Amid Sunday (September 15) night’s Primetime Emmy Awards broadcast, there were quite a few sneak peeks at ABC’s fall programming slate in the commercials run, including a brand-new teaser trailer for the network’s highly anticipated new medical drama, Doctor Odyssey. While that Joshua Jackson– and Don Johnson-led series has been a bit of a mystery so far (as the cast described it to us, this is Ryan Murphy’s “fantasy about a cruise ship”), the newest sneak peek might’ve finally given us a glimpse of the show’s big twist… if there is one.
In the trailer (embedded below), Johnson’s character says over Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven Is a Place on Earth,” “Doctor, welcome aboard the Odyssey. This ship is heaven. Think of yourself as a guardian angel.”
In a previous teaser, the quote was extended to include, “Our mission is to preserve the dream. And that’s why you’re here… keep these dreamers safe.”
The references to heaven and dreaming in these trailers are simply too extensive to ignore at this point, so what could these teasers be hinting at? Here are a few early theories about what Doctor Odyssey‘s twist might really be.
1. It’s actual Heaven.
It would be a little on the nose, but since the trailer music does conjure up memories of “San Junipero” using the same song as a pun about a digital afterlife, we have to at least consider the possibility that this is all some kind of illusion or afterlife scenario… especially since the entire reason Max has joined the medical crew of this ship is he had a near-death experience with Covid.
2. The captain is a ghost.
Given all of his references to paradise in the teasers for the new series and the fact that he only seems to directly communicate with Doctor Max in the look-aheads, some have speculated that this might be a Last Christmas sort of deal where Capt. Robert Massey is actually an apparition-slash-mentor for Max. Hey, stranger things have happened, especially on network procedurals.
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3. This is all based on The Odyssey.
The name of the ship simply cannot be ignored. The concept of a man on a journey of self-discovery across the ocean rings a little too familiar to readers of Homer’s epic, no? If so, we can look forward to all kinds of fun characters coming along, from sirens in the sea to one-eyed giants to gods and beyond.
4. This is some kind of oceanic virtual reality adventure with real-life dangers.
The captain calling the passengers “dreamers” so often could be some kind of hint that this is no ordinary cruise ship, and it is instead a fictional adventure of some kind for its passengers. Think Westworld meets Fantasy Island, and if the passengers get hurt in the game, they could get hurt in real life… hence, why they’d need Max to stick around.
5. It could just be a straightforward procedural.
TV trailers having a red herring or two isn’t anything new, so there’s definitely a possibility that this show, which will premiere between 9-1-1 Season 8 and Grey’s Anatomy Season 21, is just another rote medical drama. So, we’ll have to wait and see whether these teasers are actually hinting at something twisty when the series premieres this fall, but for now, what we do know is that there are two episode synopses available for the show so far:
Pilot: “Max Bankman is The Odyssey’s new onboard doctor, where the staff works hard and plays harder. It’s all-hands-on-deck as he gets acquainted with Capt. Massey and his medical team, Avery and Tristan, while treating crises miles from shore.”Episode 2, “Singles Week”: “It’s Singles Week on The Odyssey, and lust is in the air. As Max, Tristan and Avery navigate their relationship, the crew fends off advances from passengers. With rising desire and quickly spreading ailments, Max and the team rush to restore order.”
Doctor Odyssey, Series Premiere, Thursday, September 26, 9/8c, ABC
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