernthal’s Michael “Mikey” Berzatto, who died by suicide four months before the events of the series premiere episode. We’ve gotten to spend some time with Mikey thanks to some flashbacks in Season 1 and the tense “Fishes” episode from Season 2, and in the present day, Carmy and Sugar are co-owners of The Bear restaurant, which finally opened in the same-named Season 2 finale.

“Cousin” Richie And His Ex-Wife Tiffany

Although not tied to the Berzattos by blood, Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Richard “Richie” Jerimovich has been tight with this family for many years thanks to having been Mikey’s best friend. He even admits in “Forks” that Donna Berzatto was more like a mother to him than his own mother, so he’s more than earned the right to be called “Cousin” throughout the show. Then there’s Tiffany, Richie’s wife played by Gillian Jacobs. The two were still married in “Fishes” and had their daughter Eva shortly thereafter, but they’re divorced in the present days, and in “Forks,” Tiffany told Richie that she was engaged to a man named Frank.

Sydney, Marcus and Tina - The Bear’s Core Kitchen Staff

They’re not members of the Berzatto family, but these characters certainly aren’t important to The Bear’s narrative. Chief among this particular trio is Ayo Edebiri’s Sydney Adabu, who joined The Beef as a sous-chef at the start of the show after her catering business failed. After The Beef fell under, she stuck around to help develop The Bear restaurant, becoming its chef de cuisine. Lionel Bryce’s Marcus and Liza Colón-Zayas’s Tina Marrero worked at The Beef back when Mikey was still alive, meaning they go way back with Carmy too. At The Beef, Marcus is in charge of deserts and Tina works as the sous-chef.

Ebraheim And Sweeps - Other Important Kitchen Staff Members

Although Edwin Lee Gibson and Corey Hendrix’s characters aren’t series regulars like the other kitchen staff, they’re nonetheless important members of The Bear, with both Ebraheim and Gary “Sweeps” Woods also having been around at The Beef when Mikey was running it. Granted, Ebraheim did disappear when he and Tina were tasked to go to culinary school in Season 2, but he eventually resurfaced and has resumed his duties. Hopefully these two will have more prominent roles in Season 3.

“Uncle” Jimmy And His Wife Carol

Jimmy “Cicero” Kalinowski was the best friend of Carmy, Sugar and Mikey’s dad when he was still alive, hence why he’s referred to them, as well as Richie, as “Uncle.” He loaned Mikey $300,000 for The Beef, and even after that unspent money was finally found, he lent an additional $500,000 to Carmy, Sugar and Sydney for The Bear, though the restaurant has to pay off the $800,000 debt within 18 months time. Jimmy is married to Maura Kidwell’s Carol, who can briefly be seen in a few episodes.

Pete - Sugar’s Husband

If The Bear has a consistent punching bag, it’s Pete, Sugar’s husband who’s played by Chris Witaske. He means well and is consistently trying to impress, but he’s nonetheless the target of many jabs, insults and teases from his wife’s family members and friends. Pete did get a chance to shine in the Season 2 finale when he noticed Donna (who we’ll talk about next) outside the restaurant and tried to get her to come in. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, and to make matters worse, Pete accidentally revealed to his mother-in-law that he and Sugar were having a baby, something he assumed Donna already knew about, but wasn’t the case.

Donna - Carmy, Sugar And Mikey’s Mother

In “Fishes,” we met Jamie Lee Curtis’ Donna, Carmy, Sugar and Mikey’s mother who was preparing the Christmas dinner that year for her extended family (there’s a wild story behind the actress getting the role). It soon became clear that Donna was in trouble between her erratic mood shifts and alcoholism, and by the end of the episode, she crashed her car into the house. In the Season 2 finale, Donna showed up at the opening of The Bear restaurant, but only interacted with Pete, as she decided at the last minute that she didn’t deserve to witness her children’s success, plus was taken aback by the news about the baby.

Brothers Neil And Theodore Fak

Like Richie, Neil Fak, played by Matty Matheson (a real-life chef), is a childhood friend of Mikey Berzatto, but he and Richie were constantly at odds with one another, and that hasn’t changed in adulthood. As a mechanic, Neil was often around The Beef to fix things up, and he played an integral role in the construction of The Bear. We spent some time with Neil’s brother Theodore, played by Ricky Staffieri, in the episodes “Fishes,” “Omelette” and “The Bear.”

Michelle - The Berzatto Siblings’ Cousin

Sarah Paulson guest-starred in “Fishes” as Michelle Berzatto, cousin to the Berzatto siblings. In addition to being one of the many witnesses to that night’s craziness, she approached Carmy about staying with her in New York in order to get some distance from his nuclear family. While we know Carmy did move to The Big Apple and became a sous chef at a three-star Michelin restaurant, it’s unclear if he took Michelle up on her offer.

Stevie - Michelle’s Boyfriend

Michelle brought her boyfriend Stevie along for the family dinner in “Fishes,” and you could tell John Mulaney’s character was easily entertained by everyone around him up until the actual meal started. This included Neil and Theodore hitting him up for money with their investment in baseball cards. It’s unclear if Stevie and Michelle are still together during the show’s present day events.

“Uncle” Lee

Although Bob Odenkirk’s “Uncle” Lee Lane is Jimmy’s business partner and Donna’s on-and-off again boyfriend, he’s a far cry from being the most beloved member of the family. He and Mikey got into an ugly spat in “Fishes,” which was prompted by Lee giving him grief about sharing the same story over and over again. This escalated later when Mikey started throwing forks at Lee during the meal, prompting Odenkirk’s character to start insulting Mikey’s life choices, addiction problem and more. In the present day, Carmy doesn’t think highly enough of Lee to consider him an “uncle.”

Claire, A.K.A. Claire-Bear

Molly Gordon’s Claire, a.k.a. Claire-Bear, was pretty close with the Berzattos, Faks and Richie when she was growing up, enough to the point that she referred to Richie as “cousin” during Season 2. However, she started to drift apart from them as they all got older, and she eventually became a resident in emergency medicine. She and Carmy were particularly close in their youth, and while Mikey and Richie tried to set them back up together in “Fishes,” they didn’t reconnect until Season 2. Unfortunately, the two appear to now be broken up due to what happened in the Season 2 finale, though that’s not to say we’ll never see Claire again.

As The Bear continues, we’ll surely meet more members of this family, and maybe there will be opportunities from for guest stars to return too. Keep visiting CinemaBlend for news about The Bear Season 3 and the other best Hulu TV shows.

Bob Odenkirk has played a police chief (in Fargo), a pair of reverends (in Ed and 2019’s Little Women adaptation), the President (in Long Shot), and the Devil himself (in Hell and Back), but the actor has yet to play a kingly kind of leader. And while he apparently doesn’t have any love for monarchies on the whole, the Better Call Saul vet was shocked to discover that he’s directly tied to a royal bloodline. And it’s not one of Slippin’ Jimmy’s scams, either.

Even with Better Call Saul having set the most unfortunate Emmy record possible already in 2024, Bob Odenkirk was all smiles during his conversation with Henry Louis Gates Jr. on PBS’ Finding Your Roots, where he was primed to share his thoughts on the monarchic ruling system. In his words:

It’s probably a good thing Odenkirk opted for such a well-worded and centrist form of answer, as opposed to more of a seething screed. Because that’s when Henry Louis Gates Jr. dropped the info bomb that the Nobody star is actually the 11th cousin of King Charles III.

Though he was clearly ready to hear something surprising — why would Gates have invited him to be on Finding Your Roots if his roots didn’t bloom with interest? — Odenkirk certainly didn’t seem primed to learn he’s a distant cousin of the highest-ranking monarch in England. That would be a shock to anyone, even if they hadn’t spent the previous 30 seconds downplaying the monarchy.

The way that works is, Bob Odenkirk's fifth great-grandfather, whose name was Friedrich Carl Steinholz, was the son of the Duke of Plön, who had connections with various other European royal clans through intermarriage. 

And what was his first reaction beyond a big hearty laugh?

I can't wait to see if this reveal is what inspires Bob Odenkirk to possibly take on a role where he plays a king himself. Or, if nothing else, maybe he can land a show with Dominic West, who portrayed King Charles in the final two seasons of The Crown.

Incidentally, King Charles was recently admitted to the London Clinic to seek treatment for an enlarged prostate, but without any serious worries attached to it. So if that runs in the family, watch out!

With hopes for Nobody 2 to get made sooner rather than later, Bob Odenkirk is next set to star in the bonkers sorta-remake The Room Returns!, which will co-star horror director Mike Flanagan and House of Usher’s Kate Siegel, as well as O.G. The Room star Greg Sestero. On the small screen, Odenkirk was one of several A+ guest stars in Season 2 of The Bear, so here’s hoping for more of that in Season 3.

Finding Your Roots airs Tuesday nights on PBS at 8:00 p.m. ET. Head to our 2024 TV premiere schedule to see what other new and returning shows are set to reign in the new year. 

It’s rare for spinoffs to be as good, if not better, than the original show that spawned them. Better Call Saul is one of those rare cases that stands head and shoulders, if not above, its sister show, Breaking Bad. Over the course of its 9-year, six-season run, the acclaimed spinoff scored a staggering 53 Emmy nominations. But, unfortunately, it never won a single award, making it the most Emmy-nominated show that never actually won. Despite this “unfortunate” record though, one of the show’s writers responded perfectly. 

Former Breaking Bad cast member Bob Odenkirk, who played the role of seedy mall lawyer Saul Goodman, was more than just a sarcastic comic relief character. He portrayed a nuanced and complex version of the character Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman, and it was a complete departure from his comedy background as a former SNL writer. Despite the exceptional performances of Odenkirk and his castmates, the show was overlooked by the Emmys every single season. Now, one of the show's former writers, Thomas Schnauz, expressed his thoughts on this lack of recognition from the TV Academy in a post on X (formerly Twitter), humorously writing: 

At least the writer is a good sport. 

Better Call Saul’s predecessor, Breaking Bad, won 16 Emmys, including two awards for best drama series, during its AMC run. Which, makes Saul's loss a bit of a headscratcher, honestly. Maybe times have changed, and the awards are far more stacked, but, for my money, the Odenkirk-led show is much more layered and nuanced as it blends courtroom drama, comedy, and the crime drama we came to expect from its sister series. 

Emmy wins, or no Emmy wins, though, one thing that cannot be taken away from co-showrunners Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould is they have crafted two of the most prestigious shows ever to hit the airwaves. 

Now that Albercurquie’s world of drugs and crime is far in his rearview, Gilligan has a new project starring Saul alum (and Emmy-robbed) actress Rhea Seehorn. Though the mastermind behind the AMC crime series has stressed his new show is nothing like Bad or Saul, it still sounds great. And who knows, with the Kim Wexler performer in the lead, perhaps this new series will have better luck with the Emmys when the psychological sci-fi lands on the 2024 TV schedule. 

Better Call Saul doesn't need Emmy wins to be remarkable. What makes the show and the other projects, including Breaking Bad and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, so special is the fact that there are multiple ways to watch and enjoy them and they all come together to build a complex and compelling story. You can stream them in release order or, if you want, do your own chronological rewatch (like we did). No matter what, I think you'll come to the conclusion that these shows deserved the acclaim they got (despite Saul's lack of wins). 

Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie are all available to stream with a Netflix subscription. Physical media collectors can also pick up the Breaking Bad complete series box set, the Better Call Saul complete series box set, and El Camino on Blu-ray. 

There is no genre more near and dear to my heart than comedy. The skills necessary to make others laugh -- whether live and in-person or through a screen -- are a unique and beautiful combination that should be protected at all costs. Some artists are able to do so without leaning in to touchy subjects or cursing, while others go all the way to really earn that R rating. The tactics may differ, but the end goal is the same, to bring others joy through jokes. 

Many comedians see movies as the apex of a potential career, but most don't start out their careers in Hollywood. Many grow first through either stand-up comedy or sketch comedy. This list honors them. Here's a look back at famous actors who started in either the stand-up or sketch comedy world and went on to bigger screens.

Rainn Wilson

Known as arguably one of the best characters on the hit show The Office, Rainn Wilson got his start in the arts in New York City where he studied acting at NYU. He went on to do theater both off and on Broadway as well as sketch comedy. He even did a post-modern clown show before getting his big break on the show Six Feet Under in 2001. 

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg got her start by studying drama in New York, where she landed a few stage performances before trying her hand at stand-up comedy. Like many others on this list, her comedy routine -- "The Spook Show" -- caught the attention of Oscar-winning director Mike Nichols, who helped get the young comedian to Broadway. She eventually landed her first film in Steven Spielberg's film The Color Purple, for which she earned an Oscar nomination in 1986. 

Steve Buscemi

The veteran character actor made his acting debut in 1985, but also tried his hand at stand-up comedy. Eventually, Busemi decided he "wasn't funny enough," and switched to acting instead. Buscemi has since starred in popular movies including Fargo, Resevoir Dogs, and the hit HBO Max show Boardwalk Empire.

Emma Thompson

If you're looking for a stand-up with some serious credentials, look no further than Emma Thompson. Winner of two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, a British Academy Television Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, the talented actor got her start in stand-up while in Cambridge. 

John Candy

Arguably one of the greatest comedy legends to ever live, John Candy led a fascinating life, getting his big break after joining the ensemble of SCTV — which is, essentially, the Canadian equivalent to SNL. In 1989, the star even added radio personality to his resume. The LA Times did a whole write-up of his syndicated, two-hour program, Radio Kandy, which sounds wild and apparently included rock music and comedy sketches featuring some of his former SCTV co-stars.

Mo'Nique

Mo'Nique started her comedy career with stand-up, heading to It's Showtime at the Apollo and Def Comedy Jam before eventually landing a leading role on TV's The Parkers. The comedian took her acting to the next level in 2009's Precious, for which she won an Academy Award.

Steve Carell

A versatile actor with numerous groundbreaking performances in both television and film, Steve Carrell was once a legend at Second City in Chicago who went on to land his dream job working on the ill-fated Dana Carvey Show, which you can learn about in Too Funny To Fail, one of the best comedy documentaries to date. Known best for his role as Michael Scott in the U.S. adaptation of The Office, Carell eventually went on to become a leading man in both comedies and dramas. 

Michael Keaton

To put himself through college where he studied acting, Michael Keaton worked as a cab and ice cream truck driver, and it wasn't until 1975 that he officially debuted on television. He did some stand-up comedy in his early 20s, which he recounted in an interview with Ellen, but he eventually found the right calling with movies.

Tina Fey

Known for her work on the smash hit show 30 Rock, Tina Fey got her start in acting at Second City which quickly led to a job at Saturday Night Live as notably one of the only female writers at the time. She got her break co-hosting Weekend Update and later went on to be a huge star in Hollywood. 

Jamie Foxx

It all started with a dare from a girlfriend to try his hand at an open mic. Flash forward some years and that performance led Jamie Foxx to multiple awards, including two Academy Awards, double digit Grammys, and three Golden Globe Awards, all while showing a versatile ability to crush performances across multiple genres and artistic art forms.

John Cleese

Coming from the United Kingdom, John Cleese is a British comic actor best known for his television work on Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Fawlty Towers. Cleese began writing and performing in comedy revues at Clifton College in Bristol, England, and was a member of the renowned Footlights Club while a law student at the University of Cambridge. He is best known for his work with Monty Pythion, namely Monty Python And The Holy Grail. 

Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais went to school at Ashmead Comprehensive School before going on to study at University College, London, where he gained a degree in Philosophy. After university, Gervais attempted to pursue a pop career with Seona Dancing, a synth-pop duo he formed with a fellow student. After forming a writing partnership with Stephen Merchant, he would go on to land his breakout role on The Office, premiering in 2001. In between all his acting gigs, he's performed plenty of stand-up and has multiple Netflix specials. 

Eddie Murphy

Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, SNL star Eddie Murphy began performing his own comedy routines at 15. In 1980, the work of the soon-to-be comedy legend caught the attention of Saturday Night Live producers. In 1982, Murphy landed his first leading role in the film, 48 Hrs, which led to multiple leads in classics such as Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America. He went on to earn an Oscar nomination for Dreamgirls and truly set the bar by playing six characters in the 1996 smash hit, The Nutty Professor. His '80s comedy specials are still discussed today. 

Amy Schumer

Amy Schumer is certainly better known these days for her work in numerous films including the fantastic Trainwreck, but most of those career opportunity doors opened through her stand-up comedy. She built a name for herself through her work on the live mic before mostly switching to movies.

Chris Rock

An SNL vet, Chris Rock's comedy career began in 1984 at 19 when he took the stage in the New York City club Catch a Rising Star. His performance ended up catching the eye of future comedy legend Eddie Murphy, who had been watching his act. Murphy would become a huge presence in Rock's life and served as a mentor, giving him his first break with a role in Beverly Hills Cop II.

Ron Perlman

Known for very courageous roles such as Clay Morrow on the FX show Sons Of Anarchy, Ron Perlman said his ventures as a stand-up comedian ended after a heckling exchange in the Bronx escalated and he retreated out of the venue through the back door, which seems like a strange move for such an intimidating man. 

Robin Williams

Arguably one of the best comedians of all-time, Robin Williams studied acting at the Juilliard School, which he later dropped out of to devote himself entirely to stand-up comedy before making the leap to television and movies. Known for his high energy and skillful impressions, he himself has inspired other actors to reenact some of his most dramatic real-life moments in honor of the late comedian. 

Patton Oswalt

The Prince of Queens, Patton Oswalt went from struggling in the comedy world to writing for the sketch comedy show MADtv and earning his own comedy special on HBO. He continued to impress critics and fans alike, with roles such as the voice of the lead character Remy the Rat in the Pixar film, Ratatouille. 

Richard Pryor

Unfortunately, tragedy and comedy often go hand-in-hand. Such is the case with arguably one of the genre's biggest icons, the late, great, Richard Pryor. The legend had a tough life growing up and eventually joined the military before playing nightclubs as both a musician and comedian at age 23. His comedy career was populated with milestones and achievements, as well as struggles and substance abuse before passing away in 2005 due to complications from M.S..  

Bette Midler

Bette Midler landed her first Broadway role in Fiddler on the Roof by 1966, four years before trying her hand at stand-up comedy. In 1972, she released the album The Divine Miss M, which earned her a Grammy Award, and she started making frequent appearances on late-night television shows and eventually a huge acting career. Along the way, she performed live comedy and even released an album.

Norm Macdonald

Norm Macdonald's first job was writing for The Dennis Miller Show and then Roseanne. While writing on the show, he was noticed by Lorne Michaels, who liked Norm's stand up so much that he offered the young comedian a job on Saturday Night Live in 1993.

Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey, who is easily considered one of the greats, was himself taken under the wing of another comedy legend, Rodney Dangerfield, who spotted the young comic in a Toronto nightclub. Carrey eventually made it to The Tonight Show which led to his role on In Living Color and parts in many comedy classics that we know and love today, such as Dumb and Dumber, The Mask, and Ace Ventura. 

Tim Allen

Tim Allen started his career as a comedian in 1975 in a pretty peculiar way. On a dare from one of his friends, he participated in a comedy night at Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle in Royal Oak, outside of Detroit. Following his release from prison in 1981 for a drug-related crime, he returned to comedy and went on to lead the hit show Home Improvement on ABC. 

Steve Martin

From community theater, to Disneyland, to the big screen, Steve Martin began his showbiz career as a teenager. After writing his own comedy routines, plays, and music, he went on to study philosophy and poetry before winning his first Emmy Award for comedy writing on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour at the young age of 23.

Lily Tomlin

Initially studying biology at Wayne State University, Lily Tomlin decided to audition for a play which led to her changing her major to theatre and diving into stand-up comedy. Her stand-up was so impressive that it attracted the attention of the producers of Laugh-In, the notorious 1960s sketch comedy show. Tomlin went on to snag an Oscar nomination for her acting work.

Dana Carvey

One of SNL's most talented and beloved alumni, Dana Carvey absolutely dominated during his six seasons on Saturday Night Live, creating some of the show's most memorable characters. He never drifted far from stand-up though and has continued to take the stage and release specials.

Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks took the weirdest route to stand-up of anyone on this list. He was already in Hollywood and establishing a nice career when he decided to audition for a movie about stand-up comedy called Punchline. As part of that process, he developed his own stand-up routine and performed in clubs. There's even footage of it that trends every now and again.

Bob Odenkirk

Starting out as a D.J. in Illinois, Bob Odenkirk got his start in local improv workshops in Chicago, where he also did open-mic stand-up comedy for several years. In Chicago, he became friends with Robert Smigel, who would later help him become a writer for Saturday Night Live.

Larry David

Starting out in stand-up comedy, Larry David befriended Jerry Seinfeld and later went on to co-create Seinfeld. He also wrote for Friday's and Saturday Night Live and famously went on to create the all-time ridiculous show Curb Your Enthusiasm. 

Ed Helms

Ed Helms was studying improv with the Upright Citizens Brigade when he got his big break as a correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He later moved on to the hit NBC show The Office where he played Andy Bernard. From there, Helms went on to star in The Hangover trilogy. More importantly, he also acted in Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.

Mel Brooks

There aren't many names in the world of comedy that stand larger than Mel Brooks. The legend started his career in stand-up before working as a writer for Sid Caesar's variety show Your Show of Shows from 1950 to 1954. After that, he, of course, took over Hollywood, winning an EGOT and directing classics like Blazing Saddles, The Producers and Robin Hood: Men In Tights.

Simon Pegg

A comedic force to be reckoned with in the U.K. before dropping smash hits like Sean of the Dead in the U.S., Pegg once told The Hollywood Reporter “I went into stand-up because comedy was something I enjoyed but also because it offered me a certain autonomy that I wouldn’t have if I was sitting and waiting for the phone to ring as an actor.”

Dan Aykroyd

Dan Aykroyd started performing comedy at 17 and later joined the main casts of Second City in Toronto and Chicago. Later, it was his work in the sketch comedy powerhouse Saturday Night Live that turned him into a huge name and opened the door for him to start in classics like The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters.

And those are some of the actors who also took the stage to perform stand-up or sketch comedy at some point during their careers!

While Saturday Night Live may be the most recognizable and, easily, the longest-lasting sketch comedy series in American history, there have been others, in case you didn’t know. In fact, there are quite a few legendary comedic actors who got their start in sketch comedy and have even been prominently featured in some great SNL sketches as hosts, but have never called Studio 8H home… as regular cast members, at least. The following are some of our favorite well-known masters of mirth who did sketch comedy, but weren't SNL cast members. 

Jordan Peele

Before becoming known as the mastermind behind some of the best horror movies in recent memory, Jordan Peele made a name for himself as a MADtv cast member, and later, as one-half of Key & Peele’s eponymous duo on Comedy Central. The Academy Award winner was actually offered to be on SNL, but was unable to break from his contract with MADtv, which is why he left the Fox series on bad terms after five years.

Carol Burnett 

Carol Burnett has been one of the most essential names in comedy for decades, but you can find much of her most iconic performances — such as a timeless Gone with the Wind parody — on her own long-running variety show, The Carol Burnett Show. Following her dramatic turn on Better Call Saul, a viral campaign was launched for her to host SNL, which, very shockingly, would be the first time.

John Candy

The late John Candy is one of the most beloved comedic talents of all time, known for great movies like Uncle Buck and Planes, Trains & Automobiles. For years, the actor’s claim to fame was Canada’s SCTV, on which he debuted characters like Johnny LaRue, whom he based off of rude people he knew and “wanted to get back at.”

Dave Chappelle

Any time that Dave Chappelle has hosted SNL, it always seems to spark controversy for one reason or another, which should come as no shock to anyone who watched the Emmy-nominated Chappelle’s Show. Running from 2003 to 2006 on Comedy Central, the series reflected the comic’s risqué, but thought-provoking, humor and featured now iconic bits including recreations of true stories about Rick James and Prince and an epic Wayne Brady cameo.

Jamie Foxx

Multi-talented Academy Award winner and Grammy winner Jamie Foxx has proved to be an absolute natural when he shows up at Studio 8H. After all, the Spider-Man movie villain actor — who also had his own sitcom featuring SNL alum Garrett Morris called The Jamie Foxx Show — did get his start on In Living Color from 1991 to 1994.

Eric Idle

There are some really weird SNL sketches that toe the line between terrible and amazing, but none have reached quite the level of distinct surrealism that Monty Python’s Flying Circus is defined by. One of the most famous members of the eponymous British comedy troupe is Eric Idle (i.e. “Wink-wink, nudge-nudge, say no more”), who would headline at Studio 8H four times in the ‘70s.

Catherine O'Hara

In addition to her epic film career — including the Home Alone movies, Beetlejuice, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, to name a few — Catherine O’Hara’s small screen career has earned her two Emmy awards. Her more recent win was for playing Moira Rose in the Schitt’s Creek cast, but there first was as a writer for SCTV, on which she also inspired laughs as a cast member.

Bob Odenkirk 

Future Breaking Bad cast member Bob Odenkirk actually wrote some beloved SNL sketches, such as Chris Farley’s first appearance as Matt Foley. His skills as a sketch comedy performer, however, could be seen in the 1990s on the short-lived The Ben Stiller Show, the more successful HBO series, Mr. Show with Bob & David, and its Netflix original revival, W/ Bob & David, in 2015.

Michael Richards

Years before starring in the Seinfeld cast as one of the funniest sitcom characters ever, Cosmo Kramer, Michael Richards portrayed various characters on Fridays. The short-lived sketch comedy — essentially ABC’s answer to Saturday Night Live — is also where the three-time Emmy winner met Seinfeld creator Larry David.

Jim Carrey

There are few living comedic legends as widely celebrated as Jim Carrey, who has hosted SNL a number of times and even signed on as the show’s resident Joe Biden for a brief period. What first led the Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Dumb and Dumber actor on the path to stardom was his four-year stint on In Living Color, on which he debuted characters like Fire Marshall Bill, which came out of a failed sketch idea, apparently.

Aziz Ansari

Along with The League star Paul Scheer and Children’s Hospital actor Rob Huebel, Aziz Ansari formed a comedy troupe called Human Giant, who led their own titular sketch series that lasted for 20 episodes on MTV. The comic — who has also hosted SNL before — saw his star power rise when he joined the Parks and Recreation cast and went on to play one of best South Asian TV characters in recent memory on Netflix’s Master of None, which he also co-created. 

Rowan Atkinson

While most people associate him best with Mr. Bean these days, there are many great Rowan Atkinson movies and TV shows that pre-date his debut as the famous man-child. For instance, one of the the British comedian’s earliest claims to fame was a sketch comedy series called Not the Nine O'Clock News, which ran from 1979 to 1982 on the BBC.

Eric Wareheim

A series that best defines the surreal humor that Adult Swim is known for is Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, in which Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim portray various characters in strange situations in sketches the drip of a low-budget. Wareheim has done many notable things on his own — such as his starring role on Master of None and recurring character on Bob’s Burger — but the duo still works together on shows like Tim & Eric’s Bedtime Stories or the sitcom parody Beef House from 2020.

Goldie Hawn

A show that largely inspired SNL was Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In — which, also like SNL, served as a jumping off point for many stellar careers, such as Lily Tomlin and Richard Dawson. Perhaps its most icon and successful alum, however, is one-time Hollywood It Girl Goldie Hawn, who won an Oscar for Cactus Flower very shortly after leaving the show and before going on to lead classics like Private Benjamin and Overboard.

Eugene Levy

Before starring in the American Pie cast, before Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries, and before many other great Eugene Levy movies and TV shows, the Canadian actor gained notoriety as party of Second City. His stint on the eponymous, Emmy-winning sketch series, SCTV, also saw the beginning of professional and personal relationship with the likes of John Candy, his Schitt’s Creek co-star Catherine O’Hara, and plenty more.

Flip Wilson

In the early 1970s, before SNL’s premiere, Flip Wilson hosted his own variety show, which was one of the most popular series on television during its four-year run on NBC. The most famous character the comedian portrayed on The Flip Wilson Show was a boisterous woman named Geraldine, whom he resurrected when he hosted SNL in 1983.

John Cleese

John Cleese — also known for writing and starring in the classic con artist movie, A Fish Called Wanda, and voicing the King in the Shrek movies — has never hosted SNL, but did appear on an episode with fellow Monty Python member, Michael Palin, in 1997. In addition to a cold open poking fun at the recently instituted TV ratings system, Cleese and Palin performed a special recreation of one of the most famous Monty Python’s Flying Circus sketches, “Dead Parrot.”

Bobby Lee

Known for characters like counter-productive translator Bae Sung, wannabe tough guy Tank, or Bruce Lee’s cousin, Bobby Lee is one of MADtv’s most notable success stories. The Korean-American became a staple of the Harold and Kumar movies, landed recurring roles on show like Magnum P.I. and Reservation Dogs, has moonlighted as the host of podcasts TigerBelly and Bad Friends, and plenty more to boast.

David Cross

From playing Tobias Funke — a character who could totally ruin Thanksgiving — on Arrested Development to appearing in the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies, David Cross has a pretty stacked and reputable resume. What set the path for the comedian’s success was co-headlining (along with Bob Odenkirk) HBO’s Mr. Show, on which he debuted a character who got his own movie in 2002 called Run Ronnie Run.

David Alan Grier

Arguably David Alan Grier’s most famous character from his In Living Color tenure was Antoine Meriwether — one half of a duo also consisting of Damon Wayans’ Blaine Edwards. The They Cloned Tyrone cast member — who hosted SNL a couple of times in the ‘90s — reprised the flamboyant film critic on an SNL episode hosted by Wayans.

Rick Moranis

The beloved Rick Moranis has starred in many funny movies, such as Ghostbusters from 1984 and 1983’s Strange Brew. The latter was the film debut of Bob McKenzie — a stereotypical hoser he originated on SCTV alongside Dave Thomas as his brother, Doug.

Tracey Ullman

Tracey Ullman was cast on a few different sketch comedy shows — such as BBC’s A Kick Up the Eighties — before becoming the star of her own in 1987, which also saw the debut appearances of the Simpsons. Fox’s The Tracey Ullman Show was actually just one of many sketch series that the British comedian would headline, such as HBO’s Tracey Takes On… and Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union.

Keegan-Michael Key

In 2021, Keegan-Michael Key became the first MADtv alum to host SNL, which saw him reunite with this fellow Schmigadoon cast member, Cecily Strong. The episode — in which Key broke into laughter during a sketch featuring the Muppets —  was certainly a Season 46 highlight, but could have been even better if he brought back characters from some of the best Key & Peele sketches, like Luther.

Jennifer Saunders

Arguably, the most iconic duo Jennifer Saunders is a part of comes from Absolutely Fabulous, in which she plays Edina opposite Joanna Lumley’s Patsy. However, a sketch comedy that both predates and surpasses that long-running Britcom is French and Saunders, in which Saunders and her fellow Death on the Nile cast member, Dawn French, cleverly send-up everyday life in the U.K. and American cinema.

Larry David

In a story shared to Vanity Fair that mirrors one of the best Seinfeld episodes, the sitcom’s co-creator, Larry David, once quit his SNL writing gig in a rage, only to return on Monday acting like it never happened. Years later, he would make semi-regular appearances on the show as Bernie Sanders but, prior to all of this, the Curb Your Enthusiasm star was a performer on Fridays from 1980 to 1982.

Tim Heidecker

Tim Heidecker is best known as one half of the eponymous duo from Adult Swim’s hit sketch comedy series, Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! On his own, the Us actor has made waves in the comedy world with the 2012 dramedy, The Comedy, or for an ongoing, multi-media big following his fictionalized self’s murder trial.

Carrie Brownstein

Carrie Brownstein has been on SNL a few times — including once as herself for an edition of “What Up With That?” that did not go as planned, thanks to Samuel L. Jackson’s F-bomb. The musician and actor has also shared the screen with several Studio 8H all-stars on Portlandia, including her co-star and co-creator of the Portland, Oregon-based sketch show: Fred Armisen.

