Actress Phillipa Soo as Avery Morgan on "Dr. Odyssey," leans against a gold anchor, dressed in a cruise crew uniform.

Phillipa Soo takes the medical drama to the high seas in ‘Doctor Odyssey’

The actress on her new ABC show and playing a confident woman of color who doesn’t have imposter syndrome

Phillipa Soo plays nurse practitioner Avery Morgan in the new show, "Doctor Odyssey."

Disney/Pari Dukovic

Words by Samantha Pak

Medical dramas are not new to television. For decades, we’ve felt the intensity of a Chicago emergency department, swooned over dreamy and steamy doctors in Seattle, suspended our disbelief to believe one curmudgeon of a doctor can solve every medical mystery that checks into his hospital, and more.

And while it feels like we’ve seen doctors and nurses working in almost every setting possible, Phillipa Soo’s new show Doctor Odyssey takes us where no medical drama has before: the high seas. The ABC show, which was created by Ryan Murphy and premiered last month, follows a small, but mighty medical team working on a luxury cruise ship as they navigate new medical crises every week, in the middle of the ocean, miles from shore.

Soo plays Avery Morgan, a nurse practitioner working alongside Max Bankman (Joshua Jackson), the new doctor onboard, and fellow nurse, Tristan Silva (Sean Teale). The ship’s captain, Robert Massey, is played by Don Johnson.

“It's a medical procedural drama, but it's lifted. It's very funny. It's got a lot of heart, and the stakes are very high,” Soo says, adding that this is what drew her to the show.

And she’s not kidding. Some of the medical emergencies the team has to treat include a very specific type of food poisoning that comes from eating too much shrimp, a passenger who has gone overboard, and a man on his honeymoon who has broken his penis after some extra vigorous bedroom activities with his new wife. And that’s all in the first episode—talk about starting things off with a bang (in this case, literally).

“It's been a lot of fun so far, and we're still shooting it,” Soo says. “That’s just the beginning.”

No imposter syndrome for this woman

Throughout her career, Soo has worked in many different styles of storytelling, from animation to live action, to stage plays and musicals (she is perhaps most well known for originating the role of Eliza Hamilton in the hit Broadway musical, Hamilton). And for that, she feels very lucky.

“That's always exciting to me when I'm looking for something to do,” she says about her variety of work. “And I like the idea of challenging myself and surprising myself.”

One of the things that drew her to Avery was the character’s confidence and drive. Soo describes her as quick witted, able to think on her feet, and after working onboard for a few years, knows her way around the ship. She’s got a sense of adventure, which is part of the reason she wants to work on the ship. Avery wants to reclaim her life, Soo says. She wants to feel independent and confident, and is making a conscious effort to practice that.

“What's great is instead of having imposter syndrome, (she’s) really feeling like (she is) capable and able and ready, which is something that I really loved about her, especially in that first episode.”

And we see that right from the start. As a nurse practitioner, Avery is very good and successful at her job; she has high hopes for herself. In her very first scene, we see her putting her name in the hat for the position of top medical professional onboard.

I tell Soo how refreshing it is to see this from Avery, because we don’t always see women, let alone women of color do this, because many of us have imposter syndrome and question whether we’re good enough for the job.

“What's great,” Soo says about Avery, “is instead of having imposter syndrome, (she’s) really feeling like (she is) capable and able and ready, which is something that I really loved about her, especially in that first episode.”

Actress Phillipa Soo dressed in a white shirt and red shorts, against a gray background.

One of the things that drew Phillipa Soo to her character Avery in "Doctor Odyssey," was her confidence.

Disney/Pari Dukovic

A heightened reality

There wasn’t much time from when Soo was offered the role, to when they began filming. So sadly, she wasn’t able to go on a cruise and call it “research.” But she did grow up “slightly medical world adjacent” as her father is a doctor.

Much of the practical things she learned happened during pre-production, when the cast met with the show’s medical tech, a medical practitioner who is on set to help them learn things like how to put in an IV.

This being said, Soo acknowledges that Doctor Odyssey is a heightened reality and there’s a difference between the equipment they’re using on the show—which is beautifully designed, but not exactly functional—and what real doctors would use.

“Getting to learn the differences between what is real and what we’re using was also really helpful, just because, you know, you're playing the reality of the moment,” Soo says. “In the same way that, when you're on a set and they're giving you grape juice instead of wine, you have to act like it's wine. There's a difference between drinking a glass of grape juice and drinking a glass of wine. So it's just those small details that I think can help you use your imagination to play a character and feel confident in what you're doing. Because ultimately, what we want is for the audience to feel like they trust you, and they know that you know what you're doing.”

Do we really want to know what happens?

The cast of "Dr. Odyssey" sit and stand in a wood-paneled room, dressed in cruise crew uniforms.

From left, Sean Teale, Don Johnson, Joshua Jackson, and Phillipa Soo.

Disney/Pari Dukovic

Even though I know the answer, I can’t help but ask Soo what we can look forward to in future episodes—both in terms of the character drama, as well as medical crises. (Because where else can you go once you’ve had a broken penis and a man overboard?)

Predictably, she can’t really tell me anything.

“But what I can say is, what makes this show so special and unique in my mind and just really exciting is just the amount of characters that we get to meet and know, and actually get to love,” Soo says. “Everybody comes in with a very specific backstory and timeline of what brought them there, and that's all there. It's all very apparent.”

She also points out that when people ask her what she can tell them about the show, she doesn’t think they actually want to know. They want to be surprised—to which I say is fair: We want to know, but we don’t.

“It’s so fun!” Soo agrees. “I think the less you know, the more you'll be delighted.”

Published on October 14, 2024

Words by Samantha Pak

Samantha Pak (she/her) is an award-winning Cambodian American journalist from the Seattle area and co-editor in chief for JoySauce. She spends more time than she’ll admit shopping for books than actually reading them, and has made it her mission to show others how amazing Southeast Asian people are. Follow her on Twitter at @iam_sammi and on Instagram at @sammi.pak.