Bob Odenkirk Wants to Be a Different Kind of Action Star in Normal | Fan Fest 2026

Star of the new action-packed thriller Normal, Bob Odenkirk, joined IGN Fan Fest 2026 to talk about his role in the creation of his character Ulysses, and why he does his own stunts.

“I like doing my own fighting. And if I’m doing my own fighting, they can keep the camera on me and I can play the guy. I can do his expressions,” Odenkirk explained. “I wanted to play a guy who actually got hurt, who actually got worn down as you watch the movie. He gets tired. He gets hurt. He gets dinged up because I just feel like that is actually not something you’ve seen a lot of. Action stars that I know of, I don’t know all of them, but the ones that I know are somewhat… they’re machines. They never really get hurt. They never accrue damage. And I wanted to play a guy who in these movies starts with a little bit of self-doubt and also accrues damage along the way.”

His character in Normal, Ulysses, is a man sent to be temporary sheriff to the town of Normal, Minnesota, and soon finds himself caught up in way more excitement than he was expecting.

Odenkirk also spoke about his character in Normal compared to Hutch Mansell from the Nobody movies. “Both guys are, for different reasons, holding back their reactionary impulses. In the case of Hutch, he’s doing it to present as a family man and to live that life, to live a double life, forcing himself to hold that in. So that’s nobody. In Normal, here’s a guy who’s a little bit broken when we meet him. And it’s because he made a choice once before that just destroyed his life that he had, his perfect life. And so he’s just gotten gun-shy. But believe me, by the end of the movie Normal, he’s not gun-shy any longer. Is he gun-crazy? A little bit. He’s a little bit gun-crazy.”

Normal is directed by Ben Wheatley and also stars Henry Winkler and Lena Headey. It will be released in theaters on April 17.

This is just the latest news from IGN’s Fan Fest 2026, check the schedule to see what else is coming and to keep up to date on all the latest from the worlds of entertainment and games.

Rachel Weber is the Head of Editorial Development at IGN and an elder millennial. She’s been a professional nerd since 2006 when she got her start on Official PlayStation Magazine in the UK, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, Red Dead Redemption 2, and her Love and Deepspace boyfriends.