Stephen Fry

Before earning a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in Wilde in 1999, later appearing in Amazon’s adaptation of Red, White and Royal Blue, and other versatile achievements, Stephen Fry was partners in comedy with House’s Hugh Laurie on BBC’s A Bit of Fry & Laurie form 1989 to 1995. Earlier than that, the pair were on another British sketch comedy show with future Harry Potter movies stars Emma Thompson and Robbie Coltrane called Alfresco. 

Michael Ian Black

Michael Ian Black is, perhaps, best known from Wet Hot American Summer and its Netflix original series spin-offs, but many of his collaborators on that cult comedy favorite — including director David Wain and his co-writer Michael Showalter — were on MTV’s The State together. Black later worked with Wain and Showalter on a sketch series called Stella and then headlined a sketch comedy/sitcom hybrid with Showalter for Comedy Central called Michael & Michael Have Issues in 2009.

Amy Schumer

One of the biggest names in stand-up is Amy Schumer, whose notoriety expanded after her Golden Globe-nominated performance opposite SNL’s Bill Hader in 2015’s Trainwreck, which she also wrote. Before then, however, the comedian’s stardom certainly rose after she scored her own Comedy Central show called Inside Amy Schumer, which won three Emmys — including Outstanding Variety Sketch Series.

Tim Conway

It may have been Carol’s show, but one could argue that the funniest cast member from The Carol Burnett Show was Tim Conway, who passed away in 2019. Some of his most memorable moments do not even involve the eponymous host, such as a sketch where he plays a clumsy doctor that had co-star, Harvey Korman, in stitches.

Amanda Bynes

Kenan Thompson — one of the longest-running SNL actors ever — is easily one of the biggest stars to start out on All That (essentially SNL, but with kids), but his co-star, Amanda Bynes, was the first to get her own sketch comedy series: The Amanda Show. Her post-Nickelodeon career includes leading the sitcom What I Like About You and movies like the Shakespeare-inspired rom-com, She’s the Man.

We still have nothing but love for our favorite iconic SNL actors, but also recognize that they do not make up all of our most cherished heroes in sketch comedy.

We could talk forever about our favorite SNL actors and their funniest sketches, but when was the last time we showed our appreciation for the people who were the real brains behind the operation? That is what we intend to do here as we look back at some of Saturday Night Live’s most celebrated bits and characters as we share the stories behind those who wrote them into reality.

NPR's Delicious Dish: Schweddy Balls (Ana Gasteyer)

The glorious piece of suggestive comedy that is “Schweddy Balls” is just one — let alone, arguably, the funniest — edition of a recurring sketch called “NPR’s Delicious Dish,” which was the brainchild of one of its stars, Ana Gasteyer. The Happiest Season cast member recalled to NPR — of all places — that she was still part of the improv comedy troupe, The Groundlings, when gastronomic radio shows from LA called “The Splendid Table” and “Good Food” inspired her to write the bit. 

Close Encounter (Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell)

We have SNL actor Mikey Day and writing partner Streeter Seidell to thank for what is widely considered one of Kate McKinnon’s best SNL sketches, “Close Encounter.” According to Day and Seidell’s talk with Vulture, they knew that host Ryan Gosling would not be able to stop laughing at Colleen Rafferty’s horrendous experience with an alien abduction because he wasn’t able to hold it together during any of the rehearsals.

The Olympia Cafe (Don Novello)

Comedian Don Novello is best known for playing Father Guido Scarducci on SNL, but he is also the unsung hero of “The Olympia Cafe,” which some may recognize better as the “cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger” sketch. According to Ultimate Classic Rock, the bit was inspired by an actual Chicago restaurant called the Billy Goat Tavern, which Novello and the sketch’s star, John Belushi, would frequent.

Matt Foley: Van Down By The River (Chris Farley, Bob Odenkirk, And Robert Smigel)

After seeing Chris Farley perform at Second City as his character, Matt Foley, Bob Odenkirk was inspired to write the sketch that introduced the motivational speaker to SNL in 1993. However, as the former Breaking Bad cast member revealed on Hot Ones, it was Robert Smigel’s last-minute idea for Farley to fall down onto the table.

More Cowbell (Will Ferrell) 

According to Rolling Stone, the faint sound of the cowbell on Blue Öyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” inspired Will Ferrell to write a now-classic sketch — that Christopher Walken believes ruined his life — revolving around the one playing the obscure instrument on the 1976 hit. He later discovered from an SNL art department employee whose father worked on the Agents of Fortune album that he had unwittingly captured the characteristics of the song’s real cowbell player… save the low-cut sweater and overzealous gyration.

Church Chat (Dana Carvey And Rosie Shuster)

On an SNL 40th Anniversary retrospective by People, Dana Carvey recalls performing as the Church Lady in his pre-SNL days at clubs, where he spontaneously improvised her famous catchphrase, “Isn’t that special?” He teamed up with writer Rosie Shuster to develop the character’s SNL debut, leading to the creation of “Church Chat” — which Carvey would revive as a host in later years.

Wayne's World (Mike Myers)

According to Primetimer, when Mike Myers showed then-SNL writers Conan O’Brien, Robert Smigel, Bob Odenkirk, and Greg Daniels his idea for “Wayne’s World,” they politely advised him against pitching it in the writer’s room. Well, the joke is on those nobodies because the sketch — a cable access program filmed in Wayne’s (Myers) basement and co-hosted by Dana Carvey’s Garth — was a huge hit that inspired one of the best SNL movies ever.

Haunted Elevator (Ft. David S. Pumpkins) (Bobby Moynihan, Mikey Day, and Streeter Seidell)

Wanting to break free from the political-heavy humor of SNL’s 42nd season, Bobby Moynihan, Mikey Day, and Streeter Seidell — after much trial and error — crafted a sketch for the Halloween show featuring a strange man who would become one of Tom Hanks’ best SNL characters: David S. Pumpkins. According to Vulture’s oral history, the trio was astonished by the success of “this dumb, dumb thing” that even inspired an animated special on NBC the following year.

Mom Jeans (Tina Fey)

In an interview with Jess Cage for Sirius XM, Tina Fey recalls purchasing a “really unfortunate pair of jeans” at J. Crew, and she decided to use that as fuel on writing night at Studio 8H. The result was one of SNL’s funniest commercial parodies, for which the future 30 Rock cast member and creator wore a prosthetic stomach and rear end.

MacGruber (Jorma Taccone)

Played by Will Forte, easily distracted special forces agent MacGruber was first envisioned by Jorma Taccone — one-third of the Lonely Island — according to Vanity Fair’s oral history. Having later spawned a feature film and a Peacock original series, you could argue that the recurring sketch hit a level of attention that resembled the love for the TV show that inspired it, MacGyver (whose star, Richard Dean Anderson, cameoed in one edition).

Two Wild And Crazy Guys (Dan Aykroyd, Steve Martin, Marilyn Suzanne Miller)

In collaboration with writer Marilyn Suzanne Miller (according to Ultimate Classic Rock), Dan Aykroyd partnered with SNL host hall-of-famer Steve Martin to create the Festrunk Brothers, who are better known as the “wild and crazy guys!” The Czechoslovakian swingers became a staple of the show, and they would return in more recent years alongside another famous duo: Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg’s highly inappropriate R&B singers.

Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton Address the Nation (Seth Meyers)

One of SNL’s sharpest pieces of political satire sees Sen. Hillary Clinton (Amy Poehler) struggling to remain civil during a non-partisan appearance alongside Gov. Sarah Palin (Tina Fey) in response to the latter’s Vice Presidential nomination. According to Vulture, then-head writer Seth Meyers penned that legendary SNL cold open, which also featured a few jokes by Poehler and Fey and Palin’s iconic line “I can see Russia from my house,” courtesy of Late Night producer Mike Shoemaker.

Stefon (Bill Hader And John Mulaney)

At The New Yorker Festival in 2014, Bill Hader recalled how a flamboyant barista he frequently bumped into and a strange email John Mulaney received about an aspiring club owner’s bizarre ideas — including “a room full of broken glass” — were the catalysts for Stefon. Hader also mentions that he tested the character in a particularly forgettable sketch opposite host Ben Affleck before making him Weekend Update’s city correspondent. The former Barry cast lead has never been able to play the role without laughing and covering his face, thanks to Mulaney’s last-minute cue card additions and Seth Meyers’ immaculate patience.

Lazy Sunday (The Lonely Island, Chris Parnell)

Chris Parnell was SNL’s resident rap star before the emergence of The Lonely Island (Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer), which is why they asked him to collaborate on a music video about him and Samberg seeing The Chronicles of Narnia. As they recall in Variety’s oral history, “Lazy Sunday” made SNL Digital Shorts a celebrated event, skyrocketed The Lonely Island’s stardom, and, most importantly, dawned a new era of viral comedy.

The Coneheads (Dan Aykroyd)

In the book Live From New York: The Complete Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, Dan Aykroyd recalls how he was watching TV in a heightened state of mind, and he noticed that people’s heads rarely hit the top of the screen. This gave him the idea for a sketch about characters with noggins that are several inches taller than the average humans, who eventually became the out-of-this-world family known as The Coneheads. 

Celebrity Jeopardy! (Norm Macdonald)

As the late Norm Macdonald revealed to Howard Stern (via SoundCloud), we have SCTV to thank for "Celebrity Jeopardy!” The comedian — who also played Burt “Turd Ferguson” Reynolds — took inspiration from the Canadian sketch comedy series’ game show parody “Half Wits” when crafting this recurring bit featuring Will Ferrell as an Alex Trebek driven mad by absent-minded famous people and taunting from Sean Connery (Darrell Hammond).

Debbie Downer (Rachel Dratch And Paula Pell)

Rachel Dratch recalled to Salon that while vacationing she told someone at a communal dining table that she was from New York, to which the stranger replied, “Were you there for 9/11?” That ultimately inspired her to team up with Paula Pell — with whom she later reunited for Wine Country — to create the character Debbie Downer, whose debut SNL sketch did not go as planned, but was all the more memorable for it.

Spelling Bee (Will Forte)

On a Reddit AMA hosted by Will Forte (via AMATranscripts.com), one user asked if the actor’s insanely long misspelling of the word “business” in Season 31’s “Spelling Bee” was recited as written or all spontaneous. The MacGruber cast lead revealed that the bit originated from his days on the improv comedy troupe, The Groundlings, and that he would have listed off even more random letters in the SNL sketch if he wasn’t being directly followed by musical guest Neil Young.

The Ladies Man (Tim Meadows, Dennis McNicholas, and Andrew Steele)

A character as lewd and crude as Leon Phelps might not be so successful these days, but, then again, it’s hard not to be charmed by any role portrayed by Tim Meadows. While promoting the 2000 movie, The Ladies Man, the Mean Girls cast member revealed to The Crimson that the lispy voice was his biggest contribution to the character, who was initially conceived by Dennis McNicholas and Andrew Steele.

The Californians (Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, And James Anderson)

While speaking to Seth Meyers on Late Night, Bill Hader shared how he and Fred Armisen would kill time before table reads by mockingly describing how they would get around in LA while donning over-the-top West Coast accents. Sometime later, Hader learned that Armisen and writer James Anderson took that gag, made it into a soap opera, and, thus, “The Californians” was born.

Girl Watchers (Conan O'Brien, Robert Smigel, Bob Odenkirk, And Greg Daniels) 

Retired late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien actually came up with a few of Tom Hanks’ best SNL sketches, such as “Girl Watchers,” in which the Oscar winner and Jon Lovitz comment on their losing streak with the ladies with contrarian confidence. O’Brien shared on Dax Shepard’s podcast, Armchair Expert, how he jokingly demonstrated this characteristic on a whim while hanging out with fellow SNL writers Robert Smigel, Bob Odenkirk, and Greg Daniels, who all worked together to turn into the classic sketch.

Hans And Franz (Kevin Nealon And Dana Carvey)

While Arnold Schwarzenegger has never hosted SNL, he would make a cameo alongside fellow Austrian bodybuilders, Hans and Franz. It probably comes as no surprise that the Terminator star — who was even interested in doing the scrapped Hans and Franz movie — is also the inspiration for the characters. Kevin Nealon told Juice that it all started when he and Dana Carvey caught an interview with the actor on TV that compelled them to talk like him for days.

Diner Lobster (John Mulaney And Colin Jost)

Season 43’s “Diner Lobster” was an instant classic that started a tradition of Broadway-inspired sketches anytime John Mulaney hosts SNL, but its road to success was longer than you may think. The comedian and Weekend Update anchor Colin Jost revealed in a featurette that they actually wrote the sketch eight years earlier, but no one wanted to touch it at the time.

Lunch Lady Land (Adam Sandler, Bob Odenkirk, Tim Herlihy, And Allen Covert)

One of Adam Sandler and Chris Farley’s funniest collaborations was a musical sketch set to a song called “Lunch Lady Land,” which the Uncut Gems star did not write himself. According to Uproxx, his co-composers were Bob Odenkirk, Tim Herlihy (father of Please Don’t Destroy’s Martin Herlihy), and Allen Covert.

Weekend Update: The Iceberg On The Sinking Of The Titanic (Bowen Yang And Anna Drezen)

The bit that made Bowen Yang one of SNL’s biggest stars was his viral “Weekend Update” appearance as the Iceberg that sank Titanic, who believes he is the real victim of the tragedy. He spoke to former SNL star-turned-Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon about how writer Anna Drezen texted him about the concept months before they decided to give it a try, despite not having much faith in it at the time.

Mary Katherine Gallagher (Molly Shannon)

Apparently, an unnamed SNL writer did not believe that Molly Shannon’s character Mary Katherine Gallagher had a chance of making it onto the show, as she told People in 2015. Luckily, the nervous schoolgirl did make it onto air and the White Lotus cast member’s energy and commitment to the role made her a hit. Even Whitney Houston would agree to appear alongside this superstar.

What Up With That? (Kenan Thompson, Bryan Tucker, And Rob Klein)

According to Rolling Stone, Kenan Thompson — the longest-running SNL cast member — came up with an idea in 2009 for a talk show host who becomes obsessively unable to stop singing his own theme song. After bringing the idea to fellow writers Bryan Tucker and Rob Klein and teaming up with musical director Katrees Barnes for the song, the idea eventually made it onto the show as “What Up With That?” which became a recurring hit.

Target Lady (Kristen Wiig)

Academy Award-nominated SNL star Kristen Wiig could be the show’s greatest female cast member, judging purely on the amount of diverse characters she has brought to the table, such as “Target Lady.” She told James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio that the role — originally conceived for The Groundlings — was inspired by an actual Target cashier she met with an “eggy” voice.

Papyrus (Julio Torres)

Ryan Gosling gives one of his funniest performances ever in a pre-taped SNL bit as a man driven insane by the fact that the logo for one of the most popular movies of all time, Avatar, is just a modified version of the common font “Papyrus.” Julio Torres told EW that this was initially a joke he used in stand-up until the Oscar-nominated actor suggested turning it into the hilarious viral hit that even James Cameron responded to.

Super Bass-O-Matic ’76 (Dan Aykroyd)

A 12-year-old Dan Aykroyd once witnessed his aunt — a Canadian cooking show personality — dump a whole fish, bones and all, in a blender for a bouillabaisse. That story, which he revealed to The Food Channel, was his inspiration for one of his funniest faux infomercials, “Super Bass-O-Matic ’76.”

The Barry Gibb Talk Show (Jimmy Fallon, Steve Higgins, Ken Scarborough)

Out of Jimmy Fallon’s many great collaborations with Justin Timberlake, one of the funniest is “The Barry Gibb Talk Show.” While having the actual surviving Bee Gees as guests on Late Night, Fallon recalled how he and his future sidekick, Steve Higgins, actually crafted the sketch together with fellow writer Ken Scarborough, who went on to become the head writer of Sesame Street.

Foreign Man: Mighty Mouse (Andy Kaufman)

On the very first episode of SNL, Andy Kaufman appeared, nervously starring at the audience while playing the theme song to Mighty Mouse and only exhibiting a more confidant demeanor to lip-sync the lyric, “Here I come to save the day!” According to Fandom’s SNL wiki page, the very bizarre bit — something totally on brand for the legendary comedian — was a branch of his character known as “Foreign Man,” which was one of his earlier and most iconic acts.

