BOB ODENKIRK IS FEELING LUCKY!

NEARLY TWO YEARS AFTER A TERRIFYING HEART ATTACK, THE BETTER CALL SAUL ACTOR IS HEALTHY, STARRING ON A NEW SHOW, LUCKY HANK, AND EMBRACING A SLOWER-PACED LIFE

- AILI NAHAS

Bob Odenkirk beams as he shows off one of his latest projects: a children's book he created with his 22-year-old daughter Erin. "They're poems I wrote for the kids when they were little, and she did the illustrations," he says of Zilot & Other Important Rhymes, to be released this fall. "It's silly and beautiful and fun-and I can't tell you how excited it makes me."

The actor's TV career has been on an exhilarating roll lately-from the finale of his acclaimed series Better Call Saul last year to the launch of his new AMC show Lucky Hank, on which he plays a disillusioned college professor. But after a near-fatal heart attack less than two years ago while filming Saul's sixth and final season, Odenkirk says he's also ready to slow things down. "Big life changes are happening," says Odenkirk, 60. "I'm really trying to make some space: in my because when you race from one thing to the next, you deprive yourself of the fun of the experience." 

Now, as he reflects on the early struggles and unforeseen successes in his life, the dad of two (he and his wife of more than 25 years, comedy manager Naomi Odenkirk, also have son Nate, 24) is deeply grateful for his health and for the community that rallied around him. "I'm still coming to terms with what happened and the fact that people had such goodwill toward me and wanted me to be okay," Odenkirk says. "I can only be appreciative and try to make something good come from it all."