Joshua Jackson Disney/Pari Dukovic
Joshua Jackson has seen those theories about Doctor Odyssey actually just being a fever dream — and he has some thoughts.
The ABC drama, which debuted in September, introduced viewers to Jackson’s character, Dr. Max Bankman, on his journey to becoming the new onboard doctor of the Odyssey, a cruise ship helmed by Captain Massey (Don Johnson). The premiere episode revealed that Max was apparently the first patient in the U.S. with COVID-19 in 2020, which nearly left him on death’s door.
Max said he was able to pull through with the help of his coworkers at a hospital, but not everyone was convinced that he survived the ordeal. Some viewers wondered whether Max actually died and is now in limbo, with the Odyssey serving as the way station between life and death.
“I love this theory,” Jackson, 46, told TVLine on Monday, October 7. “I cannot tell you what goes on inside the mind of [series cocreator] Ryan Murphy, but we also had a similar theory operating on set. Only Ryan Murphy knows.”
The actor was thrilled to see the investment from fans, adding, “I have appreciated the internet sleuths’ work on it and I think it’s great.”
Joshua Jackson Disney/Tina Thorpe
Before the show premiered, Jackson expressed excitement at being able to work on something that serves as an escape.
“I told [Ryan], ‘I would like to play something light so I feel good when I go home at the end of the day.’ And he was like, ‘Great. I have the show for you,’” he exclusively told Us Weekly in September while noting that the series is not “cynical” or “ironically detached” in any way. “It wears its heart on its sleeve, and it’s action-packed, and there’s romance and drama.”
Doctor Odyssey — which also stars Phillipa Soo and Sean Teale — hasn’t been afraid to push boundaries, with story lines including a penile fracture, a dance-off and more unhinged moments. Jackson, for his part, stood by how Max’s COVID revelation served as a “beautiful launching” point for the show.
“I just feel like we all were there. Not all of us decided to go work on a cruise ship, but all of us thought about it, ‘Maybe I do need to just start again’ or ‘Maybe I’ve just been quietly getting through but not really living my life,’” he told TheWrap last month. “Everybody’s been in the spot that Max is at, and that’s what launches the show. That’s the mission here: Let’s all collectively exhale, turn the page and commit to life.”
Jackson went on to call the story a “metaphor,” adding, “Speaking of that specific character beat, it’s both a specific reason why he’s doing the thing that he’s doing. But I think it’s also, in Ryan’s eyes, a metaphor for where we’ve all been.”
He concluded: “Nobody got out untouched by COVID, and whether you were in a pod with other people, whether you were isolated, whether you got it early, whether you got it late or God forbid you lost somebody — we all have gone through this radical and, just to use therapy speak, traumatic event collectively together. I don’t know anybody who didn’t, at some point during that, reassess their life.”
Doctor Odyssey airs Thursdays on ABC at 9 p.m. ET.