If you have ever found yourself watching one of these classic SNL sketches and wondered who came up with these ideas and how, now you know.

Happy endings for the characters of Breaking Bad were few and far between, but members of the cast recently reunited at an event that looks like a whole lot of fun. Bryan Cranston hosted a celebrity poker night to raise awareness (and money) for the Entertainment Community Fund, and two of his former Breaking Bad co-stars were on board for some Texas Hold'em. Krysten Ritter, whose character had one of the most tragic endings of the show, was all smiles in photos with her fellow former stars, along with other celebs who came out to play.

Fortunately, Krysten Ritter posted plenty of pics from the poker event, including one that showed she was playing against Tulsa King's Andrea Savage, The Vampire Diaries' and Star Trek's Paul Wesley, Academy Award-nominee Annette Bening, and Bryan Cranston himself. In her Instagram Story, she shared a photo of her and Cranston looking a lot chummier than their Breaking Bad characters would have been if they were in a room together: 

Honestly, my favorite part of Ritter's post might be that Bryan Cranston couldn't look any less like the terrifying Walter White, but she included the "I am the danger" emoticon of the star in the role that won him four Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. 

Plus, Ritter looks considerably better than she did by the end of her time as Jane in Breaking Bad, although the Jane flashback in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie showed her in happier times with Jesse (Aaron Paul). Check out her post with Better Call Saul's leading man next!

Krysten Ritter may not have reprised her role as Jane alongside Bob Odenkirk despite ranking as one of the Breaking Bad characters we wanted in Better Call Saul's final season, but it's nice to see that they crossed paths to pose for a pic at the poker event. The two actors' times on Breaking Bad didn't overlap by much, as Jane only appeared in eight episodes of Season 2 and one of Season 3, while Saul appear in just four episodes of Season 2 before appearing much more frequently in the remaining three seasons. 

The actress had more pics to post than just side-by-side with the former Breaking Bad actors. Alongside Smallville's Michael Rosenbaum, she snapped a pic of Cranston while he was looking in a different direction:

The actress didn't spend her whole night hanging out with former co-stars or sitting down at a poker table, however, as she was able to at the very least meet a sitcom icon: Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame. Take a look, at her post complete with a little Instagram Story cameo from Alexander's George Costanza: 

Krysten Ritter didn't reveal how well she did (or didn't do) at the celebrity poker game, but it seems safe to say that she had a good time! Jesse Plemons was also present as another Breaking Bad alum, according to the Entertainment Community Fund announcement about the event, but Ritter did not share a photo with the actor who played Todd. 

If Ritter's throwbacks to Breaking Bad have put you in the mood to revisit the series, you can find all five seasons streaming now with a Netflix subscription. All six seasons of Better Call Saul are also available, along with the El Camino movie that finished Jesse Pinkman's story and featured more than one cameo from characters who had already died. 

While Better Call Saul actor Bob Odenkirk has never exactly been a workaholic, the man is reflecting on his busy nature more prudently in recent times. Part of that approach is because of the heart attack Odenkirk suffered in 2021 on the set of his AMC show; which saw the Mr. Show comedy vet eventually make a steady recovery. And while he's fully back to work now, he also still thinks about this health scare "every day." 

It may have only been a couple years back, but Bob hasn’t let that moment slip from his mind. Speaking with Yahoo for its series on parenting, So Mini Ways, Bob Odenkirk opened up about that health crisis and the effect it had on him after the fact. And as it turns out, the Emmy winner doesn’t let much moss grow on the memory of what was potentially his greatest health scare; which he revealed thusly: 

It shouldn’t be that surprising to learn that the Breaking Bad actor is still carrying the memory of that day with him. That is particularly true when Odenkirk revealed changes due to said heart attack earlier this year. 

What also hasn’t changed is Bob Odenkirk’s thankfulness for his family, friends, and fans. In Bob’s previous reflections on the health scare, that mindful nature has always shone through, thanks to the outpouring of love he’s received in the past. But that feedback wasn’t just limited to the good things in life, as he had some problems with his memory after his collapse on the Better Call Saul set. A scenario that, as he continued to explain in this interview, had both its upsides and downsides: 

Two years after this life changing event, Bob Odenkirk is still very much at work. At the same time, he’s acknowledged that he won’t be chasing as many projects as he used to, with a renewed intent to balance work and life. While no one would wish something like a heart attack on anyone, Bob’s clarity after the fact is something that all of us could stand to learn from; no matter where we are in our lives. 

For those of you who want to enjoy the works of Bob Odenkirk, you can binge right up to Better Call Saul’s ending, thanks to the series’ current streaming home. All you need is a Netflix subscription to dive into the darkly comic world of the legal system, with the morally dubious Saul Goodman as your guide. And don’t forget that Odenkirk’s new series Lucky Hank is also available to stream, through AMC+.

It’s been just over a year since Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul ended after six seasons. The series starred Bob Odenkirk as lawyer Jimmy McGill, who later becomes criminal defense attorney Saul Goodman. While filming for the final season was a bit complicated after Odenkirk suffered a heart attack on set, it didn’t stop him from completing the series. Even though the story wrapped up, that also isn’t stopping him from coming up with ideas for Saul’s next chapter that I'd be down for.

Via Variety's Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, which included the audio from a Better Call Saul panel that happened back in March, comedy genius Odenkirk put in his two cents for a possible sequel series that would be very meta. It would involve not only Saul Goodman but himself as well, and even though it’s just a joke, I desperately need it now:

It may just be for jokes, but a Better Call Saul sequel that involves Bob Odenkirk and Saul Goodman would be pretty hilarious. The two together (somehow) would be a riot, but would they be friends or enemies? Since Odenkirk would be taking Saul’s money, they would be leaning more towards enemies. On the other hand, the money would be going towards ice cream and hotdogs, which you can’t really blame him for. Maybe they can end up being partners, and Saul can be a business owner on the side. A Saul Goodman procedural show would definitely be different from all of the other procedurals, especially if no one goes to jail.

Odenkirk sounds more than ready to get back to playing Saul Goodman. There’s always the possibility that the Breaking Bad franchise could come back with another series or maybe even another Breaking Bad movie, so you never know what could happen. Of course, even if that's a possibility for the foreseeable future, productions across the entertainment industry are at a halt due to the WGA writers’ strike and SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike, both of which hopefully will end soon.

One thing that is for sure is that the show is still on Bob Odenkirk’s mind, even a year after the Better Call Saul series finale. The AMC series had the best conclusion one could have hoped for, with Jimmy answering for his crimes and getting jail time as he took the honest approach. Meanwhile, everyone else had a fulfilling ending as well, with Kim getting on good terms with Jimmy and Mike being somewhat happy for a change, if only for a little bit.

Even though Bob Odenkirk’s Better Call Saul idea may not actually happen, a video could always be done so fans can at least see Odenkirk’s “dream” become a reality for a little bit while not giving people a full-on project. For now, fans will just have to rewatch the series with a Netflix subscription and hope that this isn’t the end of Jimmy McGill or Saul Goodman.

Breaking Bad is considered by some to be one of the greatest TV shows of all time, as it's known for its incredible storytelling and a legendary performance by Bryan Cranston among other things. The show is mostly a gritty drama that's firmly set within the world of drug dealers. However, it turns out things weren’t always serious behind the scenes. The cast behind the acclaimed AMC show recently opened up about off-camera shenanigans, specifically one particular day on which Cranston was "fucking around" and brought a penis shaped water gun to set. 

In a recent profile of the Walter White actor from GQ, his Breaking Bad co-stars talked about what it was like working with him. This includes details on his personal acting process. While some actors like to remain “in the zone” while on set, the Emmy winner was no such actor. The Saving Private Ryan alum apparently loved goofing around as Saul Goodman actor Bob Odenkirk revealed: 

It's great to hear that the leading man wanted to have fun when the cameras weren’t rolling. Walter White was such an intense character and, as a result, a lot was asked of the actor throughout the show's run. He has a lot of highly emotional scenes and is extremely intimidating throughout. While his character had to act a certain way, the Trumbo star clearly didn't and let his silly side reign. Fellow BB star Aaron Paul, who played Jesse Pinkman, corroborated Bob Odenkirk’s thoughts about the actor. He did so by backing them up with the aforementioned moment involving a penis water gun:

Poor Aaron Paul. The Jesse character had a lot to carry as well, with his complicated background and his entanglement in a criminal underworld. Paul was probably performing his heart out and then his co-star decided to mess with him using a water gun and a penis-shaped one no less. To be honest, the thought is absolutely hysterical and is likely part of the reason the former co-stars share a familial connection today. They even own a mezcal brand together called Dos Hombres, further proving they were able to bond off screen. 

It's not at all surprising that the jovial-seeming Bryan Cranston tried to infuse fun into Breaking Bad whenever he could and that some of the cast was game. A lot of actors, including Cranston himself, had comedy backgrounds, which probably helped keep the atmosphere on set light when the cameras weren't rolling. The Your Honor actor, in particular, was starred on the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle (and he wants more of it) before he cemented his leading man status. And years before nabbing the role of Saul, Bob Odenkirk was known for his comedic work before his turn, as he was a head writer on SNL. I'd wager that they all had a fun time on set, and I'm now also wondering if there's any way to top the craziness of bringing a penis-esque squirt gun to a job.

Bryan Cranston can be seen flexing his comedy chops once again in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, which hits theaters worldwide on June 23rd. Fans can also revisit his award-winning performance in Breaking Bad by streaming all five seasons with a Netflix subscription. And of course, if you're looking for current shows to watch, take a look at CinemaBlend's 2023 TV schedule.

After years of chiefly being known as a comedic talent, Bob Odenkirk got to stretch his dramatic muscles for many years playing Saul Goodman, a.k.a. Jimmy McGill, in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, and he entered the action genre in 2021 with Nobody. Recently though, there have been rumors swirling about him being cast in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, it doesn’t sound like we can count on this actually happening, as Odenkirk has explained why working on a superhero project doesn’t interest him.

The actor has reportedly been looked at to join Wonder Man, which will star Yahyah Abdul-Mateen II as the title character, a.k.a. actor Simon Williams. The Illuminerdi was told that Odenkirk is wanted for a “special role” in the Disney+ series, which led the outlet to speculate that the character could be Neal Saroyan, Simon’s agent. Whether or not that’s the case, when Independent spoke with the Mr. Show alum, he had this to say about if he’s game for anything superhero-related:

With an answer like that, that makes it pretty clear that we won’t be seeing Bob Odenkirk in either the MCU or the DC Universe. Sure, he could change his mind somewhere down the road, but for now, he’d rather stick with smaller-scale projects and continue emanating that more “grounded” feel through the characters he plays, as opposed to playing a larger-than-life personality in a blockbuster. It is worth noting, though, that Odenkirk does have a little superhero media experience under his belt, as he voiced Winston Deavor in Incredibles 2 (which he says was a rush job), although that character didn’t have any powers.

So Bob Odenkirk won’t be present in Wonder Man, but it’s possible another actor has already been found to fill the role he was supposedly being eyed to play. Word came in at the end of March that Ed Harris has joined the series to play Neal Saroyan, who was introduced to the comics in 1991’s Wonder Man #1. This has yet to be confirmed, but if Harris has indeed been added to the show, he’s the fifth actor to be revealed so far. Along with him and Mateen, Ben Kingsley will reprise Trevor Slattery from Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Demetrius Grosse is reportedly playing Simon’s brother Eric (better known in the comics as Grim Reaper) and Lauren Glazier has been cast in an undisclosed role.

Wonder Man began filming on April 5 in Los Angeles, but it hasn’t been announced yet when it will be released to Disney+ subscribers. As for Bob Odenkirk, he’s currently starring in the AMC series Lucky Hank (which he also executive produces), and he’ll also be seen later this year leading a remake of The Room.

When I think of some of the recent television shows that have ascended into greatness, one of the first ones I always think of is Breaking Bad or its spinoff, Better Call Saul. You want to know who was important to both of those? Bob Odenkirk. An actor who has been around for decades but has really blown up in the last ten or so years, Odenkirk played the legendary Saul Goodman for four seasons on Breaking Bad, and then helmed his own spinoff for six. 

However, since Better Call Saul came to an end in 2022, fans have been eagerly awaiting his return to television, and that comes in the form of Lucky Hank on AMC. Even if Odenkirk is the star of this new AMC series, though, there are still plenty of other stars here that you might recognize from somewhere else. Here is where you’ve seen the Lucky Hank cast before. 

Bob Odenkirk (William Henry Devereaux Jr.)

First up on this list is the main man himself, Bob Odenkirk, who plays William Henry Devereaux Jr. – otherwise known as “Hank” in the series. As I mentioned before, he has gotten very popular over the last few years thanks to his famous portrayal of Saul Goodman, but the actor himself has done so much in both movies and television, it’s not surprising that you’ve probably seen him somewhere else. 

He has done a lot of comedy work in the past, and besides his own sketch show that he did with his comedy partner, David Cross, Mr. Show With Bob and David, Odenkirk has also written for the long-running sketch show, Saturday Night Live, The Conan O’Brien Show, and The Ben Stiller Show. He also was a part of the first season of Fargo.

Besides that, the talent has also done plenty in film, specifically over the last decade since he’s become a lot more well-known. His biggest surprise hit was Nobody, a film that released in 2021 and became popular enough that now, there’s a sequel in the works. Some of his other big film roles have been a voice part in The Incredibles 2, The Post, Little Women, Nebraska and more. Truly, someone who has been all over the big and small screen. 

Mireille Enos (Lily Devereaux)

Next up, we have Mireille Enos, who plays Lily Devereaux in Lucky Hank. Enos is also primarily known for her television work, with starring roles in shows such as AMC’s The Killing, The Catch, Hanna, and the popular Amazon Prime original series, Good Omens. She got her start in the television film, Without Consent, and has only seen her career grow from there. 

Enos has also done a good amount of film work as well, with roles in movies such as World War Z, If I Stay. The Devil’s Knot, Dark Was The Night and more. It’ll be exciting to see her in a main role again, though. 

Olivia Scott Welch (Julie)

Moving on, we take a look at Julie, who is played by Olivia Scott Welch. The young actress hasn’t done as much in television as her two co-stars mentioned above, with her only lead role so far having been in Panic, but she guest starred in the iconic Modern Family, as well as Agent Carter, and Unbelievable. 

However, what Welch is primarily known for is her big role in the Netflix horror trilogy, Fear Street, where she played Sam Fraser, and gained a lot of notoriety from there. I’m eager to see her in this role after her performances in those movies, especially alongside some of these television greats. 

Diedrich Bader (Tony Conigula)

Diedrich Bader portrays Tony Conigula, and he is one of those actors where it’s almost impossible that you haven’t seen him at least once on television. Besides his copious amounts of guest roles and voice roles in television, he’s had main roles in big sitcoms such as The Drew Carey Show, American Housewife, Outsourced, and Better Things. He also had a major recurring role in Veep, and guest starred on Netflix's Space Force.

Bader has also done plenty of film work as well, with his biggest roles so far being in The Beverly Hillbillies, Office Space, Napoleon Dynamite and Euro Trip. 

Sara Amini (Meg Quigley)

Next up is Sara Amini, who plays Meg Quigley. This is actually Amini’s first major role on television where she’s a part of the main cast, but she’s guest starred in several well-known shows before, including the Jordan Peele TV show, The Twilight Zone, the Disney+ original show, Big Shot, and had recurring guest roles in shows such as CSI: Vegas, Misery Loves Company and others. 

Amini also appeared in movies such as Hollywood Stargirl, Dating Daisy, and Find Me. 

Cedric Yarbrough (Paul Rourke)

Cedric Yarbrough plays Paul Rourke, and if his name sounds familiar, it’s because Yarbrough is freaking hilarious and was in the iconic comedy series, Reno 911!. He also has a current recurring role in The Goldbergs, and has had a main role on both Speechless and Carol’s Second Act, among many guest roles. He also had a main voice role in the famous adult animated show, The Boondocks. 

