SDCC ’25: Bob Odenkirk bemoans Wisconsin Dells being “too good” for NOBODY 2

Bob Odenkirk came to San Diego Comic-Con Friday for a spotlight panel, in which he primarily promoted his forthcoming film, Nobody 2, due out next month.

And that promotional effort came complete with a new clip from the film, specifically a fight scene on a touristy boat, which Odenkirk described as an homage to early Jackie Chan films. It was good stuff, complete with the over-the-top violence combined with Odenkirk’s earnest everyman comedy, the sort that made the first Nobody film so much fun.

But buried in there was also a hot take on vacationing in the upper Midwest, which felt like big news for folks (like me) who spent their childhoods there, specifically in the Chicagoland area. 

Nobody 2 sees Odenkirk’s main character — the workaholic assassin Hutch Mansell — taking his family on vacation, where he soon runs afoul of “a corrupt theme park operator, a shady sheriff, and a bloodthirsty crime boss,” or so reads the film’s description. And the place the family vacations is Plummerville, Ark. 

But Odenkirk revealed he actually wanted screenwriter Derek Kolstad (he of John Wick fame, as well as Planet Death of late within comics circles) to set the film in…the Wisconsin Dells. Every Chicago kid went to the Dells at some point in their childhood. It was essentially a rite of passage, and, perhaps most crucially, just a quick drive up north.

And Odenkirk was no exception, having gone there on vacation when he was a kid, growing up in Naperville. But in the years since, the Dells have added a bunch of fancy waterparks. And a waterslide or a lazy river is just not a great fit for a new Nobody film.

“The Dells was actually…too good,” Odenkirk said.

And look, I know all you east and west coasters, as well as you southerners and basically anyone else who lives far from Chicago, are probably thinking what are the Wisconsin Dells and why does any of this matter? Well, when you’re a kid in the Chicago suburbs, you’re pretty far from any coast line (not counting Lake Michigan) or mountain. The Dells have a bunch of sandstone formations and so a weekend getaway industry has sprung up there. But you don’t think about them often until Bob Odenkirk brings them up.

Anyway. In addition to that hot take on localized Chicago vacation options, Odenkirk also noted that he has ideas for extending Nobody through two other movies past this sequel, for a total of four, none of which presumably will be set in the Wisconsin Dells.

Nobody 2 is out in theaters on August 15.

Stay tuned to The Beat for more coverage from SDCC ’25.