The last time 9-1-1‘s Athena Grant boarded a cruise ship, it sank to the bottom of the ocean after being hijacked and blown up by terrorists, so there’s only one thing that could possibly get her onto Doctor Odyssey‘s titular vessel for Thursday’s crossover event (ABC, 9/8c).
“Duty, unfortunately,” Angela Bassett tells TVLine. “Duty calls, so she has to go, much to her chagrin and displeasure.”
And by “duty,” Bassett means she got a call from Ryan Murphy Productions, the team behind 9-1-1 and Doctor Odyssey. The original pitch was for both Athena and her husband Bobby (played by Peter Krause) to board the Odyssey together, but as Bassett recalls, “I objected.” “I was like, that doesn’t make sense,” she says. “Athena would never get back on a boat again. I just can’t imagine what would get her back on board, other than to go on, turn around and come right back off. [That experience is] still fresh in the cells of her body. It’s very anxiety provoking for Athena to be on that boat for any amount of time.” Bassett says the producers got back to her “with a great scenario where Bobby didn’t have to go,” and it made more sense. “Unfortunately, we made it worse,” she says with a laugh.
Specifically, the FBI calls Athena to the Odyssey when it suspects that “two passengers are targeting the ship’s vault,” per the episode’s official logline. Enlisting Max (Joshua Jackson) as her handsome assistant, “Athena raises the stakes in a dangerous game where not everyone will end up with a winning hand.”
Lest you doubt the 007-style glamour this episode promises, feast your eyes on a first look at Max and Athena in action: thena may be reluctant to assist the FBI with its case on the Odyssey, but for Bassett, getting the chance to play in another show’s sandbox was a “beautiful experience,” especially when that sandbox is populated with people she has admired for decades. Not only is Bassett a full-blown Hamilton stan, having seen Phillipa Soo in the original cast seven times, but as a “girl of the 70s,” it was also a thrill for her to be “rocking with Miami Vice” (aka Don Johnson).
In fact, Bassett had such a good time on the Odyssey, she’d love for more of Athena’s 9-1-1 friends to enjoy the experience for themselves — and she knows exactly which couple she’d send first. “I think Maddie and Chimney would enjoy a cruise,” Bassett says. “Everyone is deserving, but on these cruises they have these lovely places for kids to hang out all day while the grownups have their good time with gambling or entertainment or whatever. I think they would enjoy that.” Life, however, will not be imitating art for Bassett. “I, Angela, have no desire to go on boats on large bodies of water with no land in sight and all manner of danger underneath that calm surface,” she says. “It’s a recipe for disaster, should disaster strike.”