The actor has also appeared in movies such as Unaccompanied Minors, Four Christmases, The House, Get Smart, and Amateur Night, among others. 

Suzanne Cryer (Gracie DuBois)

Last but not least, we have Suzanne Cryer, who plays Gracie DuBois. Cryer has been around in television for a while, with several big guest roles on many shows, but she got her start in the TV series, Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place. Later on, she became a part of the main cast of Silicon Valley, and is set to appear in the new Percy Jackson series on Disney+.

In terms of movies, Cryer has appeared in major films like The Cloverfield Paradox and Friends & Lovers, but she’s certainly more known for her TV roles instead. 

While the cast may be small, it surely has plenty of talent to offer, and I, for one, can’t wait to see them in these roles as time goes on – and maybe you might have found a new show or movie to check out because of the actors in the new show!

It’s been seven months since Better Call Saul ended, and Bob Odenkirk said goodbye to his beloved character, Saul Goodman, after portraying him since 2008. While filming a show like that can definitely be fun and interesting, it had its fair share of challenges, both personal and professional. Things got really scary during the final season when its star Bob Odenkirk suffered a heart attack while filming the final season of the crime drama, and now he’s revealing what’s changed since that scary moment.

While filming an episode of Better Call Saul’s final season in July 2021, Bob Odenkirk had a serious heart attack. Fans and celebrities alike were quick to send their well wishes and support to the actor, and a couple of months later, he went back to work after taking some much-needed time off to recover. Coming up on two years this summer since the heart attack, the Lucky Hank star told People what that time was like, as well as how his life has changed, and it was super touching:

Having any type of medical emergency is a scary thing to go through, and when it’s a heart attack while on set, that’s as scary as it can get. Thanks to a great support system, recovery can be easier, especially when said support system is is so big. Despite it happening almost two years ago, that scary moment hasn’t left Bob Odenkirk at all and has, in fact, given him a lot to think about when it comes to changes in his life:

I can’t imagine what it was like going through something like that, but it seems to have really opened up Odenkirk’s eyes. He’s previously spoken about his heart attack and the wild day on set when it happened. He also noted that the cast and crew of Better Call Saul and, of course, later, medical professionals are the reason he’s still alive. While it was definitely a traumatizing experience for all involved, Odenkirk seems to be doing a lot better lately, and he is as grateful as ever. 

Odenkirk made sure to keep fans updated on his condition following the heart attack, showing almost as much love to his fans as they’ve shown him. And while Better Call Saul has ended, he hasn’t slowed down when it comes to work. He’s set to star in The Room remake and the new series Lucky Hank, both due sometime this year. Though after what he went through in 2021, he likely knows to not overdo it and not race towards the finish line. 

On the first anniversary of his heart attack, Bob Odenkirk reflected on that terrifying day, and he looked toward the future. It’s clear that that day will never leave him and has forever changed him, and he’s not taking his second chance at life for granted. While he doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon, Odenkirk’s not taking advantage of anything, and I don’t blame him.

Before yesterday, it was probably safe to assume that no one ever paired Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk and the notorious ‘so bad, it’s good’ movie The Room in the same thought. That’s no longer the case, as it’s been revealed that Odenkirk is starring in a remake of The Room that’s being put together for a good cause. Odenkirk has now opened up about his experience working on the project, which includes clarifying that he’s “not mocking” the Tommy Wiseau-helmed movie.

Fresh off confirming his involvement in The Room remake on social media, Bob Odenkirk opened up about his time playing Johnny, Tommy Wiseau’s character from the 2003 flick, which was also written, directed and produced by Wiseau. In terms of Odenkirk putting his own spin on the role, the actor said this to EW:

This remake of The Room was put together with the involvement of Acting For a Cause to benefit amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, and it was largely shot on green screen. Bob Odenkirk believes that backdrops from the original 2003 movie will be inserted into this new take, and one of the reasons he agreed to play Johnny in the remake because he wanted to see if he could deliver a truly dramatic take of the material without altering the lines in any way. As he put it:

Bob Odenkirk is joined in The Room remake by Brando Crawford (who’s also directing), Justin Decloux, Cameron Kasky, Jarad Schwartz, Bella Heathcote, Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan and Flanagan’s wife Kate Siegel. There’s no word yet on when the project will be released and on what platform, but whenever the public gets to see it, Odenkirk is hopeful that people walk away from this new version of The Room thinking, “Wow, okay! That's a real movie, I'd watch that!”

 Despite being poorly received upon its initial release, it didn’t take long for The Room to develop a cult following. Greg Sestero, who co-starred The Room as Johnny’s best friend Mark, wrote a memoir about his experience working on the movie called The Disaster Artist. That book was adapted into the critically-acclaimed, same-named 2017 movie directed by and starring James Franco as Tommy Wiseau, and his brother Dave Franco played Sestero.

As for Bob Odenkirk, he can next be seen starring in the AMC series Lucky Hank, which premieres Sunday, March 19. Odenkirk has also expressed interest in returning to the action genre for Nobody 2, but as things currently stand, the sequel hasn’t progressed past the development stage.

Bob Odenkirk has certainly stretched his acting muscles over the years, from jumping into the action genre with Nobody, to, of course, exploring dramatic territory in movies like Little Women and playing Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. However, it’s safe to say that he’s still best known for his comedy chops, and now the Mr. Show alum is putting those skills to good use remaking one of the worst movies of all time. I’m talking about Tommy Wiseau’s cult favorite The Room, but to be clear up front, this project is being done for charity.

Taking to his Twitter account, Bob Odenkirk confirmed that he will star in a remake of The Room, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, as Tommy Wiseau’s character, Johnny. The existence of this remake and Odenkirk’s involvement was unveiled by podcaster Justin Decloux, who said in his own tweet that this The Room remake is “not being played as a joke.” Slashfilm has since learned that the remake will benefit a charity called amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, and that Acting For a Cause is also involved, though it hasn’t been clarified if the organization will receive a cut of the donations or if it's simply backing the project.

Along with Bob Odenkirk playing Johnny, The Room remake is being directed by Acting For a Cause founder Brando Crawford, who will also appear on camera. The other actors include Cameron Kasky, Jarad Schwartz and Bella Heathcote, and various social media posts concerning this remake indicate it was largely shot in front of green screens. It hasn’t been announced when this new take on The Room will be released or through which platform, although Schwartz strongly implied that it will arrive sometime in the spring.

Released on June 27, 2003, it didn’t take long for The Room to build a cult following with its ‘so bad, it’s enjoyable’ quality. Tommy Wiseau, who also directed, wrote and produced in The Room, was joined on camera by people like Juliette Danielle and Greg Sestero, the latter of whom wrote about his experience working on the movie in The Disaster Artist. That memoir was later adapted into the same-named movie starring James and Dave Franco as Wiseau and Sestero, respectively, and it earned numerous accolades, including James Franco earning a Golden Globe.

Assuming that spring window is accurate, then we won’t have to wait too long to see how Bob Odenkirk does leading this The Room remake. Meanwhile, we’re only 10 days away from seeing Odenkirk star in the new TV series Lucky Hank, which will air on AMC. Nobody director David Leitch has also said Odenkirk is among the people interested in making Nobody 2, but there’s no timetable yet on when the sequel will move out of the development phase.

Keep your eyes peeled on CinemaBlend for more updates on Bob Odenkirk’s The Room remake, and be sure to look through the lineup of 2023 new movie releases if you’re itching to enjoy more cinematic content throughout the year.

When it comes actors I consider kings of television, there are few that I think of off the top of my head. One is Bryan Cranston (from Breaking Bad), or perhaps Jason Bateman from Ozark, or even Pedro Pascal with the most recent HBO hit, The Last of Us, but one who has been in my mind for over a decade is Bob Odenkirk. 

While he’s had a very long and prosperous career, his most recent outing as the criminal lawyer Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill certainly showed just how capable he is on both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. And now, with the latter drama all done, Odenkirk is moving on to his next series – Lucky Hank on AMC. 

But, what is Lucky Hank going to be about, and who else might be starring in it? Here is everything we know about the upcoming series. 

Lucky Hank Premieres On March 19 On AMC

Mark your 2023 TV schedule, because Lucky Hank is going to be coming to our television screens very soon. It was announced by the network that Lucky Hank is going to be premiering on both AMC and AMC+ on March 19th – which, at the time of writing this, in January 2023, is not that far away. 

AMC already has several shows lined up for 2023. Mayfair Witches premiered already, and soon enough the new The Walking Dead spinoff shows will begin to release, from Fear the Walking Dead’s last season to the newest series, Dead City, so adding a new show such as Lucky Hank will surely mix some things up, and I am excited to see it. 

Bob Odenkirk And Mireille Enos Will Star

Obviously, as mentioned earlier, Bob Odenkirk is set to star as the main character of Lucky Hank, playing William Henry Devereaux Jr., and the story will be told in the first person. 

Apparently, Odenkirk was ready to sign on for the role by the time he talked to the showrunners. In an interview with Slash Film, Paul Lieberstein, one of the showrunners, confirmed that Odenkirk signed on almost as soon as he got the chance to speak to him: 

Set to co-star with Odenkirk is Mireille Enos, who will be playing Hank's wife, Lily Deveraux, according to Deadline. When it was announced that she would star opposite him in the series, the showrunners, Lieberstein and Aaron Zelman, spoke about how excited they were to have her on board: 

Both of these actors have collectively done so many amazing things. Obviously Odenkirk is known for many parts besides his main role in the Breaking Bad universe, and he’s appeared in other movies such as the fun action film Nobody (which is getting a sequel), The Incredibles 2, Little Women, and more. 

Mireille Enos has appeared in many television shows, such as The Killing, Sex and the City, Big Love, The Catch, the Amazon original show, Good Omens, and others, so it’s super exciting to see her in another big TV show such as this one.

Diedrich Bader, Sarah Amini, And More Will Also Star

So, we already know who is going to have the starring roles in the upcoming series but who is going to be playing the supporting roles? Thankfully, we have an idea of that, too. According to Deadline, Diedrich Bader, Sara Amini, Cedric Yarbrough, and Suzanne Cryer have all signed for roles for Lucky Hank. 

All of their roles are known. Bader is going to play Tony Conigula, a close friend of Hank's and a professor at the same school he teaches at. Amini is going to play Meg Quigley, a professor looking for tenure who has some money problems. Yarbrough is going to play the poetry professor, Paul Rourke, someone who is afraid of commitment since he’s been in multiple marriages, and considers himself Hank’s rival. Cryer is playing another poetry professor, Gracie DuBois. 

Also added to the series, according to The Wrap, are Oscar Nunez, Tom Bower, Chris Diamantopoulos, and Kyle Manlachlan. Nunez is playing Dead Jacob Rose, Bower will be William Henry Deveraux, Sr., Diamantopoulos signed on as Tom Leska, and Maclachlan portrays Dickie Pope, the president of the college. 

This is a stacked cast, with members who were a part of The Office cast to people who starred in big-time HBO shows like Silicon Valley. The series is already looking very lucky with these castings and I can’t wait to see what they bring to the table. 

The Show Is Based On The Book “Straight Man”

Throughout this article, you’ve heard me bring up colleges, professors, and so much more, and I’m sure you’re wondering what the heck Lucky Hank is even about. The new AMC show is going to be an adaptation of Straight Man, written by Richard Russo. 

According to the AMC press release, we are going to follow Odenkirk's William Henry Devereaux, Jr., who is tasked with running the English department at a college. However, the college he teaches at, Railton, is located in the Pennsylvania rust belt and is severely underfunded. Many other teachers and professors are constantly at odds with him, and he has his own personal issues, so running this department will be harder than anyone could imagine. 

The Show’s First Season Will Have Eight Episodes

Also revealed by AMC, it was confirmed that Lucky Hank is going to only have eight episodes in its first season. We don’t know if there’s going to be a second season, or if there's a possibly that it will have more episodes if it's renewed, but eight definitely sounds like a solid number to get the story going. 

You Can Watch The Teaser Trailer For Lucky Hank Now

While the teaser trailer for Lucky Hank doesn’t show much, we do see a slow zoom-in to Odenkirk’s face with a voiceover speaking about what is to come. Be sure to check it out below.

I am so excited for this series, and I can’t wait to see what it brings to viewers. Are you as excited as I am to see Odenkirk back on the small screen?  

David Leitch has become one of the most in demand action movie directors on the face of the planet. After giving us John Wick and an amazing Deadpool sequel, his newest film is Brad Pitt’s Bullet Train. However, one of his most talked about film’s is Nobody, which took the John Wick formula and applied it to the last guy you ever thought would be a trained killer, in this case, played by Bob Odenkrik.

Bob Odenkirk was already incredibly popular due to his work on Better Call Saul, but Nobody gave fans another side of the actor and turned him into an action star. Fans of the first film have been hoping for a sequel and director David Leitch is saying now that Nobody 2 is very likely to happen. He told THR…

Normally we see directors or stars hedge their bets when it comes to future projects. So many concepts that start development die before they get anywhere. And David Leith has a lot of irons in the fire as a director and producer, so it would be understandable if he played a bit more coy with the Nobody sequel. Odenkirk was vague, but positive, when he was asked the Nobody 2 question earlier this year. 

Instead, he’s telling people to bet on it happening. That’s not the same thing as saying it is happening, to be sure. It sounds like the movie is still very early in production, but it is being actively worked on, which means the idea isn’t sitting on a shelf collecting dust. There are plenty of movie projects that we’ve been told are in production, but are clearly not serious concerns, at least not right now. Leitch has talked about doing an Atomic Blonde 2 as well but we haven’t heard much about that recently

Exactly what “hardcore development” means is far from clear, but David Leitch and company could be working on the story, or they could already have that and the movie could be getting to work on a script. 

Of course, there is one thing that has changed fairly recently that may be the reason that Nobody 2 is in “hardcore development.” Bob Odenkirk likely has a bit more free time on his hands now that Better Call Saul has come to an end. He can likely devote more time and energy to the movie now, and without him, there isn’t much of a movie. Odenkirk credits Nobody with helping him survive his heart attack, due to the fact that he was in good shape when it happened.. 

Certainly, Nobody 2 is still a couple of years away, even under the best circumstances, but fans of the first movie have waited this long. Knowing that the film isn’t being ignored will likely be enough to make it all worth the wait.  

Major spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched Better Call Saul final episode!

While it didn’t seem possible back in 2015, Better Caul Saul has earned a spot not only in the same TV trophy case as predecessor Breaking Bad, but on the same shelf. In building the backstory to Heisenberg and Fring’s meth-infused crime reign in Albuquerque, as well as the extended epilogue via Gene, BCS has set a high and slippery bar for fictional universe expansions. Which it probably could have done even without such a boffo series finale, but co-creators Peter Gould and Vince Gilligan and more somehow pulled off as close to a perfect ending as fans could have hoped for, given the extreme circumstances.

Even before Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill and Rhea Seehorn’s Kim Wexler first shared the screen, Breaking Bad fans already had theories about how the prequel series' characters and stories might connect back to Walter White and Jesse Pinkman’s saga. It’s safe to say nobody guessed exactly how it went down, or that the show's conclusion would manage to feel contextually optimistic, despite logistically being quite dour for Jimmy McGill. But instead of half-mourning his 87-year prison sentence, let’s focus on all the reasons Better Call Saul’s “Saul Gone” was a best-case-scenario finale.

Jimmy And Kim Survived, And Without Devastating Injuries 

In a franchise that kills off rougly 90% of the characters who earn proper introductions, many fans weren't exceedingly optimistic for both of Better Call Saul's main characters to still be breathing, above ground, and free from life-threatening maladies. Though let’s be honest, Kim’s possible death was the prospect truly keeping us up at night, already crafting sternly worded emails to Gilligan and Gould in our minds. In the end, though, both Jimmy and Kim were still healthy and wise, if decidedly less wealthy than prior points in their respective lives.

