Better Call Saul actor Bob Odenkirk has recently opened up about his “great sympathy” for James Gandolfini when the latter cited exhaustion for wanting to quit his long-time role as Tony Soprano on the widely popular crime show, The Sopranos.
Odenkirk is reprising his role as Saul Goodman on the fan favourite show’s sixth and final season this year, which is a spin-off to Breaking Bad.
Talking to The New York Times, Odenkirk said that he is ready to part ways with his character despite the act of letting go being quite “challenging”. He has played this character for more than a decade.
He admitted how he would previously scoff at actors who claimed it was indeed “hard” to let go of a character. However, he realised that the feeling of abandonment comes from years of investing one’s feelings, emotions and memories into the character.
He acknowledged stars like Cryan Cranston and Kames Gandolfini for carrying out similar tasks. “It gave me great sympathy for someone like James Gandolfini, who talked about how he couldn’t wait to be done with that character, and I think Bryan [Cranston] said similar things: ‘I can’t wait to leave this guy behind’,” he said, before adding, “ finally related to that attitude.”
Talking about how the show has “been the biggest thing” in his life, Odenkirk paid tribute to his character. Executive producer Thomas Schnauz had previously promised “physical and emotional violence” in the final season.
The sixth season will begin streaming in the United States on April 18th, 2022.
