Athena Grant, meet Dr. Max Bankman.
On Thursday, March 20, the Ryan Murphy-created worlds of “9-1-1,” starring Angela Bassett as LAPD sergeant Grant, and “Doctor Odyssey,” led by Joshua Jackson as on-board cruise doctor Bankman, will collide in a special crossover episode of the soapy, seafaring medical drama.
Continuing “Doctor Odyssey’s” premise of each episode being centered around a different themed cruise, the action takes place during Casino Week aboard The Odyssey, and “unexpected guest Athena Grant suspects two passengers are targeting the ship’s vault,” the logline explains. “Enlisting Max’s help, Athena raises the stakes in a dangerous game where not everyone will end up with a winning hand.”
While “9-1-1” fans might be shocked to see Bassett’s Grant board a ship so soon after her and Bobby’s (Peter Krause) harrowing honeymoon cruise disaster (a three-episode emergency!) in Season 7 — but both shows hail from the house of Murphy, who loves a crossover arc.
Murphy’s “American Horror Story” saw characters from various seasons of the horror anthology series appear in other installments, like Bassett’s Marie Laveau from 2013’s “AHS: Coven” popping up during the 2018 “Apocalypse” run. Then, in 2021, the firefighters of “9-1-1,” the long-running drama about high-pressure experiences of first responders, headed from Los Angeles to Texas to lend a hand on “9-1-1: Lone Star.” Plus, Murphy has another “9-1-1” spinoff in the works: “9-1-1: Nashville,” nabbed a season pickup and will debut on ABC during the 2025-2026 season.
But the special episode of “9-1-1” and “Doctor Odyssey” marks the first time that two of Murphy’s multitude of shows (the prolific creator launched six shows in two weeks in 2024) that are not from the same franchise will cross paths.
“Doctor Odyssey,” which stars Jackson, Don Johnson, Phillipa Soo and Sean Teale, has been a hit for ABC since it premiered last October, directly after the Season 8 premiere of “9-1-1.” Meanwhile, “9-1-1” was the biggest broadcast program of the night, averaging 4.9 million viewers. “Doctor Odyssey” maintained 86% of that audience, hitting 4.2 million viewers and marking ABC’s best drama launch since “Big Sky” in 2020.
“9-1-1” and “Doctor Odyssey” air Thursdays on ABC, beginning at 8 p.m. Both series return for new episodes on March 6.