Which isn’t to say the future will be a blessing for either of them. After being sold out by Carol Burnett’s Marion in a jaw-clenching scene from the penultimate ep, Jimmy will almost definitely spend his remaining years in prison for his Heisenberg-related misdeeds. But the show’s creative team expertly muted most fears about Jimmy's safety behind bars, with other prisoners celebrating his criminal-assisting Saul Goodman persona. Bob Odenkirk even thinks Jimmy will use his prison time wisely by helping others, telling EW:

Odenkirk has no issues with Kim having her own Jimmy-free life outside of those visits, and thinks she deserves happiness, even if it involves marrying someone else. Perhaps the least positive element regarding Better Call Saul’s finale is that Kim will presumably keep settling for her boring existence in Florida. But at least we know she’s once again completely comfortable in her own skin, and isn’t that the most important thing? “Yup.”

Jimmy Finally Answered For His Many Crimes

Though Bryan Cranston’s Walter White owned up to his criminal enterprising by Breaking Bad's end, he obviously died without ever repenting or atoning for his endless selfishness, all while Jesse was forced to live with his traumas and awful choices in El Camino and beyond. (Hopefully Alaska is good for trauma-ignoring.) But as a lawyer first and foremost, Jimmy McGill was destined for a different fate, as he finally unburdened and spoke his cartel-connected truths to the court after so many years of ducking the law. And it was basically all on his own terms, which is key.

As “Saul Gone” went on, spotlighting the endlessly excellent Peter Diseth as Bill Oakle, it was clear that something much harsher was in store for Jimmy, despite his successful legal wranglings. But instead of another character getting the drop on Jimmy, he sealed his own fate by finally adopting honesty as an approach, largely to prove to Kim that he was capable of accepting responsibility like never before. 

Jimmy's jail time seems entirely logical upon seeing it, but Peter Gould told Deadline the idea only came about after Better Call Saul’s midway point, saying:

It'd have technically been a more freeing ending for Jimmy to get away with everything without justice being served — similar to how Breaking Bad writers briefly considered ending Walt’s story — but would have left too many unanswered questions for fans. In this way, we can take comfort in this concrete ending being one that Jimmy wasn’t conned into, but one he put into action himself. 

Kim's Life Wasn't Ruined (Yet), And She’s Back On Good Terms With Jimmy 

To be sure, Better Call Saul’s ending didn't completely exonerate Kim regarding her confession to Howard’s widow Cheryl, who was noted to be shopping for lawyers with potential civil suits in mind. But here’s the thing: we did NOT see Kim get served paperwork, while we DID see that Kim kept her brunette locks in the final scene, but added curls to the equation, indicating she’s as far as can be from the troubling mindsets of her past. 

As such, even if Kim is threatened with losing everything to Cheryl down the line, she’s at least no longer plagued and burdened by the devious acts that she and Jimmy committed in and out of the courtroom, inevitably leading to Howard’s brutal death. That sense of understanding is more vital for the character’s future than her financial status or legal creds. A peaceful Kim is what the world needs and deserves, and if she can still do pro bono work in the meantime, even better.

Plus, despite many Better Call Saul fans thinking Jimmy and Kim’s ties were fully severed by their broken marriage, the finale presented an olive branch to viewers and the characters themselves. Though the pair will almost certainly never rekindle their bond shared through the show’s six seasons, they at least returned to shared ground with shared cigarettes, which seemed like an impossible resolution after the preceding episodes. 

Jimmy Got One Last Big Win In

Somewhat similar to Breaking Bad letting Walter White "win" by killing off his biggest foes and dying amongst lab equipment, Jimmy McGill was also able to successfully weasel into his preferred fate. At least when it comes to what was most vital to him. Saul Goodman would have been content with scheming out a shorter sentence, but that wasn't Jimmy's endgame. Instead, he made all the right (if not entirely ethical) moves and half-conned others into convincing Kim to travel to Albuquerque from Florida, all so he could put his future on the line by confessing and proving to Kim that he was able to revert back to the person she fell in love with. 

We've seen Saul pull off some ridiculous plots over the years, but it was still a joyful surprise that his final swing for the fences was also a success. Even if the point wasn’t to win Kim back romantically — even that doofus in Florida is less trouble than getting conjugal with Jimmy — he did manage to win back her friendship and her empathy, which is easily the best we could have hoped for. All we needed was the assurance that they laugh together again one day, even if Vince Gilligan may never return to this universe to show us.

And for anyone who doesn’t like the idea that Jimmy still unfairly got what he wanted in the end, just take comfort in knowing he’ll never live down the fact that he was disgustingly soiled and hiding in a dumpster upon being arrested. 

Betsy Brandt’s Marie Delivered The Most Emotional Breaking Bad Cameo

Even after all Better Call Saul's prior Breaking Bad character arrivals, from Fring and Hector to Gale and Walt, I admittedly wasn’t expecting any franchise vets beyond Bryan Cranson to pop up in the finale, and definitely didn't expect anything outside of flashbacks. (Though I wished for Bill Burr’s Kuby in the post-BB timeline.) So when the episode revealed Betsy Brandt’s Marie Shrader in the courthouse for Saul's deal talks, it was a black-and-white shock to the senses.

Whether Brandt’s appearance marked the “greatest” Breaking Bad cameo within the follow-up drama is hard to say, but it was easily the most emotional reprisal, with no other characters’ returns boasting anywhere near the impact of Marie’s heart-wrenching exchange with an increasingly vindictive Jimmy. (And the increasingly bewildered Oakley.) Given Breaking Bad’s final episodes were as hectic as they were deadly, viewers were never able to sit with Marie’s grief over Hank’s murder. But that was absolutely rectified in “Saul Gone,” and Peter Gould explained the surprise cameo to TV Insider, saying: 

That balance between Kim/Cheryl and Jimmy/Marie is a rather perfect aftermath-nutshelling of the biggest hyper-tragic gut-punch deaths in Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad. But Betsy Brandt’s appearance wouldn’t even need deeper narrative relevance to be the best possible BB cameo for this swan song.  

Mike Actually Chuckled During His Final Appearance 

Better Call Saul’s finale understandably kept its focus mostly away from Saul Goodman’s criminal past in the latter-day timeline. Fans witnessed a previously unseen and introspective moment between Bob Odenkirk’s character and Bryan Cranston’s Walt, but it was more about Walt’s pompous dismissal of time machines than meth-making and murder. Jonathan Banks’ final scene as the beloved hardass Mike Ehrmantraut went a similar route, and was surprisingly as gleeful as Mike's scenes could be. Before quickly devolving into wistful darkness, of course.

The finale returned to the torturous desert in flashing back to Season 5's harrowing "Bagman," which turned into a sub-perfect way to close Mike's curtain, so to speak. Sitting atop millions of dollars, Jimmy asked the episode's first time machine question, suggesting Mike to be a history buff who'd enjoy trips back to the Civil War or ancient Rome. And it made Mike legitimately chuckle! Even if his version was 25% of a normal person’s chuckle, and stretched across three different segments. Still, it was Mike in the relative vicinity of happiness, even if it was only a reaction to Jimmy's ludicrousness. 

Mike then peeled back the layers of his regrets and said he'd go back and change the day he first took a bribe as a cop, while also saying he’d travel forward to see his daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Because even when Jimmy’s head is in the clouds with his fantasies, Mike never takes his eyes off of his priorities. And after "Waterworks" jarringly referenced Mike being in ground in the later timeline, we needed this oh-so-brief slice of levity to keep us going. 

As hard as it is to believe, Better Call Saul is completely over with now, at least without cops listening in on the line. Fans can currently watch all six seasons on AMC+, while a Netflix subscription makes the first five seasons available for bingeing. Head to our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see what other big and memorable shows will be around to take BCS' place in the future.

When Breaking Bad aired its series finale in 2013 after five intense seasons on AMC, fans were sustained by the promise of a Saul Goodman spinoff. We were thrilled to be getting more content from this universe, and with the bar set so incredibly high, nobody could have expected Better Call Saul to be as good as, or possibly better than, Breaking Bad. So in the days leading up to the prequel’s final episode, you certainly can’t blame fans for questioning if there’s an opportunity for a Saul spinoff featuring one of its characters, and given co-creator Vince Gilligan’s blunt response, it’s obvious he’s given it some thought too.

Better Call Saul — the prequel starring Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill-turned-Saul Goodman-turned-Gene Takavic — is set wrap its six-season run on Monday, August 15, with an episode forebodingly titled “Saul Gone.” Vince Gilligan shared his thoughts with Rolling Stone about whether he could or should continue the narrative he’s been working on for over a decade. He said: 

This world that Vince Gilligan created is clearly one he cares a lot about, and it’s exciting that there is a part of him that would love to continue to tell its stories. However, it seems he’s questioning how much is too much? At some point, you just have to let the end be the end, particularly for this type of universe. Gilligan continued: 

With the creative genius that Vince Gillian and his team have brought to the AMC dramas, whatever “something new” he moves on to, he’s guaranteed a built-in fanbase. It furthermore seems unlikely that he’d fail at all of his future endeavors, forcing him to come crawling back to the deserts of New Mexico (or wherever the next installment would take us). However, with some of TV’s best characters coming from Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, it’s always good to know that the creative potential is there if Gilligan ever one day chooses to return to it. 

Albuquerque may not be the multiverse, but fans were treated to a guest appearances from Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, respectively, in Season 6 of the prequel series. Cranston has opened up about returning for Saul and specifically detailed the massive amount of secrecy surrounding his and Paul's roles. He also joked that former co-star Bob Odenkirk had changed since stepping into the lead of his own series.

We’ll have to see what else Vince Gilligan has up his sleeve for the series finale, which is set for 9 p.m. ET Monday, August 15, on AMC. In the meantime, catch up on the best episodes of Better Call Saul so far, with the first five seasons available for streaming with a Netflix subscription.

Better Call Saul is now only two weeks away from completing its wildly ambitious and exceedingly excellent trip into Albuquerque’s underworld in the pre-Breaking Bad years. Of course, the timelines have now all converged with the airing of Episode 611, “Breaking Bad.” But just as fans were finally able to wholeheartedly celebrate Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul making their long-awaited reprisals of TV icons Walter White and Jesse Pinkman within Saul’s world, the AMC drama was surprisingly (and perhaps on-brandedly) hit with a lawsuit over an episode that aired earlier this season. 

AMC Networks, Sony Pictures and Better Call Saul’s producers were namechecked in a lawsuit filed by the company Liberty Tax Service, which is suing on the grounds of trade dress and trademark infringement. According to TheWrap, the company is going after the legal drama for its “intentional misuse” in depicting Betsy and Craig Kettleman’s company Sweet Liberty Tax Services, which was introduced to the show in the first half of the season with Episode 602, “Carrot and Stick.”

Liberty Tax Service goes on to allege the show is responsible for “dilution, defamation, disparagement and injurious falsehoods” over how the fictional company was depicted, as headed up by the money-hungry and embezzlement-friendly Kettleman family. Beyond the similarities in the name itself, the real-world tax company claims the Better Call Saul team purposefully copied the Liberty Tax logo and style, which includes various imagery involving the American flag and the Statue of Liberty. 

Here’s some specific language from the lawsuit implying the AMC drama’s intent.

At this point, it doesn’t appear as if AMC Networks, Sony Pictures, or any of Better Call Saul’s producers have spoken out about the lawsuit’s existence, which is understandable. It’s hard to tell just how seriously they’ll take the new filing, since it doesn’t seem likely that any one particular tax company has ultimate rights over using the Statue of Liberty or other American iconography in its logos and such. To me, the Kettlemans’ company looked like 100 other small-scale tax assistance operations, but that’s apparently not reflective of reality, or else Liberty Tax Service might have 100 other lawsuits on the table.

As fans will no doubt remember, Sweet Liberty Tax Services was the very place where Bob Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman procured the inflatable Statue of Liberty that stands atop the character’s strip mall law office both in the prequel and in Breaking Bad proper. It was also the place where the Emmy-nominated Rhea Seehorn found more of her footing on Jimmy’s shakier side of lawfulness, which inevitably led to all kinds of terrible things like her leaving Jimmy and New Mexico altogether. 

While waiting to see how this lawsuit shakes out, Better Call Saul’s final episodes will air over the next two Mondays on AMC at 9:00 p.m. ET. Fans can watch Aaron Paul currently on Westworld Season 4 on Sunday nights on HBO, and he’ll be seen later this year (or next) in the upcoming season of Netflix’s Black Mirror. Bryan Cranston, meanwhile, has the second and final season of Showtime’s legal-ish drama Your Honor coming this fall. Head to our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see what else is on the way.

Last July, actor Bob Odenkirk unexpectedly had a heart attack while shooting Better Call Saul. News of the scary health situation hit the internet pretty quickly and with his future in doubt, fans responded with a massive outpouring of support. Now, a year later, Odenkirk is reflecting on all that support he received, and he responded with a touching note to fans.

The fifty-nine-year-old actor took to Twitter to reflect on his situation and salute all the unnamed people who gave him “a wave of goodwill and warmth.” You can check out his thoughtful note below…

Bob Odenkirk talked publicly about what happened during his health emergency a few months ago. The Emmy winner was on the set of Better Call Saul shooting a scene when he had a heart attack. Co-stars Rhea Seehorn and Patrick Fabian immediately alerted the health officers Angie Meyer and Rosa Estrada, who performed CPR and even used a defibrillator. Odenkirk revived after three tries with the defibrillator and was rushed to the hospital, where he eventually made a full recovery.

Both because there are so many fans of Odenkirk’s work and also likely because he was young and seemed so healthy, the collective reaction to his heart attack on the internet was one of complete shock and sadness. Co-star Michael McKean, longtime collaborator David Cross and so many more sent out messages of hope and strength and hundreds of thousands of fans joined them in their well-wishes. Odenkirk later said on a podcast that he wasn’t shown any of the messages for a few weeks while he was recovering, but he said he’ll spend the rest of his life thinking about and appreciating all that love. 

The final season of Better Call Saul is currently airing on AMC. There are three episodes to go with the series officially concluding on August 15th. Response to the entire show has been extremely positive with six Emmy nominations for Outstanding Drama Series, as well as a slew of nominations for its various brilliant actors including Bob Odenkirk. 

In addition to Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad which it spun off from, Odenkirk has spent his career doing a wide variety of different things and has a ton of great movies and TV show appearances. He started as a writer and worked on a variety of projects including The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live and The Ben Stiller Show. He also starred on Mr. Show alongside David Cross and played a variety of supporting roles in movies. More recently, he also expanded into the action genre with the lead role in the film Nobody and has other exciting projects on the horizon. Hopefully he has a few more decades of incredible performances to come.

Spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched the Better Call Saul midseason finale, so be warned!

Better Call Saul fans are a crafty and perceptive bunch, so as Season 6 went into its hiatus on an episode titled “Plan and Execution,” I can’t imagine many viewers thought the alluded-to “execution” would be of the completely non-fatal variety. At the very least, one might have anticipated the kind of execution that wouldn’t leave a big gory mess on Jimmy and Kim’s living room floor. Alas, the episode ended with one of the Breaking Bad prequel’s most heartbreaking and completely avoidable deaths — even topping Nacho’s self-telegraphed exit — and it legitimately makes me want to stop watching the show. 

To be sure, my wavering interest in halting all Better Call Saul viewing is not coming from a place of anger or disgust with the show, nor its creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. This is easily one of my favorite television series in any and all capacities, and is as worthy a bookend for Breaking Bad as anyone could have imagined. But that’s essentially why I feel so hesitant to keep watching when Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn return to our screens for the back half of Season 6, because it seems like only grief and pain are on the horizon. Let’s break that thought down a bit. 

We Have Seen Jimmy And Kim At Their Worst, And There's Still Room To Fall

Despite knowing all of the heinous crimes and drug-related “business” that Saul Goodman gets into during the Breaking Bad years with Bryan Cranston’s Walter White, Better Call Saul has performed such a tight-rope act in giving Jimmy and Kim’s story enough empathy and levity to keep them cemented as this show’s protagonists. But by digging their claws into a relatively innocent patsy like Patrick Fabian’s Howard, all for their own self-indulgence, they both lost any and all semblance of being “the good guys” in this story. Not that many others beyond Mike’s grandkid and her mother are actually “good” people in this tale.

