Joshua Jackson did not expect that Dawson’s Creek tribute at the Emmys.

The Fringe actor recently reflected on his surprise when Paula Cole's "I Don't Wanna Wait," which served as the theme song for the late-'90s WB teen drama, began playing at the 2024 awards ceremony. The moment occurred as Jackson and White Collar's Matt Bomer were preparing to present the Governor's Award to Greg Berlanti, when they had no idea what they'd do for their entrance.

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"Matt and I, we were standing backstage and, as you get closer, I think we were both getting into the sweaty palm moment," Jackson recalled in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "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?'"

As they struggled to figure out their next move, Jackson was hit with a familiar musical cue, which made him chuckle. "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?'" he said. "And we take our first step, and they start playing the [Dawson’s Creek] theme [song], and that was just a genuine laugh… That was me being caught off guard and laughing."

Elsewhere in the interview, Jackson discussed how he came aboard his latest show, the cruise-ship medical drama Doctor Odyssey. "Before I knew what the project was, it was a conversation with [co-creator] Ryan [Murphy], and we didn't even really specifically talk about Doctor Odyssey in the beginning, just about where I was in my life and what I was looking to do," he said. "When we got to the end of the conversation, he said, 'Great, I have the next thing for you. Here's what it is, and I'm going to send you the script right now.'"

The actor wanted to prioritize something less heavy and intense than his previous projects Dr. Death and Fatal Attraction. "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," he said. "This was that."

Columbia TriStar Television/Courtesy Everett

Jackson echoed those sentiments in an interview with Entertainment Weekly previewing his new show. "Our mission statement is to be enjoying ourselves at all times so that the audience can have an hour in the week where they can just sit back and enjoy," he said. "It's supposed to be a one-hour vacation every week. You come aboard this boat as the medical cases happen, but also life happens, and by the end of the hour, hopefully you laughed, maybe even cried, and you go back into your week feeling just a little bit more relaxed for having gone on a nice cruise with us."

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He continued, "I guess my late 30s and 40s were a dark period, because it's been a series of complicated guys [I've played]… and those are fun. But to be on a set where coming home every day, the hours are long so you're tired, but you've laughed your way through your day, it feels pretty great."