‘Doctor Odyssey’: Phillipa Soo on Avery’s Big Decision & What to Expect Next (VIDEO)

Avery (Phillipa Soo) has made a choice on Doctor Odyssey. Amid the two-part Shark Week disaster and the Casino Week crossover crime extravaganza, the central matter of the love triangle and her pregnancy still looms large. Recently, she revealed that she intends to keep the child, even if she doesn’t know whether it’s Max (Joshua Jackson) or Tristan (Sean Teale) who’s the father or how it’ll affect her plans to attend medical school.

Still, there is a lot left for her to determine about her future, including whether she wants either, both, or neither of the boys to have a romantic part of it. Tristan, for one, will be making a play on his own behalf in Thursday’s (March 27) new episode, “Sophisticated Ladies Week.” So what can we expect from that? And where has Avery’s mindset been lately when it comes to these dueling interests around her? TV Insider caught up with Soo to chat about that and find out what’s ahead on Doctor Odyssey.

The “Sophisticated Ladies Week” teaser indicates that Tristan will be trying to prove himself to Avery. What can you tease about that? 

Phillipa Soo: Well, the only thing that I can really tease is that their relationship continues to develop and grow and ebb and flow, and actually, I think it’s quite beautiful. A lot of the things that we’ve found throughout the entire season and this arc that their relationship has — these are two friends. There is a love there, and seeing them grapple with all of the conflicts together has been not only just a joy to make and shoot but also to watch their relationship grow has been really fun. That’s really all that I can tease, but I’m very excited about it.

Avery seemed a little bit peeved at Max’s kind of clinginess, the constant questions he had, and the advice he was giving her in Casino Week. Do you think there’s more to that agitation than meets the eye? 

Definitely. I mean, I’ve always thought of Avery as being — if I’m comparing Avery with Phillipa Soo, Avery’s way less in touch with her emotions, and I think actually, it’s trying to stuff them all down in a place where she can control and handle them and manage them on her own terms, and for her, that’s how she’s just always dealt with things. So having this wild card in her life now of Max Bankman and now her developing relationship also with Tristan, I think it’s been really interesting to see her come out of her shell or to at least see her have to break through all of these really deeply ingrained walls that she’s put up so that she can protect herself emotionally and having to actually dig down deep and explain herself. I think just as an actor, that was really fun to play.

Disney / Tina Thorpe

There’s also a moment where she makes it clear that she is going to choose to keep her child, no matter who the father is. What does it mean to you, that there’s so much deep conversation about choice in the show? 

I love it. I’m really honored that I get to tell a story about a woman who is very much in touch with what she wants out of her life and gets to make her own choice about what she wants to do with her life. And seeing it from a medical perspective, which, because of the backdrop of the show, has been really interesting and getting to have those sort of like reproductive health, sexual health conversations because of the framing of the show, I think has been really fascinating. And certainly, I think there’s even people on set who are learning as we’re going things about women’s health that we didn’t know before, conversations that I get to have with women on set about women’s health, conversations that I get to have with people who are not women on set about women’s health, and really as it relates to our story has been really awesome. It’s really great to see and I’m excited for people to see how it all plays out.

During Shark Week, the arrival of the character Brooke seemed to really throw everybody for a loop. What did that do to Avery to see that Max might be willing to move on with somebody else while she’s still making her decisions? 

Well, I think it added something interesting into this conversation that she’s having with herself, ultimately, about what she wants, not based on anybody else’s needs or desires. Brooke’s presence makes her have to actually come to terms with what she wants and what she needs, and it’s that sort of like gut instinct that you’re really not in touch with until it hits you, and I think Brooke’s presence certainly makes Avery think a little bit deeper about that. I will say just as Phillipa Soo and not Avery, having Adrianne Palicki on board has been so fun. We’ve been having the best time. She’s really just one of the most wonderful people in this world and we had a blast, even though our characters are a little bit not seeing eye to eye at first. It was really such a blast to shoot all those scenes with her.

Speaking of A-list guest stars, you just had Angela Bassett for Casino Week. What was it like for you? You had a really fun scene with her basically playing Say Yes to the Dress. 

It was so much fun. I can’t tell you. We were like giggling on set. It was a great day. Deborah Mooney also was in the scene with us that day and there’s jewelry and champagne, and it’s like the sort of luxury part of this cruise and the sort of fantasy fun part of this cruise that I think really plays against the intense medical drama that it also coincides with. So getting to play all those scenes and have those incredible iconic women on set and getting to be with them and just be in their presence playing scenes with them was just so fun.

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What can you tease about Spring Break Week? 

Yeah, things continue to develop. I think what’s so unique about this show and seeing this love triangle unfold is that we really get to go all sorts of places with their relationship together, the three of them, and to see them have to navigate that in a way that feels — and we talked a lot about this when we were making it — like people that are actually really just trying to do their best. They all acknowledge their flaws. Some of them don’t necessarily know what their flaws are until somebody else tells them what they need to be dealing with and then there’s like a sort of a grappling with that, but truly, all of these characters are trying to be their best version of themselves, with each other. And so, yeah, it continues to grow and develop, and I’m really proud of what we made in that week.

Disney / Tina Thorpe

A lot of fans are hoping we might get a musical episode, a Broadway episode. Do we have any plans for that in the works? 

Honestly, they’re just gonna have to watch. I know we talked a lot about our desires for a Broadway episode. Though there’s not necessarily a Broadway episode, you will see some very Broadway-adjacent people coming aboard or involved creatively, which was really fun. And let me tell you, regardless of the theme of the week on the ship on the show, every week was Broadway Week in my opinion because so many people love a song and dance and you know us, when there’s long hours on set, we’re always humming a tune and having a joyful moment. That’s very what I would say Broadway inspired.

Doctor Odyssey, Thursdays, 9/8c, ABC

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