Again, we knew Saul would fall farther than anyone, considering both his Slippin’ Jimmy history and how completely distanced and anti-emotional Saul is during Breaking Bad, but the fact that Kim went along for the ride so willingly is heartbreaking in and of itself. She was the one who pushed for their massive scheme to go forward even in the face of the arm-cast setback, thus setting that day’s deadly events in motion. And let’s not forget she was also the one who previously stood up to Lalo in Season 5, proving herself to be a less cockroach-y adversary than Jimmy. So if avoiding the rest of Better Call Saul’s final batch of episodes means that Kim can continue to live on in my mind as not-quite-a-monster, that’s not such a bad thing, right? 

I Don't Want To Know What Happens To Howard's Body That Keeps His Death A Secret

As much as Jimmy and Howard had a weird antagonistic relationship throughout the show’s run, Better Call Saul has never set up Patrick Fabian’s lawyer as an outright villain, and it in fact put a bigger spotlight on the more dour elements of his private life with the first half of Season 6. So it was a complete worm-in-the-apple catastrophe for Lalo to have re-entered Jimmy and Kim’s home while Howard was in the midst of calling his former colleagues out for their career-harming shenanigans. Because Howard’s death was so violent and clearly the product of murder, it almost definitely means more awful things will be done with the character’s body when the season returns. 

There’s almost no way Jimmy and Kim will call any proper authority figures over to report the death, with or without Lalo around, given how that would look for their respective careers. So the likeliest outcome is that they will have to get rid of Howard’s body themselves, possibly in a way that calls back to how Walter White disposed of Crazy-8’s body in Breaking Bad, which was definitely a point of no return for that character’s journey. Not only will that disposal further make me wary of watching Jimmy and Kim's descent, but it probably also means Howard will be “missing” going forward, putting more pressure on the lawyers from Ed Begley Jr.’s Clifford Main, who is the only person that knows “the truth” about everything. Howard's wife probably won't be too thrown, though.

I Dunno If I Can Handle What Lalo's Next Move Is

Lalo has been a murderous menace from even before he was actually introduced, and it’s been a delight to watch the effortlessly charismatic Tony Dalton immerse himself in the role. But we’re at the endgame now, and if he’s willing to just walk into people’s homes and shoot well-dressed strangers in the head without context, there’s truly no way to know what will happen next. But considering Howard, Nacho, and Kim have been the three Better Call Saul character whose fates during Breaking Bad were questioned the most, Lalo’s shift in plans doesn’t bode well for Kim in the slightest. 

The Season 6 premiere’s cold open gave viewers a glimpse of that Zafiro Añejo bottle top, which serves as something of a metaphor for backhanded success in this show, and many saw it as a keepsake Saul kept to remember Kim by, presuming she left Jimmy in one uncomfortable way or another. Obviously, I’m hoping for the best case scenario, which is that Kim becomes the first character in this TV world to call up Ed the Vacuum-Repairing Disapearer, as portrayed by the late Robert Forster in Breaking Bad and in the follow-up film El Camino. But Lalo would probably have to make Kim’s life a lot worse for that to be the “happy” ending, and I dunno if I want to experience all that.

That’s only thinking about Kim, too, and not taking into account whatever metaphorical house of horrors Lalo has in mind for Giancarlo Esposito’s Gus Fring. The fan-favorite drug kingpin still isn’t quite the all-hardened monster that viewers first met in Breaking Bad, and it stands to reason that whatever transpires with Lalo in the final episodes will be the catalyst for Fring’s overtly stony stoicism in later years. Will Lalo put Fring through some kind of violent torture that forever scars the Los Pollos Hermanos founder in ways viewers were never able to see in Breaking Bad? I can’t help but think that Lalo does something horrific to Fring’s manhood, but that’s a theory for another time, and one that I already don’t want to think about, or watch. 

Of all the TV and streaming shows ending this year, Better Call Saul will be one of the hardest to say goodbye to, since this universe has become such a dependable source of entertainment and meticulously parceled-out tension. I know I’m going to be right back in front of my television when the show returns to AMC with its final episodes on Monday, July 11, but I also know I’m going to regret it in some way, likely for the reasons shared above. Until then, though, I’ll probably go back and rewatch the first five seasons with a Netflix subscription.

With all the MCU fare on the way for Disney+ subscribers, it shouldn’t be surprising that not even the recent release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness could quell fans’ eagerness to witness footage of Tatiana Maslany going green for She-Hulk. Thankfully, Marvel dropped the first trailer for the show, and revealed the legal comedy’s new title, She-Hulk: Attorney At Law. The quirky promo featured appearances from Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk and Tim Roth’s return as Emil “Abomination” Blonsky, and it quickly caught the attention of the masses. And I don’t mean only Marvel fans, as it also caught the shifty eyes of Better Call Saul’s titular superhero (a term used as loosely as humanly possible).

Amidst all the happiness and hoopla on social media from fans celebrating Orphan Black vet Tatiana Maslany’s transformation into Jennifer Walters, Better Call Saul’s Twitter page left an apparent seal of approval for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which can be seen below. 

I don’t think anybody is going to argue against that point, at least not in a court of law, and with the understanding that we’re keeping that opinion central to just these two shows for the moment. As amazing as everyone is in Better Call Saul, from Tony Dalton’s chilling scenes as Lalo to Giancarlo Esposito in Alpha-Villain mode as Gus Fring to Jonathan Banks' steely determination as Mike, the AMC drama lives and dies by the on-screen presence and chemistry shared by Bob Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman (or Jimmy McGill, depending on what season you’re on) and Rhea Seehorn’s Kim Wexler. 

Sure, it’d be a totally different show without all the Breaking Bad connections, but the point remains. And so in that respect, the best people (in Better Call Saul) are lawyers, which is indeed a fact. This probably doesn't wholly apply to Howard Hamlin, at least in Saul's eyes, but exceptions count here. 

From what we can tell by the trailer, Jennifer also seems like an upstanding person ahead of all the hulk-ification and whatnot. But is she still the best “person” when in She-Hulk mode? Are Hulks people, too? That sounds like something that Saul Goodman could argue in either direction, depending on which way paid more. Not that any of Saul’s clientele are as reputable as any version of Hulk within the MCU. 

That Twitter comment, while fairly inconsequential overall, is capable of inspiring mounds and mounds of fan fiction centering on crossovers between the Better Call Saul-verse and that of She-Hulk, along with the rest of the MCU. What better (And nerdier) courtroom boss fight could there be than a brawl with She-Hulk and Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock facing off against Saul Goodman and Kim Wexler? Somebody create that stop-motion animated film ASAP, please. 

While that Better Call She-Hulk mash-up will likely never come to be, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law now has an official premiere date for Disney+ on Wednesday, August 17. Check out our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see everything that’ll be popping up before then.

Spoilers below for the Season 6 premiere of Better Call Saul, so be warned if you haven’t yet watched!

After what feels like a 40-year hiatus, Better Call Saul has finally returned to AMC for the already acclaimed first half of its sixth and final season, with Bob Odenkirk’s character digging his claws deeper into the Saul Goodman persona as Rhea Seehorn’s Kim embarks on becoming an immoral monster of her own. Meanwhile, Michael Mando’s Nacho is a walking target from every single direction, Gus is still attempting to keep his cartel-defying crimes hidden, and the Kettlemans are apparently just as miserable as ever running a tax fraud scheme in the middle of the desert.

As awesome as it was to catch up with Jeremy Shamos and Julie Ann Emery’s Craig and Betsy Kettleman after not seeing them since Season 1, I think most fans would agree the most enjoyable thing about Better Call Saul’s first two episodes was poring over everything that happened and seeking out easter eggs and callbacks. Similar to how it goes for every BCS episode that came before it. And that brings us to the topics at hand, as we’ll be going over four specific moments and details from the first two episodes that felt like major clues pointing to what’s ahead for these characters. 

The Zafiro Añejo Bottle Stopper

Better Call Saul is among many different TV shows coming to a close in 2022, and arguably has more answers to deliver than just about any other projects out there. So naturally, the premiere kicked off with an opening that bucked expectations for anyone waiting to see what’s happening with Gene in the flash-forward timeline. Instead of purely black-and-white moments, the opening moments of “Wine and Roses” focused on a new point in time soon after the events of Breaking Bad’s finale. With Walter White’s crimes now known to authorities, the entirety of Saul Goodman’s home life is up for investigation, and what a lavishly gaudy home life it apparently was.

The excess on display in Saul’s home was legitimately hilarious to witness, even as it was all coming down. The most important elements weren’t the expensive decor or questionable golden toilet, though, but rather the objects that were purposefully held from easy viewing. Such as the Mesa Verde cowboy photo in the “No Value” box or, more importantly, the Zafiro Añejo tequila bottle top that fell out of a desk as it was being loaded into a van. 

The tip-top-shelf Zafiro Añejo tequila is a popular brand within this show, as it’s what Gus Fring used to poison Don Eladio and other cartel bigwigs in Breaking Bad. More importantly here, Kim is known to have kept the stopper as a keepsake from her and Saul sharing a bottle in celebration a few seasons back. So for it to be amongst all of Saul Goodman’s possessions from the Breaking Bad timeline is possibly telling. But of what? Does it mean Kim remained part of his life through some of his money-oozing success, and forgot to take the topper with her? Or does it mean Saul kept it as a secondhand keepsake to remember Kim by after…whatever happens to her happens? I’d prefer to go the optimistic route, but one can never safely do that in this universe. Whatever the case may be, the stopper pulling such obvious focus right from the jump is no doubt a major clue for what’s to come. 

Meeting At The El Camino Diner

While the neon El Camino Diner sign was previously seen in press photos released ahead of Better Call Saul’s Season 6 premiere, it wasn’t clear how or if it would be of any importance within the episodes themselves. As fans witnessed, though, that location featured a pretty important scene between Saul and Kim that didn’t take leaps of logic to thematically connect to Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman, the main focus of the El Camino tie-in feature.

Generally speaking, the sequence features Kim telling Saul about her patsy-esque client (who was wearing one of Saul’s drab Jimmy-era suits), who was conned into becoming an accomplice by a rich friend, and was taking the fall for the friend’s crimes, simply because he couldn’t afford legal representation. That rings slightly familiar regarding Jesse’s situation, where even though he was at first more consensual about his wrongdoing with Walt, his situation became much worse due to others actions outside of his interests. 

Perhaps more importantly, the scene possibly echoed the “new” Walt and Jesse scene that factored into El Camino, as it took place during the point in Season 2 when Walt still held his family and Jesse in high regard, and made efforts to protect them. It was the ragged calm before the storm (who knocks), and Saul’s conversation with Kim certainly felt like a similar point of no return. Had Saul chosen not to pull on the thread, this might have been a different season, but by agreeing to hear Kim’s plan, he opted to blow up the dam that unleashed a more aggressively scheme-minded Mega-Wexler.  

Gus Fring's Broken Glass

Some of the rarest occurrences in the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul universes involve “Gus Fring sliding .5 degrees down on the scale of cucumber-coolness.” The reason why he ascended into crime boss legend is because he doesn’t slip, he doesn’t crack, and he doesn’t show weakness. So when he does, it’s all the more obvious that things are defaulting to chaos inside his head. Which was possibly the case in the episode “Carrot and Stick” when Fring fumbled his attempt to get water and broke a glass on the floor.

As meticulous as his clean-up tactics were, the crack in Fring’s armor was already witnessed, which is possibly why he went in such an ill-advised direction with his next move: demanding Mike track down Nacho’s father to use him as bait to draw Nacho back. Perhaps if he hadn’t broken anything, Giancarlo Esposito’s Fring might have calmly come up with another option for where to take things next, but his request rubbed Jonathan Banks’ Mike the wrong way. 

Nacho’s situation with his father is on the right side of Mike’s empathy, and by calling for this selfish play, Fring is already building a boundary of mistrust between him and the man who will later be his most trusted enforcer. And thus, he’s already giving Mike ammunition to work against him in the future when he threatens others’ more innocent families and relationships. 

Lalo Faking His Own Death 

Lalo’s first Better Call Saul scene in Season 6 was something of a confusing one upon first watch, though no less watchable given Tony Dalton’s menacing skills in the role. But it was later made clear that his advice for the ZZ Top lookalike to shave his facial hair was Lalo’s intentional ploy to pose that dude’s dead body as his own, so that others in the criminal underworld would think he was dead. Granted, Hector Salamanca mucked it all up by appearing to be happy for the first time in his miserable life, thus tipping Fring off, but still…

If Lalo was able to successfully fake his death once, who’s to say he wouldn’t be able to do the same thing again, but on a grander scale? One can only assume that his faux demise will be revealed to other main characters in Season 6, considering Saul still thinks he’s alive and coming after him during his first appearance on Breaking Bad. And the going idea is that he’s going to go to war with Fring during this final season, ending with him dead and buried, with Fring going on to run everything. 

But what if Lalo once again is able to put his trickery to use at the end of that war? Only instead of immediately coming back with retribution in mind, he goes into a more permanent state of hiding, similar to Gene’s situation in Omaha. Hell, it’s even possible that the late Robert Forster ’s Ed the Disappearer could be the one who sets Lalo up with a new life. What more fucked up way for Better Call Saul to end than by having Lalo return in the future timeline to make good on the fear Saul felt during his initial Breaking Bad introduction?

Better Call Saul is only one of AMC’s best shows that are currently available for streaming, so keep yourself busy with those while waiting for the spinoff drama’s new episodes, which air Sunday nights on AMC at 9:00 p.m. ET. 

The time we’ve been waiting for with equal parts anticipation and dread is finally upon us (almost), as Better Call Saul’s final season is set to premiere on Monday, April 18. As Bob Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman gets chronologically closer to Walter White’s Breaking Bad universe, we’re finally about to find out the fates of characters including Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), Nacho Varga (Michael Mando) and Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton), among others who weren’t featured in the flagship series. Critics got the jump on the rest of us and have viewed the first two episodes, and to be expected, they aren't keeping mum about what they think of the beginning of the end.

Season 6 will be divided into two parts, with the first seven episodes premiering on April 18, and the second six coming July 11. Anticipation has been high, especially since the production suffered a huge scare when Bob Odenkirk collapsed from a heart attack on set. It’s been a couple of years since Season 5 ended, so if you need a refresher, check out these things to remember before Better Call Saul Season 6. Now that we’re all caught up, let’s check out the reviews.

Darren Franich of EW grades the first two episodes an A-, saying the series continues to introduce tantalizing mysteries even while hurtling toward its finish, and only the best artists can pull a con like that. 

Steve Greene of IndieWire gives it an A, saying it’s an “exquisite” start to the final season, and that the Breaking Bad prequel continues to maintain an impossibly high bar for itself with wicked humor, a trademark visual vocabulary and metric tons of dread:

Another critic who uses the word “exquisite” is Liz Shannon Miller of Consequence. She says every element of the first two episodes is working hard to make sure the audience is engaged in the show’s biggest questions, including the mystery of how it’s all going to end:

Drew Dietsch of Giant Freakin Robot rates the beginning of the final season 5 out of 5 robots. He says while Breaking Bad will always be classic TV, Better Call Saul has eclipsed its predecessor, and we should be thankful to be alive in a time when this show was airing:

Daniel D’Addario of Variety is the rare critic who found faults in the first two episodes, as he continues to struggle with the series’ tone. However, he says Season 6 is ultimately worth watching, if mainly because Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn’s acting together is as strong as it’s ever been:

Only nine critics have offered their judgments on the first two episodes on Rotten Tomatoes, but as of this writing, Better Call Saul’s final season is rated 100% Fresh. I don’t know about you, but these reviews made me more excited than ever to see what happens next — especially after the recent confirmation that Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul will reprise their Breaking Bad roles at some point this season! 

The first two episodes of Better Call Saul Season 6 will air at 9 p.m. ET Monday, April 18, with one episode per week airing in that timeslot thereafter. While we wait (impatiently), be sure to check out our 2022 TV Schedule to see what other new and returning shows are premiering soon.

As someone who has been a fan of both television and film for some time, there’s one name that I’ve seen pop up pretty consistently in some of my favorite projects, and it's that of Bob Odenkirk. Whether he's starring in critically acclaimed television shows or having roles in Academy Award-nominated movies, Bob Odenkirk has shown just how amazing he is as an actor. 

