Millions of viewers are already on board for ABC’s newest medical procedural, Doctor Odyssey. The cruise liner-set dramedy is a breezy procedural with endless eye candy and some wild and creative cases. Pl us, anchoring the whole thing is a delicious love triangle between Dr. Max Bankman (Joshua Jackson), Avery Morgan (Phillipa Soo), and Tristan Silva (Sean Teale). There’s also a bit of a mystery at play, as some fans wonder whether everything is what it seems with The Odyssey.
Following the events of Thursday’s (October 10) episode, “Plastic Surgery Week,” TV Insider caught up with show star Sean Teale to talk about Tristan’s heartwrenching reunion with his mother and his moment of self-discovery, those wild fan theories, and what’s ahead with Ryan Murphy‘s new hit.
In the first episode, Tristan has a dance-off with Max. What was it like for you to prepare for such an interesting bit of character exposition and instruction?
Sean Teale: Normally that stuff is really — well, that stuff is out of your comfort zone unless you’re gifted, like Pippa, who’s done everything and so she can sing and dance and do everything brilliantly. But I think it’s funny. Building characters, the dialogue is obviously such an important part of it, but weirdly, I mean, the dance came up very early on in the shoot.In fact, I think it was like day two and it was actually really helpful for finding him. Because you have to let go and do this ridiculous thing where you’re apparently break-dancing on sand in front of a bunch of people you don’t know and trying to not make a fool of yourself. But it was really fun. The coaches were great. There are other segments of the dance that aren’t there. That were really fun, too. And and it was probably quite a good bonding experience for me and Josh and Pippa together.
So it was really nice, but actually, I found it to be really, really helpful in recognizing who he was because that’s just something that Sean wouldn’t do. And you have no choice. So you sort of surrender to this wonderful thing and you can find a person in there. Sometimes these dances are gratuitous. They’re not particularly helpful, or they’re not particularly informing of who you’re playing. Sometimes they’re just there because we need to have a dance sequence or whatever. And in this situation, actually, it’s sort of was actually quite defining, so it was really helpful. I really enjoyed it.
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Yeah, not just the finding of the character, but also the tone of the show. It seems there’s a nice balance between the humor and heart. How do you guys find that tone between being dramatic and having very serious situations at hand and also being completely lighthearted?
That’s exactly what we’re trying to do with the show, so I’m glad that you recognize it to some degree. It’s something that we’re always talking about. It’s actually something that we’re always conscious of because sometimes things can be read as broad. Sometimes things can be read as incredibly seriously, and we’ve kind of got to gauge with new styles coming in every week.
We’ve kind of got to gauge how to maintain that tone right of — the word “grounded” is always a bit tricky because it’s sort of overused — but there is this rooted, high-stakes, dangerous scenario stuff, and that’s really helpful because, well, because again, I think Josh has maybe played 12 doctors in his life, but Pippa and myself haven’t. And so this sort of that whole medical tech world that we aren’t used to really sucks us into the seriousness, actually, and, it’s quite hard to then play the lightness there. But then because we all get along so well, when we do get the levity, it’s there naturally. We are messing around all day. It’s a lot of fun, and there’s a lot of love so that lightness comes naturally. And then we just remember when we’re in those medical situations, that lives are at stake.
That makes sense. With regard to Max, there’s obviously a complicated bromance going on. But you guys have a really fun little handshake. Whose idea was it to do the little smooch at the end?
It was mine. It was my idea. The truth is that it was my idea, and I had an idea as to something that was gonna come down the line and that it was in keeping of the tone of the show, I think also it’s a bit silly, which I think is probably what we would hopefully indicative of who these two people are. I think the whole point is that as serious or as suave as people can be there, they can also [have fun] — especially Tristan, which is something that I’m really dedicated and persisting with to this day — he’s also not goofy but flappy like he’s not got everything under control. And ostensibly he might look like someone that’s put together or he might look as if that’s always been the way he is, but it’s not. There’s so much more going on.
And I think when he’s doing these ridiculous things and acting in potentially petulant ways — Episode 3, for example, starts to explain why he’s like that — and instead of just being suave cool guys, that handshake is a bit silly and a bit goofy, and we find it very funny, and yeah, it’s just keeping with that… I will say, by the way, that Josh must take credit as well with the handshake. The two of us? It takes two to tango. And I’m glad that he jumped on board with it.
Speaking of this last episode and revelations about Tristan. It was pretty heavy what he experienced with his mother. Do you think it’s really true that he’s not in love with Avery and it was just an emotional reaction to his mother? Or is there more to that story?
