As over-the-top and exciting as the fights in Nobody 2 (2025) seem, they are grounded in the nuance of Bob Odenkirk’s performance as Hutch Mansell. The first Nobody film, released in 2021 and directed by Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore Henry, Heads of State), tells the suburban tale of an unhappy man bottling up his emotions and urge to do what he does best, until it boils over in a chance encounter inside a bus. The end result is a 90-minute adrenaline ride that made Odenkirk a bona fide action hero, with a fun ending that teased the idea of a potential sequel.
With a fresh new director in Timo Tjahjanto (The Night Comes for Us, The Shadow Strays) and the likes of Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd, RZA, Gage Munroe, and Paisley Cadorath all returning to play the Mansell family, Nobody 2 follows up on that tease with a vacation-themed action extravaganza that features a terrifying new threat for Hutch. In conjunction with the movie’s theatrical release, DiscussingFilm had the opportunity to sit down with star Bob Odenkirk for an exclusive interview! The actor discusses Hutch’s mindset in Nobody 2 and the philosophy behind the sequel’s action choreography, among other things.
Hutch Has a Penchant For Violence in Nobody 2
Whereas the first Nobody movie explored themes of restraint and being true to oneself, Nobody 2 delves into the lack of awareness some Americans experience when they are overworked. Odenkirk relates deeply to this, as the actor tells us that he’s “struggled” to give himself a break recently. On the other hand, though, Odenkirk also believes that sometimes, and especially in Hutch’s case, a job you love could make it hard to take a break:
Bob Odenkirk: “Certain jobs make it very hard for you to take a break. I think when your job really rises out of the inner core of who you are, which is often a beautiful and wonderful thing to have in a career, it’s hard to stop doing it. But you do need to take a break. In Hutch’s case, it’s exacting revenge, pushing back, fighting, and that’s not going to end well for him in the end, I don’t think.”
Nobody 2 catches audiences up with Hutch as an “auditor,” moving away from his old, boring desk job to now taking down targets in cramped elevators. His wife, Becca Mansell (Connie Nielsen), later confronts him for being consumed with his job. It’s an interesting antithesis to the problem of the first film. While Hutch has stopped denying himself what he’s good at, it’s become something of a problem. Odenkirk says the character is “cursed with a penchant,” with the creative team seeing Hutch’s confrontations with bad guys as an “addiction.”
Nobody 2 Combines Authentic Family Dynamics with Visceral Action
Despite the troubling notion of being addicted to violence, Odenkirk understands the genre he’s telling this story in. Hutch will always “have a happy ending within these magical films,” according to the actor. But in real life, “[Violence] is obviously a bad addiction to have.”
Courtesy of Universal
When discussing the evolution of action cinema, Odenkirk has plenty to say about the fascinating intersection of subgenres that the Nobody franchise represents. The first movie featured a mundane opening that hardly hinted at the carnage that would follow. As it turns out, the quieter moments in Nobody and Nobody 2 are crucial in propelling the entire narrative. It’s what excites Odenkirk the most as a performer.
Bob Odenkirk: “Movies are great because we get to act out things that we wouldn’t do in real life. In these films, Hutch gets to fight what we call a ‘big bad,’ like a James Bond-level villain, and those people don’t exist in the real world. So, it’s magic. At some point, the films become a magical, purely cinematic construction. However, the core feelings and the life that we detail in the first 10 to 15 minutes of each of these are authentic. Hutch thinks he has a good balance, but he doesn’t. He’s out of balance. He just doesn’t want to admit it.”
Bob Odenkirk’s Unconventional Action Hero Continues to Resonate with Fans
At the end of the day, Odenkirk had the moviegoer in mind more than anything else when making Nobody 2. The first film, which has an impressive 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, clearly resonated with viewers. Hutch isn’t incompetent. Yet, he’s far from the invincible likes of John Wick (Keanu Reeves) or Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). In Nobody 2, Odenkirk doubles down on that relatability, crafting an action icon whose violent tendencies and outlandish situations he finds himself in have something human at the center
Bob Odenkirk: “I asked myself, what was it about the first movie that resonated so much with people all around the world? As fun as the fights were, and our team invented some amazing stunts, I think a lot of people also went, ‘I know how he feels.’ I wanted to capture that on screen again. In the sequel, you can see that I’m trying to convey the notion of, ‘I recognize the troubled and challenging dynamic of a family here.’”
How the Fight Choreography Evolved for this Sequel
Much of the original Nobody‘s charming relatability stemmed from its unconventional action choreography. The 87North Production features signature attention to detail and realistic responses from everyone involved in a fight scene. With the help of Indonesian filmmaker Timo Tjahjanto, Odenkirk was able to further capitalize on Hutch’s natural talent for making messy mistakes within the action sequences of Nobody 2. Hutch using a crane game to beat a bad guy up is only the tip of the iceberg for this picture.
Bob Odenkirk: “The backstory is that Hutch has continued to do missions, so he’s not as out of practice as he was in the first. But he’s still more of a human than any other onscreen fighter you’ll see. He still hits his head on metal bars and has to pick himself up after falling over [in action scenes]. Hutch slips and bangs himself on things, gets weakened and physically damaged, and the audience truly feels it.”
How Nobody 2 Challenged Bob Odenkirk’s Background in Comedy
Overall, Odenkirk’s work as Hutch in Nobody 2 has opened up the actor to taking on more genre-defined roles. He reveals to us that the role has “opened my mind up to playing a more archetypal character,” something that Odenkirk has said is difficult, “coming from comedy where you make fun of archetypes.” The Better Call Saul star has had a variety of different leading and supporting roles over the years. However, it’s Hutch that has pushed him to his physical limits, revealing something both unexpected and gratifying in the process.
Bob Odenkirk: “The physical side of acting was never something I thought in depth about. It’s weird, the physical effort and consideration of physical movement when you do stunt fighting, because you want to base all of your moves on reality, but they need to be bigger. Before, I would have said, ‘There’s no way I could play a hero like this.’ I’m not a physically imposing guy, but I’m in good shape. It’s acting, it’s pretending. None of it is real. Everyone talks about Tom Cruise being height-challenged, and it doesn’t matter because he has an incredible screen presence. We don’t care because we’re watching a made-up story.”
Nobody 2 is now playing in theaters!
Release Date: August 15, 2025.
Directed by Timo Tjahjanto.
Screenplay by Derek Kolstad & Aaron Rabin.
Story by Aaron Rabin.
Produced by Bob Odenkirk, David Leitch, Kelly McCormick, Marc Provissiero, & Braden Aftergood.
Executive Producer: David Hyman.
Main Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, RZA, Christopher Lloyd, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Nolan Grantham, Pyper Braun, Jahron Wilson, Colin Salmon, Billy MacLellan, Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath, Colin Hanks, John Ortiz, Mckenna Grace, Daniel Maclnnis, Madison MacIsaac, Isla Verot, Ryan David Younes, Nicholas J. Verdi, Cindy Myskiw, Zara Longe, & Daniel Bernhardt.
Cinematographer: Callan Green.
Composer: Dominic Lewis.
Production Companies: 87North Productions & Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment.
Distributor: Universal Pictures.
Runtime: 89 minutes.
Rated R.
