Better call Chuck, Bob Odenkirk—and no, I don’t mean Michael McKean’s character Chuck McGill from the phenomenal Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. As it turns out, Odenkirk is related to the King of England himself, King Charles III—also known as the king with a prostate two sizes too large.
So, how did Jimmy McGill end up related to the head monarch of Britain? Here’s what you need to know.
How is Bob Odenkirk related to King Charles?
According to an upcoming Finding Your Roots episode, Odenkirk learned that he has family roots all the way back to the German Duke of Plön during the 18th century. Apparently, Odenkirk’s great-great-great (and so on) grandfather Friedrich Carl Steinholz was born out of wedlock.
“That is wild,” Odenkirk said while speaking with Henry Louis Gates Jr. That said, the Better Call Saul star didn’t really have strong feelings for the monarchy after learning his family heritage. Sure, Odenkirk admitted he felt like he was “part of history that I didn’t think I was any part of.” But in the end, Odenkirk sees himself as an American first, as someone who believes in democracy.
“I’m an American. I’m not a monarchist. I don’t believe in that,” Odenkirk said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “You know, I feel like it’s a little twisted. I understand why society built itself around monarchs and leaders, and they passed them down through generations. I understand that goes through every society, every civilization. But I think that we’ve gotten to a better place with democracy and we should keep going down that road.”
Then, Gates dropped a bomb on Odenkirk: King Charles is Odenkirk’s 11th cousin. The actor laughed in shock and surprise, blown away by the revelation. “Well, maybe I’ll change my mind on that,” he joked, seemingly refuting his last statement.
“Now, there you be trashing your family, how they make a living,” Gates quipped back. “You oughta be ashamed of yourself. You ain’t been royal for more than five minutes!”
It’s no big surprise that Odenkirk has contemporary royal roots these days. As Gates accurately put it, “all they did was marry each other.” Indeed, the European royals have kept the crown in the family, so to speak, for quite a long time during modern European history. Once Odenkirk was drawn into the equation, it was inevitable that someone in present-day royalty would be related to him.
But King Charles? Woof. Now that’s some chicanery.
(featured image: Sony)
