“I Would’ve Had a Good Time Over There”: '9-1-1’ Star Oliver Stark Explains Why Buck Was Left Out of the ‘Doctor Odyssey’ Crossover Event

   

Last week saw the first-of-its-kind crossover event within Ryan Murphy's vast world of TV shows when the dreamy high-seas medical drama, Doctor Odyssey, crossed over with the first responder series, 9-1-1. The episode, titled “Casino Week,” involved 9-1-1's Sergeant Athena Grant (Angela Bassett) when a new case, briefly previewed at the tail end of 9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 11, "Holy Mother of God," led her to a docked Odyssey. While only one character from 9-1-1 made it to the crossover episode, the original plan was for a bigger event featuring two other characters, including Athena's husband, Bobby (Peter Krause), and Buck (Oliver Stark). Stark has now addressed his absence from the episode, teasing what could have been.Buck and Bobby's absence seemed to come down to what best served the overall narrative. In Bobby’s case, Bassett previously explained that she found it unrealistic for him and Athena to take another cruise so soon after their disastrous honeymoon experience. She pushed back against the original idea, leading to a revised storyline that focused solely on Athena. Buck’s involvement was apparently tied to that scrapped plan, as Stark told ScreenRant that "things moved in a direction where it was just Angela's character." Despite missing out this time, Stark expressed openness to future crossover opportunities with the medical drama. He said:"There was no pitch. Well, there was a pitch of, "Would you want to do this?" But no story pitch. I had said yes at the time, but obviously, things moved in a direction where it was just Angela's character. So yeah, I don't know what it would've been. Having seen some clips from the show, I can make probably somewhat educated guess as to what it might have been, but I have no real knowledge, so I'll probably leave it at that.... I'm sure I would've had a good time over there. Next time."

Angela Bassett Has Picks for the Next ‘9-1-1’/‘Doctor Odyssey’ Crossover