Henry Winkler says he had 'anxiety every minute' filming the new season of 'Barry' because he had no idea whether his character would be killed off

• Henry Winkler told Insider he had "anxiety every minute" while filming season three of "Barry."
• Winkler constantly asked series cocreator and star Bill Hader if his character was "still alive."

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the first two seasons of "Barry."

Henry Winkler said that he had "anxiety every minute" while filming season three of "Barry."

Winkler plays Gene Cousineau on the critically-acclaimed HBO comedy-drama. Gene is a mentor and acting coach to hitman Barry (Bill Hader), who dreams of making it big as an actor someday.

As can be expected from a show about a hitman and his many enemies and accomplices, a lot of characters have been killed off since the show first premiered in 2018 - including Gene's police-officer girlfriend, Janice Moss (Paula Newsome).

Winkler opened up about being a part of the show's cast while speaking with Insider in October to promote Wes Anderson's new film "The French Dispatch," in which Winkler plays an art dealer.

"I had anxiety every minute and every time I say to Bill, 'Am I still alive?' And he said, 'Yes, you are.'" Winkler said about filming "Barry."

Winkler tweeted at the beginning of August that filming on season three of "Barry" had started after massive COVID-related production delays that lasted over a year. Season three doesn't yet have a release date.

The "Happy Days" actor told Insider that, as Hader has previously revealed, the "Barry" writers have finished writing all the scripts for season four, in addition to season three. But Winkler hasn't personally read them all yet. Hader, however, has assured Winkler that he will still be alive to see if Barry's acting dreams pan out.

"I just don't know if I'm alive for the whole season," Winkler said of his character's presence in season four.

Hader previously spoke to Insider's Jason Guerrasio in 2019 about the finale of season two of "Barry." In the dramatic episode, Fuches (Barry's father figure, played by Stephen Root) revealed to Gene that his hitman student had killed Janice.

Hader told Guerrasio that there was actually a version of the season finale where Gene did not find out about Barry killing Janice, and instead, Barry would simply walk away "into darkness and that's it."

"But when we watched [the Cousineau finding out version] we were like, 'That's so good!'" Hader continued.

He added: "It was less us saying Cousineau should find out, I just remember being in the room thinking if Fuches is there and he can't kill Cousineau why isn't he not just saying, 'Barry Berkman did all this.' He would just say that. Fuches can't kill him but he can destroy their relationship."

Check out more highlights from Insider's interview with Winkler in the video below: