Joshua Jackson returned to community tv for the primary time in a decade with ABC‘s newest medical medical drama, Physician Odyssey.

The cruise ship-set present — created by Ryan Murphy, Jon Robin Baitz and Joe Baken — stars Jackson as Max, The Odyssey’s latest and seemingly overqualified physician who joins the ship’s two long-time, skeptical nurses on the medical group, Avery (Phillipa Soo) and Tristan (Sean Teale).

When Physician Odyssey was first introduced, the premise of the sequence was largely stored beneath wraps, which had viewers acquainted with prolific showrunner Murphy’s work (American Horror Story, The Watcher) questioning if the fantasy introduced by The Odyssey was even actual. Not till the trailer dropped 10 days earlier than premiere did viewers start to know that it simply is likely to be. Not too long ago, when chatting with The Hollywood Reporter, Murphy described the sequence as “a tribute to the ABC exhibits of my youth.”

For Jackson, who is thought for his community roles like in Dawson’s Creek and Fringe, Murphy was a giant draw for the mission. “Earlier than I knew what the mission was, it was a dialog with Ryan, and we didn’t even actually particularly discuss Physician Odyssey at first, nearly the place I used to be in my life and what I used to be trying to do,” the actor tells THR.

“After we obtained to the top of the dialog, he mentioned, ‘Nice, I’ve the following factor for you. Right here’s what it’s, and I’m going to ship you the script proper now,’” Jackson remembers.

Jackson, who was most just lately seen in Paramount+’s Deadly Attraction and Peacock’s Dr. Loss of life, mentioned he needed to work on one thing lighter than these current tasks. “I actually needed to work on one thing that, even with all the drama, and even with all the fates of medical occasions on each episode, that ended up in a optimistic place,” he says. “This was that.”

And it additionally gave Jackson the chance to be filming in his residence of Los Angeles, whereas his 4-year-old daughter begins college. “It’s type of a miracle job,” he provides.

Physician Odyssey, which has now launched its first three episodes, dives into Max’s backstory nearly instantly, however viewers shouldn’t anticipate constant appears into the previous. “You’ll get little bits and items [of Max’s past], however actually on the finish of the day, that’s all we have to know,” Jackson says. “The story that we’re telling shouldn’t be burdened by all people’s previous.”

That actually episodic nature of the present is “liberating” for the actor, and good for the viewers. “As an viewers member, it’s not homework. You don’t must take notes each week to know the place the characters are,” he says. “I really like exhibits like that. However I feel it’s additionally good to have one thing that’s simply less complicated.”

Physician Odyssey additionally units up a traditional love story early between the medical group. When requested about that dynamic with Soo’s Avery coming between his character and Teale’s Tristan, Jackson cheekily responds, “I’m acquainted with love triangles,” he says, referencing his breakout position on Dawson’s Creek. “You possibly can’t actually plan for chemistry. You possibly can put three good actors collectively and good materials, but it surely’s not at all times there.”

He provides, “The camaraderie that the three of us have off digital camera has actually lent itself to what we do on digital camera, and having the bravery to step into all that stuff.”

Final month, Jackson went viral for his look on the Emmys, when he burst into laughter when he realized the award present was enjoying the Dawson’s Creek theme music as he and fellow presenter Matt Bomer took the stage.

“Matt and I, we had been standing backstage and, as you get nearer, I feel we had been each stepping into the sweaty palm second. I feel actually we had been speaking about, ‘How are we going to stroll out right here? Are we too stiff? Are we attempting to play it cool?’” Jackson remembers.

“We’re actually within the second of like, ‘Nicely, I don’t know. What do you suppose?’ ‘I don’t know. What do you suppose?’ And we take our first step, and so they begin enjoying the [Dawson’s Creek] theme [Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want to Wait”], and that was only a real chortle,” he says. “That was me being caught off guard and laughing.”

So far as Physician Odyssey goes, Jackson simply needs viewers to get pleasure from their time with the present.

“There’s no medication right here,” he says, laughing. “Each week we need to take you into this stunning, nearly fantasy, and get your coronary heart pounding a pair instances, get you invested within the stakes.”

He sums up: “Greater than something, simply benefit from the experience with these characters.”

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Physician Odyssey airs new episodes Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC, streaming the following day on Hulu