Joshua Jackson was just as caught off guard as the audience was when the Dawson’s Creek theme song played at the 2024 Emmy Awards.
The actor, 46, walked onstage with Matt Bomer to present the Governor’s Award to Greg Berlanti and as he entered, Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want to Wait” began playing. At the time, Jackson couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him onstage.
“That was just a genuine laugh,” he told The Hollywood Reporter of the viral moment. “That was me being caught off guard and laughing.”
“Matt and I, we were standing backstage and, as you get closer, I think we were both getting into the sweaty palm moment,” he said of what was going through his mind before stepping onstage. “I think literally we were talking about, ‘How are we going to walk out here? Are we too stiff? Are we trying to play it cool?'”
“We’re literally in the moment of like, ‘Well, I don’t know. What do you think?’ ‘I don’t know. What do you think?’ And we take our first step, and they start playing the [Dawson’s Creek] theme.”
When Jackson and Bomer, 46, reached the microphone on the Emmys stage, Jackson laughed at the song choice as he said, “Ah yes, this song,” before he said a few words to honor Berlanti and the impact he has had on TV — and on Dawson’s Creek, particularly, as he was “the first writer-producer to show a gay kiss on primetime between two teenagers.”
“I remember being so proud…to be a part of that show and at the same time, I didn’t understand how big it was,” Jackson said.
Dawson’s Creek aside, Jackson is currently starring in the latest of Ryan Murphy’s TV shows, Doctor Odyssey, in which he plays the doctor aboard a luxury cruise ship.
He described the series, which premiered on Sept. 26, as “a tribute to the ABC shows of my youth” to THR. “I really wanted to work on something that, even with all of the drama, and even with all of the fates of medical events on every episode, that ended up in a positive place. This was that.”
At the show’s premiere in L.A., he told PEOPLE that he likes “pushing the envelope,” as Murphy is known to do, as he teased what surprises were to come onboard.
“I think it keeps audiences on their toes. It makes the show fun and he likes to push the envelope, but he also keeps the characters in the world grounded enough that it feels like it’s earned,” Jackson said of the medical procedural. “It’s not just craziness for the sake of craziness.”
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Doctor Odyssey airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC, and Dawson’s Creek can be streamed on Hulu.
