--- title: Q&A: Bob Odenkirk on Becoming the Man Who Would Be Saul description: The star of Better Call Saul on his much bigger workload, how Jimmy McGill is the same character only different, and why you can't keep Saul Goodman down. canonical: https://time.com/3695454/interview-bob-odenkirk-better-call-saul/ author: James Poniewozik article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-06T12:38:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:08:52.248Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Q&A: Bob Odenkirk on Becoming the Man Who Would Be Saul og:description: The star of Better Call Saul on his much bigger workload, how Jimmy McGill is the same character only different, and why you can't keep Saul Goodman down. og:url: https://time.com/3695454/interview-bob-odenkirk-better-call-saul/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1404e42228b33533/69877da1cd684813af09985d/2a3be742-6c7c-03a2-6617-a57c8a88dff8_portrait_jimmy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2a3be742-6c7c-03a2-6617-a57c8a88dff8_Portrait_Jimmy og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Q&A: Bob Odenkirk on Becoming the Man Who Would Be Saul twitter:description: The star of Better Call Saul on his much bigger workload, how Jimmy McGill is the same character only different, and why you can't keep Saul Goodman down. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1404e42228b33533/69877da1cd684813af09985d/2a3be742-6c7c-03a2-6617-a57c8a88dff8_portrait_jimmy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Q&A: Bob Odenkirk on Becoming the Man Who Would Be Saul > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [James Poniewozik](https://time.com/author/james-poniewozik/) ## James Poniewozik Feb 6, 2015 12:38 PM UTC  Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill, a.k.a. Saul Goodman Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill, a.k.a. Saul GoodmanBen Leuner/AMC by [James Poniewozik](https://time.com/author/james-poniewozik/) ## James Poniewozik Feb 6, 2015 12:38 PM UTC The long-awaited _Breaking Bad_ spinoff, _Better Call Saul_, premieres Sunday, Feb. 8, on AMC (before settling in to its regular Monday night timeslot). As I wrote in [my feature/review on the show](http://time.com/3686699/better-call-saul-review/) in the print TIME last week, the show represents a challenge that’s arguably tougher than creating a great TV drama: following it up with a pretty-good drama. I’ve seen the first three episodes, and they pull it off: Saul is a show with different ambitions and a different kind of protagonist from _Breaking Bad_, but it’s solidly entertaining, with a familiar streak of dark humor. Making the show was also a new challenge for star Bob Odenkirk, who appears in nearly every scene of these early episodes, a tall commitment even by cable-drama standards. I talked to him by phone from Los Angeles before I wrote my piece (see also [my earlier interview with Vince Gilligan](http://time.com/3694327/interview-vince-gilligan-better-call-saul/)), and here’s some of what he had to say: **Can you talk first about shooting the series just personally in terms of workload? How this was different from when you were working on** **_Breaking Bad_** **?** Bob Odenkirk: Oh, the workload is exponentially, by a factor of one thousand, greater. I mean, my part in _Breaking Bad_ wasn’t that large. I would fly in, do my part, and go home sometimes the same day. Flew to Albuquerque, shot, and then came home. This time, I moved there for four and a half months and there were whole weeks where I was in every scene. So yeah, very different. I had to work harder by a lot. **Does it to any extent feel like you’re playing a different character, in that you’re playing Jimmy McGill before he becomes the Saul that we knew?** That is something Vince \[Gilligan\] and Peter \[Gould\] thought about, and I thought about it too. I don’t think that they’ve broken the story or character logic they established in _Breaking Bad_. You see in Jimmy McGill tons of Saul Goodman moments. You see him talking, thinking, behaving like Saul Goodman many, many times in every episode. But I do think that they’ve added so many layers and they’ve taken us so far behind the persona of Saul that there does come a point where you almost ask, Wait, is this a different guy? It can feel that way. It’s just so much richer, but you could isolate throughout every episode moments that you could just say are from _Breaking Bad_. They’re pure Saul. I think that the real answer to that is: how different can a person’s persona be from their public face? Which is to say Saul Goodman as we met him is very different. I think that’s realistic–how differently do I behave in church, at my office, at a family gathering, when I’m working versus when I’m alone? We all have different personas and different ways of being depending on the circumstances and where we find ourselves. **How long ago did you start talking about doing the series?** It goes all the way back to almost the first time I played Saul. Everyone joked about it on the crew but then Vince about it in my second season \[season three of _Breaking Bad_\]. I was walking down the hall in Albuquerque, he was doing the closing episode of season three, and he said, referencing the jokes everyone was making: What do you think about a show just about Saul? I said what I’ve always said, and said every time he said it afterwards, which is, if you write it I’ll do it. I didn’t want to put any pressure on him with some hopes that I had. I just wanted him to feel confident about his own inspiration. **Having watched the four seasons of** **_Breaking Bad_** **that you were in, I know why it’s such a pleasure to watch this character. But as somebody who plays him, I assume you’ve got to find what you connect with in him. Like what do you like about Jimmy McGill?** I like that he is indefatigable. You can’t stop him. He’s struggling to do the right thing and the right thing isn’t easy to figure out. And I like his journey. I like what Vince and Peter are examining here, with a person trying to become themselves and fit in and be appreciated. I like his stoicism. And honestly having watched only one \[episode\] I like – it’s funny and sad to see a guy you like struggle so much. It’s funny to see him digging a hole as he tries to dig himself out of a hole. **You’ve seen just one episode?** Yeah. **Do you like to watch your own shows in general?** I’m going to watch them when they air. I love the idea of getting to watch them like a viewer and be surprised by what is happening, you know, when something that I’ve forgotten happens. I look forward to it. I can’t wait to see the show! ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3695454/interview-bob-odenkirk-better-call-saul/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3695454/interview-bob-odenkirk-better-call-saul/"},"headline":"Q&A: Bob Odenkirk on Becoming the Man Who Would Be Saul","datePublished":"2015-02-06T12:38:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:08:52.248Z","description":"The star of Better Call Saul on his much bigger workload, how Jimmy McGill is the same character only different, and why you can't keep Saul Goodman down.","url":"https://time.com/3695454/interview-bob-odenkirk-better-call-saul/","keywords":["Television","Interview","Bob Odenkirk","Better Call Saul"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1404e42228b33533/69877da1cd684813af09985d/2a3be742-6c7c-03a2-6617-a57c8a88dff8_portrait_jimmy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"James Poniewozik","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/james-poniewozik/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1404e42228b33533/69877da1cd684813af09985d/2a3be742-6c7c-03a2-6617-a57c8a88dff8_portrait_jimmy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2a3be742-6c7c-03a2-6617-a57c8a88dff8_Portrait_Jimmy","caption":"Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman - Better Call Saul _ Season 1, Gallery - Photo Credit: Ben Leuner/AMC","creditText":"Ben Leuner/AMC","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3695454/interview-bob-odenkirk-better-call-saul/","name":"Q&A: Bob Odenkirk on Becoming the Man Who Would Be Saul"}}]}] ```