As Entertainment Weekly notes, Bob Odenkirk’s “Better Call Saul” claim was surely an elaborate gag he conjured for the jovial occasion. That seems even more likely, as his longtime friend and collaborator Vince Gilligan was actually in attendance and laughing it up. Still, as Odenkirk ran down the confrontation, he claimed, “Vince wanted my character to kill you in that scene.” After pointing out Gilligan was still denying the fact, Odenkirk kept the ploy going: “His exact words to me were, ‘Saul ends up killing Carol Burnett.'”
The “Breaking Bad” alum asserted he refused mostly because he didn’t want to be known as the guy who killed Carol Burnett, quipping, “I didn’t want little children who watched our show — and I hope many of them did — to see me on the street and say, ‘Mommy, that’s the man who killed Carol Burnett.'” Odenkirk then closed his set with a final, loving jab, saying, “That’s all I wanted to say. That I’m your real friend and Vince is not. And one more thing: Vince and I — and everybody on our show — we think you’re the greatest.”
Gilligan has, of course, spoken openly about why he kept Saul from harming Marion in that fateful moment, naming a myriad of other reasons for going that route. But given his penchant for knocking off characters on “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” it seems likely he at least thought about it.
