While Doctor Odyssey is noticeably absent from ABC’s newly announced Fall 2025 lineup, it’s also absent from the list of shows that have been renewed or canceled. So what’s the deal?
Well, according to Disney Television Group President Craig Erwich, the show’s fate truly is still up in the air (or should we say out at sea?) and will fall to Doctor Odyssey‘s executive producer and co-creator, Ryan Murphy.
“Doctor Odyssey isn’t currently on our schedule,” Erwich told Deadline ahead of the ABC upfronts in New York on Tuesday. “Ryan’s really busy. He’s doing a lot with us. 9-1-1, 9-1-1 Nashville, All’s Fair [for Hulu]. So we’re just continuing that creative conversations with him.”
Additionally, Eric Schrier, President of Disney TV Studios, told the trade outlet recently that Murphy’s medical procedural starring Joshua Jackson and Don Johnson is still in the running to get a second season, if the Glee co-creator is up for the challenge of telling more wild stories.
“I really love Doctor Odyssey, I think it’s a wildly inventive show, and we’re doing everything we can to support it,” Schrier told Deadline. “That decision ultimately lies with Ryan Murphy, whether Ryan wants to continue to do it, and he feels like there’s stories to tell that he feels confident in.”
In early April as ABC released its first batch of renewals, one report indicated that the show could go either way and that Murphy and the other producers were crafting the series finale to possibly double as a series finale.
It’s unclear what storylines may have changed although it is worthy of note that both major pregnancies in the show have ended, with Avery’s (Phillipa Soo) being a false pregnancy all along and Heather (Shania Twain) having a miscarriage. Avery’s pregnancy had seemingly arisen from her three-way with Max (Jackson) and Tristan (Sean Teale), but ultimately turned out to be a cyst on her ovary that was yielding false positive pregnancy tests.
For Heather, the “Glamma” introduced back in the early episodes who quickly fell for Captain Robert Massey (Johnson), her pregnancy only recently ended in the show as Johnson’s character told Max that Heather announced the loss and then ghosted him. We obviously can’t say for sure but that does feel like a rushed attempt to tie things up with a bow.
Still, even without any babies on the way for The Odyssey’s crew members, the fans are desperate for more as the series has become a cult hit for ABC. The show initially got off to a rocky start but has since become beloved by those who have tuned in week after week for celebrity guest stars like Whitney Cummings, Dianna Agron, John Stamos, Bob the Drag Queen, Angela Bassett — as her 9-1-1 character Athena Grant, nonetheless — and more.
Here’s hoping that ABC and Murphy make the right choice and give this ship another voyage.
The first 17 episodes of Doctor Odyssey are currently streaming on Hulu and Disney+. The Season 1 finale airs Thursday at 9 PM on ABC and streams the next day.