Hasn’t Bob Odenkirk been through enough without discovering he has ties to the Royal Family? Apparently not. Per Rolling Stone, the beloved actor appeared on an upcoming episode of Finding Your Roots, where host Henry Louis Gates Jr. had an unusually unexpected surprise for him: King Charles III is his 11th cousin.
What was the erstwhile Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman/Gene Takavic’s reaction? Laughter, at first, and saying, “That is crazy.”
He then elaborated. “I’m an American. I’m not a monarchist. I don’t believe in, uh, that,” Odenkirk said. “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.”
He added, “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.”
The news was especially a shock because the relation comes from his father’s side. Odenkirk didn’t know much about his dad, who left the family when he was 15. Gates explained that the connection was pretty distant, that it was his father’s fifth great-grandfather who was born out of wedlock to Maria Catharina Bein and the Duke of Plön. Therein lies the mystery of how the current King of England is related to one-half of Mr. Show with Bob and David.
So congrats? Although it appears the news wasn’t all that welcome, as Odenkirk sounds like he agrees with the late Anthony Bourdain about the monarchy.
The Finding Your Roots episode where Odenkirk has his mind blown airs on PBS on Tuesday, January 30.
(Via Rolling Stone)