Bob Odenkirk reveals he was bankrupt and in a 'financial hole' before landing his 'Breaking Bad' role

• Bob Odenkirk told Howard Stern that he was bankrupt before his role in "Breaking Bad."
• Odenkirk joined the critically acclaimed show during its second season as Saul Goodman.

Bob Odenkirk recalled how, after going bankrupt, his agent told him that he "couldn't say no" when he was offered a role in "Breaking Bad," the hit AMC show starring Bryan Cranston as Walter White.

"I get a phone call, 'They're gonna offer you a role on 'Breaking Bad,' the show 'Breaking Bad'' — not a popular show or a big show at the time — 'and don't say no,' my agent says," Odenkirk, who played lawyer Saul Goodman, told Howard Stern on Monday's episode of Stern's Sirius XM radio show.

"And I was like dude, I haven't said 'no' in a year and a half, but maybe you didn't notice that," he added.

Odenkirk, who had pivoted to directing at that time, revealed he was bankrupt prior to taking his role in the series after making several feature films that "weren't great" and didn't pay well. Odenkirk told Stern that he was visionless as a director, and ended up in a "financial hole" that resulted in a call from his business manager to sign a $900,000 loan to "keep afloat."

Afterwards, Odenkirk said that he went to a different business manager who told him to just "bring some money through." Odenkirk told GQ in 2015 that he spent the years 2003 to 2007 "trying different things," from directing commercials to acting more to writing TV pilots.

The "Better Call Saul" star directed the 2006 movie "Let's Go to Prison," starring Will Arnett and Dax Shepard, and the 2007 film "The Brothers Solomon," starring Kristen Wiig and Will Forte, which currently have a 13% and 16% Rotten Tomatoes critics score, respectively.

Finally, around 2008, he got the call from "Breaking Bad" showrunner Vince Gilligan about the Saul Goodman role, Odenkirk told GQ.

Odenkirk joined the show in its second season, remaining with "Breaking Bad" through the rest of its five-season run. He also stars in the prequel spinoff "Better Call Saul," which is set to conclude in 2022 with its sixth season premiering in April.

Despite the hit it would eventually become, "Breaking Bad" wasn't quite as popular during its first season, Odenkirk told Stern.

"I still checked it out, I still wanted to know what the hell the show was," Odenkirk said of the time after he was offered the role. "I called a friend, somebody I'd been writing with, Reid Harrison, and he goes, 'Oh, that's the best show on TV. You gotta do that. That's the best thing there is.'"