Well, this triangle is very complicated. And it’s made so much worse by the fact that you can’t escape each other on this boat. And so I think these characters are feeling a lot of things at one time, and actually that’s something that we have to gauge a lot. It’s like, How can we function as a medical team and at the same time have these resentments and have these complicated sort of experiences where something leans one way and then the other very quickly, and then briefly, one witness is another thing that they take the wrong way… I think Tristan’s reality jumps from place to place. I think several things can be true at one time.
And his mum coming back, I mean, yeah, he has a thing about not being cared for. I think he had a very lonely childhood. And it’s this weird sort of blessing and burden situation where the pain of that also then now makes him this fun-loving open person, now that he kind of appreciated it, put him on this boat. In fact, it’s the life that he’s chosen to have.
But that sort of struggle with women in positions of authority is very real. And that abandonment is a very real thing. And there’s probably an element of that with Avery. And there’s very likely real feelings, too. It’s a mixture of the two things. They can both be real at the same time, and he’s gonna navigate whether or not whether or not it’s one or the other. It’s not black and white. Obviously. There’s a huge amount of grey in there. So we’ll explore that coming forward. But yeah, he doesn’t go down without a fight.
What do you say to people who are really rooting for a throuple situation, given the chemistry between you three?
Keep watching. Keep watching. Is that ambiguous enough? No, I think it’s great that people have that belief because we really do have so much fun as a trio. There’s a lot of love and a lot of respect. And it’s a hugely collaborative experience between the three of us. And we just treat each other exactly how people should be treated. It’s a really lovely experience, truly… And we’re gonna open up the world. We’re gonna have lots more people to show you — the crew on the ship will be expanded. They’re there, but you haven’t met them all yet. Obviously at the root of this story is the three of us. And that’s never going to change.
In relation to throuples? … The love triangle is a big part of the show, and that competition is gonna stay.
Disney/Tina Thorpe
For the upcoming weeks, we know there’s a Wellness Week and Halloween. What can you tease about those two episodes?
I think the really fun thing about this show — or one of the fun things, other than the fact that everyone’s show is so much fun to work with — is that we thematically can shift every week and we can either highlight a holiday or we can sort of focus on an industry, let’s say like wellness industry, and we can dissect it a little bit. And I think that’s really great. Or we can represent a diaspora of people, a group of society that might want to represent those I don’t know. So we get to do that and celebrate people or maybe dissect an industry like I said.
And “Wellness Week,” I think Wellness Week is fantastic. And I can’t tell you who the guest stars are, because that’s gonna be a big reveal. But we had some phenomenal guest stars that got everyone very, very giddy before they arrived. And they only came and proved how brilliant they were. We had the most fun.
And Halloween week is, well, Halloween is inherently a very silly thing, isn’t it? It’s lovely. And it’s a time for adults to be children and for people to play dress-up and for us to sort of just be creative and unified in doing so. And so Halloween week, the boat becomes a bit of a madhouse, which is really, really fun. And, I mean, yes, there will be lots of costumes, let’s put it that way. So coming up, you have two really fun episodes.
There’s still very serious things at stake, and the drama is still very much present, especially between the crew. But we also just get to have fun highlighting what can be a very absurd industry, the wellness industry, especially when it’s related to grifters. I think a lot of people purport wellness and sort of propagate this [solution], but actually, they’re sort of just taking advantage of people that actually want help. And so it’s important to to focus on whether or not some of this stuff is seriously helpful or if it’s actually harmful to you. There’s all the stakes and all the drama, but they are actually two really fun episodes.
As you probably have heard, there are some fans who think that what’s really going on is that we’re in heaven or purgatory or some kind of afterlife.
Yeah, Josh did an interesting interview recently, didn’t he?
Well, there’s a couple more theories, too. One of them is that it’s a Covid fever dream. Another one is that it’s some kind of virtual reality simulation. So I just wanted to see what you thought.
I love that there are theories. It means that someone is having a thought about it, positive or negative. That’s a wonderful thing you want. What I will say is that the more I was talking to, Don [Johnson], about this — yesterday we were doing a scene together — what we talked about is that the more the more we read the show, the more it reveals itself to us. And what’s really speaking out is the fantasy of it all. I mean, the way that it’s lit, the way that it’s shot. Obviously, we’re not watching the final products because we’re busy. We’re making the thing. But when you do see it back, you go, “God, everything is so fantastical,” which is what it’s meant to be. This boat is the height of all things possible. The staff are the most gifted. They’re beautiful, they’re brilliant, they’re capable, they’re talented. The boat itself is high-tech and lavish and luxurious and extravagant. And everything that you could ask for was provided to you, which I’m sure makes people feel like there’s this heavenly touch to it because it is right. It’s it’s paradise on Earth. That’s what I’m gonna say about it, that I understand why people have that theory because it is, it’s fantastical.
Doctor Odyssey, Thursdays, 9/8c, ABC
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