Angela Bassett Says It Was a ‘Love Fest’ Working with Joshua Jackson, Don Johnson on Doctor Odyssey Crossover

Angela Bassett, Joshua Jackson and Don Johnson coming together on the small screen, might as well call them the dream team!

On the Thursday, March 20 episode of ABC’s Doctor Odyssey, Bassett’s Athena Grant from 9-1-1 — a series created by Ryan Murphy, like the medical drama — makes an unexpected appearance on Doctor Odyssey. Per a synopsis of the episode titled “Casino Week,” Athena “spots two suspicious passengers eyeing the vault” and subsequently “teams up with Max (Jackson) to counter their plans in a high-stakes gamble.”

Filming the crossover episode provided Bassett, 66, the opportunity to work alongside Jackson, 46, Johnson, 75, Phillipa Soo and Sean Teale. Of getting to act with Jackson and Johnson, specifically, the honorary Academy Award winner tells PEOPLE exclusively that “it was absolutely wonderful meeting Joshua and Don” because she’s “just big fans of their work.”

“It was just a love fest. It was certain times I had to, with the guys especially, I would have to walk away, center myself because they have so much wonderful energy and so much to say,” she continues. “They are just such a delight.”

“You have to remember that we’re working here. We’re working, and I would have a monologue of something to say and I just couldn’t play with them up until the action,” she says. “I would have to walk away just for a brief second to center myself, but it was a lot of fun.”

The Black Panther actress also notes that it “was just a great set to be on.”

“The camaraderie, the laughter. Laughter while you’re up there working,” she recalls. “The hours are long. But it was such a group of just wonderful and talented individuals. It reminded me of 9-1-1, the people that work with every day.”

Since 2018, Bassett has starred in eight seasons of 9-1-1 opposite Peter Krause, who plays her TV husband Bobby Nash. Working on the procedural has taught her to “continue to have the opportunity to hone your skills, to be forever grateful, to show up, to be there for others [and] to lead by example,” she says.

“I think those [were] things that I knew, but you have to just do it,” she adds. “Be consistent. We [are] in our eighth year. So you have to be consistent.”