If you’re like me and you’re looking for the best Bob Odenkirk movies and TV shows that are streaming right now, or available to rent, check out some of these picks below. 

Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul (2009 - Present)

While Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are two very different shows, they take place in the same universe. Breaking Bad tells the story of Walter White, a seemingly normal man who builds a meth empire to provide for his family after he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Better Call Saul is a prequel spinoff of that show, telling the story of lawyer / scammer Saul Goodman - otherwise known as Jimmy McGill - who's played by Bob Odenkirk. 

Arguably, this is where many people heard about Bob Odenkirk, because his portrayal of Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad was so good, it warranted a whole new series that is about to enter its sixth and final season. And, for good reason, too. It’s a sin that Odenkirk has yet to win a Primetime Emmy award for his portrayal throughout the two shows, as he is phenomenal and really showed his acting talent. If you have never seen either of these series, I’d recommend watching Breaking Bad first, and then Better Call Saul. S’all good, man!

Stream Breaking Bad on Netflix.
Stream Better Call Saul on Netflix.

The Incredibles 2 (2018)

Like nearly every celebrity under the sun, Bob Odenkirk signed on to voice a role in a Pixar film, this one being The Incredibles 2. A sequel to the film, The Incredibles, this movie follows the super-powered family as they take on a new, secret job that could change the lives of supers everywhere. 

While Bob Odenkirk’s character in The Incredibles 2 is quite different from Saul Goodman or any of his other characters, you can tell straight away that it’s him. His character, Winston, is loud and kind of naive but a great character to follow, and loves superheroes almost as much as we do. His voice was the perfect casting, as only Bob Odenkirk could bring that energy to a character like Winston.

Stream The Incredibles 2 on Disney+.
Rent The Incredibles 2 on Amazon.

Nobody (2021)

This movie is awesome and everyone needs to see it. In Nobody, Bob Odenkirk stars as Hutch, a man whose family is robbed one night and he refuses to fight back to avoid violence. This one instance sparks something deep within him, pushing him down a dark path of rage that no one ever expected, and him having to save his family from a new enemy. 

This movie was so good. Watching Bob Odenkirk in it only further proved the fact that the man can also hold our attention in an action film, and makes me want to see him in more movies like this, making this one of his best films. I didn’t think I could ever be afraid of Bob Odenkirk, and yet here I am, quivering in fear of this man who could literally punch the heck out of me. Now, if Nobody 2 could happen, I think that would help. 

Stream Nobody on HBO Max.
Buy Nobody on Amazon.

Mr. Show With Bob And David (1995 - 1998)

This hilarious sketch show, Mr. Show with Bob and David, starring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, was a sketch comedy series on HBO that starred the two actors as semi-fictionalized versions of themselves, as they go back and forth between filmed segments and performing in front of a live studio audience. 

Before Bob Odenkirk became well-known as an actor, he was primarily a comedy writer - which isn’t that hard to believe with how skillful his comedic timing is as Saul in Better Call Saul. He wrote for Saturday Night Live, The Ben Stiller Show, LateNight with Conan O’Brien, and more, so it’s no surprise that his sketch show is freaking hilarious and deserves its spot on the list. Seriously, if you ever want a taste of his comedy style, just watch this series. They actually did another show together on Netflix in 2015, called W/Bob and David, so if you want to see a more updated version, be sure to check that out, too.

Stream the Mr. Show with Bob and David on HBO Max.

Nebraska (2013)

In this Academy Award-nominated movie, Nebraska follows the story of the struggle of a resident of Montana and his son to try and claim a sweepstakes prize, as they travel across the country all the way to Nebraska. 

Bob Odenkirk played Ross Grant, the eldest son of the sweepstakes winner in Nebraska, and his performance was spot-on, giving a masterful example of dramatic acting. While he's had other dramatic roles, nothing quite beats his part as Ross, displaying a beautiful array of emotions that capture your heart from beginning to end. I especially loved his moments with Will Forte, who played his younger brother, as their chemistry was great. The film was nominated for six Oscars, and while it didn’t win any, it’s still a great film that you should definitely watch. 

Rent Nebraska on Amazon.

Fargo (2014)

While Fargo is an anthology television series that is based off the movie of the same name, we’re specifically going to talk about Season 1 of the popular dark comedy from FX. In this season, set in the state of Minnesota, two police officers try to solve a series of crimes that might be linked to a dangerous partnership. 

In the first season, Bob Odenkirk plays Bill Oswalt, the Chief of Police who works very closely with the two main characters, Deputy Molly Solverson and Officer Gus Grimly. As an officer, his character is changed and pushed to his biggest limits during the season, and Odenkirk delivered a stellar performance, earning it a spot on this list. 

It’s always funny to see Odenkirk in a role that shows him as someone who works for justice after knowing how great he is as Saul, but honestly, I would have liked to see more of him in Fargo if it wasn’t for the fact that series is an anthology show - and I’m still waiting for Season 5 to begin. 

Stream Fargo on Hulu.

Undone (2019 - Present)

From the creator of Bojack Horseman, this animated Amazon Prime original, Undone, follows the story of Alma (Rosa Salazar), a young woman who discovers that she's developed the ability to move through time after a fatal car crash. After the strange death of her father, she decides to use that new power to discover the truth about what happened to him.

Bob Odenkirk actually plays Jacob Winograd, Alma's dead father and honestly, I absolutely love he and Salazar in this animated series. His voice suits the character of Jacob so perfectly, and the they voice a truly spectacular story that takes you on some crazy adventures. I especially love the scenes with he and Alma, as you can really feel that fatherly love that he has and the emotions he can show just through his voice. Truly a perfect casting and deserving of this spot.

It’s one of Amazon Prime’s best shows, in my opinion, and deserves way more credit. 

Stream Undone on Amazon Prime.

The Post (2017)

In this biographical drama, The Post follows the story of The Washington Post, and the struggles it went through to break the case that changed the world of politics - the Pentagon Papers. 

The cast of The Post was huge, but Bob Odenkirk actually portrayed Ben-hur Haig Bagdikian, an Armenian-American journalist, and the man who initially received part of the Pentagon Papers and urged the Washington Post to publish them, even when he was threatened by the government. Odenkirk was absolutely amazing in his role, alongside the rest of this brilliant cast. While he wasn't nominated for any awards after his part in the film, Odenkirk delivered a gripping performance that will leave you wanting more - fully bringing the real-life journalist to life.

If The Post wasn’t on your radar, it should be now. 

Rent The Post on Amazon.

Little Women (2019)

Based on the famous novel by Louisa May Alcott, Little Women follows the lives of four sisters, and their struggles to change and grow up, moving on from childhood into adulthood with their own passions and dreams, some of which don’t align with how society works. 

Bob Odenkirk played Father March, the patriarch of the March family and ugh, I could cry watching his version of this famous character. Just the way he says “my little women” makes me want to sob every time, because he plays this role so undeniably well, showing just how hard it is to run a family from afar and still try to be there for his girls. His part always makes me cry, which is why it's one of the best movies of his. There are so many fascinating facts about Little Women and it was nominated for several awards, but one of my favorite parts of this movie has always been Odenkirk’s performance, hands down. 

Buy Little Women on Apple TV.

Long Shot (2019)

Last but not least, we have Long Shot. This romantic comedy, starring Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron, tells the story of a former babysitter and the person she used to babysit reuniting now as adults, with one being a journalist and the other the U.S. Secretary of State. This reunion leads to new relationships, drama, and more. 

While I do love Rogen and Theron’s chemistry in this film that surprisingly impressed me, I can’t deny that Bob Odenkirk as the freaking President of the United States made me laugh. Every single damn time he was on the screen when I first watched this film, I was laughing my ass off because I was reminded of, again, how funny Bob Odenkirk is. I would give anything to see him play a dumb-as-nails president again, because he kills it in the best way possible, which is why this movie needs to be on this list. He's just so good in comedic roles; he makes me laugh every single time.

Stream Long Shot on HBO Max.
Rent Long Shot on Amazon.

With Better Call Saul Season 6 releasing in 2022, it’ll only be a matter of time before we see more of Bob Odenkirk. But, until then, hopefully any of these movies or TV shows will be able to hold you over.  

It was the first question out of every Breaking Bad fan’s mouth as soon as the prequel series Better Call Saul was announced: Will we see Walter White and Jesse Pinkman? As the Bob Odenkirk-led series’ final season is set to premiere April 18, we finally have a definitive answer. Co-creator Peter Gould confirmed that Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul will reprise their roles and guest star in Season 6 of Better Call Saul, and based on what he and Odenkirk have said, I think fans have reason to be really excited about this.

Saul Goodman was introduced in Season 2 of Breaking Bad as the sleazy attorney who Walt and Jesse kidnapped in an attempt to make sure his client Badger doesn’t rat them out. Saul did help them, and continued to be an integral character for the rest of the series. Since Better Call Saul went back in time to show Saul’s transition from a fledgling public defender into the character we came to know, it was unclear whether Walt and Jesse would have a place in that universe. But speaking at PaleyFest LA (via Variety), Peter Gould finally gave us the confirmation we’d been waiting for.

This is amazing news for Breaking Bad fans. The fact that Peter Gould is out-right confirming that we’re going to see Walt and Jesse makes me think they planned something epic. Otherwise why get fans’ hopes up? Co-creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould know how much these characters mean to fans, and they’ve given us no reason to think seeing Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul reprising the roles will be anything less than satisfying.

Bob Odenkirk himself joined in on the teasing, following Peter Gould’s announcement by saying:

The co-creator cut the actor off before he could reveal any more, but that’s definitely enough information to push my excitement levels through the roof. Prior to that panel, Bob Odenkirk also had some interesting things to say to Variety on the PaleyFest red carpet:

Any excuse for a Breaking Bad binge, right? Does that mean that something is going to happen this season on Better Call Saul that changes something we thought we knew about the original series? 

Better Call Saul has already featured a number of crossover characters from Breaking Bad (other than Saul Goodman, of course) — notably Jonathan Banks’ Mike Ehrmantraut and Giancarlo Esposito’s Gus Fring. But in addition to the series regulars, fans have also been treated to cameo appearances by Walt’s brother-in-law Hank Schrader (Dean Norris) and his DEA agent partner Steve Gomez (Steven Michael Quezada), as well as fan favorite Gale Boetticher (David Costabile), Huell Babineaux (Lavell Crawford) and many others.

Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul have always expressed interest in appearing on Better Call Saul, and it’s super exciting to know we’ll have that to look forward to when the series returns. The first two episodes of Season 6 will air at 9 p.m. ET Monday, April 18, with one episode per week airing in that timeslot thereafter. If you need a refresher in the meantime, check out 6 things to remember ahead of Better Call Saul Season 6, and be sure to check out our 2022 TV Schedule to see what other new and returning shows are premiering soon.

Better Call Saul fans have been anxiously awaiting the final season of the acclaimed show and, now, at long last, it’s nearly here. Development and production on Season 6 was challenging, especially since it was marred by COVID-related delays. But filming was also marked by a particularly scary situation last summer when lead actor Bob Odenkirk was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack on set. Odenkirk has since recovered and, in the time since the incident, more details on the ordeal have been divulged. Tidbits about the scene the actor was filming have now come from the show’s co-creator and executive producer, Vince Gilligan. 

Both Better Call Saul and its predecessor, Breaking Bad, contain some very intense scenes, which could be tough for the stars to act out. Vince Gilligan has sat in the director’s chair for a number of those installments (and has churned out some amazing TV, in the process). When Deadline asked him and co-producer Peter Gould about Bob Odenkirk’s on-set heart attack at the BCS Season 6 premiere, Gilligan revealed that he was directing at the time and that the sequence was difficult to go back to after the medical emergency:

I don’t know about all of you, but I’m very intrigued. Given the ambitious nature of the drama series, it’s not too surprising that such a moment would be tricky to jump back into. It sounds like Vince Gilligan and co. were able to get things finished with no problem, though. One would imagine they were happy to get it done – and even more pleased that the leading man was doing well and back on set to perform it.

There was a massive outpouring of support from fans and celebrities after Bob Odenkirk’s on-set collapse. Breaking Bad alum Bryan Cranston was one of the many who sent well wishes. Odenkirk also received praise from the executive team at AMC amid the situation. A few days after the heart attack, the star eventually provided an optimistic update on his condition. Months later, he’d celebrate his return to the set of the show, which continued filming Saul Goodman-less scenes in his absence. 

Just a few weeks ago, the Nobody star opened up about the wild day. He recalled someone quickly giving him CPR until the ambulance arrived. During his recollection, he also expressed more gratitude for the support he received. The star doesn’t believe he deserves the kind sentiments but hopes he can show that he’s “worthy of” it. 

One thing he absolutely doesn’t have to prove he’s worthy of, however, is the praise he’s received for his work on Better Call Saul. Alongside Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, Bob Odenkirk has crafted one of the greatest television characters of all time. It’s unclear as to how the final season will play out but, with everything the group has experienced, they’ve definitely earned the right to relish this moment. And I’m sure the scene they were filming when Odenkirk had the heart attack will be yet another great moment for the show.

Better Call Saul makes its return to AMC for its sixth and final season on Monday, April 18th at 9 p.m. ET. It’s one of the many returning shows on CinemaBlend’s 2022 TV schedule.

One of the most anticipated TV debuts of 2022 is the final season of Better Call Saul, which will (at least for now) serve as the official final chapter within the Breaking Bad universe. As sad as that will be, considering how beloved the burgeoning criminal lawyer has become, at least it won’t be the last time we see Bob Odenkirk in action on the small screen. The genre-bending actor had already lined up a new comedy project with former Mr. Show co-creator David Cross, but has now set up his next big dramatic role, and he’ll be sticking with the AMC family for it.

AMC Networks has locked Bob Odenkirk in for a potential new series in the form of the drama Straight Man, based on the celebrated novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo. While the project is currently in the in-development phase, the announcement noted that AMC is fast-tracking things on the path to a hopeful series order. 

Straight Man would focus on Bob Odenkirk as William Henry Devereaux, Jr., who serves as the chairman of the English department at Railton College, a severely underfunded institution located in Pennsylvania’s Rust Belt. Given the rough state of things, Devereaux enters into a mid-life crisis, and one can only imagine how well Odenkirk will sell that portrayal, given his bumbling everyman appeal. 

For its creative team, Straight Man boasts Aaron Zelman and Paul Lieberstein, who will serve as the writers and co-showrunners. Zelman is a former writer and/or executive producer on such successful and acclaimed dramas and thrillers as Law & Order, Criminal Minds, The Killing and Bloodline. Meanwhile, Lieberstein is more known for crafting comedic efforts alongside Greg Daniels, including writing for King of the Hill, Space Force and The Office, on which he starred as the put-upon Toby Flenderson. 

As he’s proven time and again on both Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, Bob Odenkirk knows how to draw laughs, how to anchor emotional drama, and how to bring audiences into a mindset of sheer terror. So tackling a project from Zelman and LIeberstein should be an enjoyable cakewalk for the actor. Here’s how he reacted to the news in the announcement:

This is huge news, and is further proof that Bob Odenkirk is showing no signs of slowing down after suffering a heart attack during production on Season 6. Thankfully, the actor was able to recover fairly quickly, and wrapped filming with the rest of the cast and crew in February. It’ll be bittersweet to see Saul/Jimmy/Gene bow out of our lives once and for all, with Better Call Saul joining plenty of other shows ending this year, but at least we can go into it knowing that he’ll probably be back on AMC with a new show before too long.

It’s presumed that Odenkirk’s English chairman won’t be shadowing as a meth cook in his spare time. While waiting to hear more about Straight Man, don’t forget that Odenkirk will also be reteaming with David Cross to create the satirical mockumentary series Guru Nation for Paramount+. In the meantime, Better Call Saul Season 5 is finally streaming for those with a Netflix subscription, so be sure to catch up before the final season debuts on AMC on Monday, April 18, at 8:00 p.m., with the first two episodes airing back to back.