Despite being rejected by CBS not once but twice, Freddie Highmore’s Bates Motel follow-up show The Good Doctor has been a huge ratings hit for ABC, moving past The Big Bang Theory to become the most-watched series in America.
The show follows a young surgeon with autism named Shaun Murphy (Highmore), who uproots his life in Casper, Wyoming to work at a prestigious San Jose, California hospital.
“The Good Doctor’s message of inclusiveness resonates with our viewers and is a hallmark of what we aim to accomplish here at ABC,” ABC president Channing Dungey said when announcing that season two would definitely be happening.
“This series has quickly joined the zeitgeist and broken records in the competitive television landscape. We are thrilled to announce that Dr Shaun Murphy will be back for another season.”
But when will it return, and what will it be about? Here’s our diagnosis…
The Good Doctor season two air date: When will it be on?
The Good Doctor season 2 will premiere on Monday, September 24 at 10/9c on ABC in the US. Wahoo!
What about the UK, though? Glad you asked!
The Good Doctor season two UK: When will we get it?
Sky Living airs the show, and we’d expect that to continue later this year. Expect The Good Doctor season two to start airing around a month after the show returns to ABC. The UK’s one of 200 territories that Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has sold it to.
SPT president of worldwide distribution Keith Le Goy says it has become “the number one drama in the world”, adding: “It’s the must-watch, must-have drama that our partners in the US and around the world have been clamouring for.”
The Good Doctor season two trailer: When will we see footage?
ABC dropped the first trailer for The Good Doctor in May last year but, as of July 2018, we’re still waiting for season two’s first teaser.
When it arrives, we’ll drop it into this feature, so keep this page bookmarked for all the latest news.
The Good Doctor season two cast: Who will be in it?
Chuku Modu, who played Dr Jared Kalu, is not returning for the second season, following the season one finale seeing him receive an offer from a hospital in Colorado.
Will Yun Lee, Fiona Gubelmann, Christina Chang and Paige Spara have all been promoted to series regulars for season two.
Lee and Gubelmann play surgical residents Alex Park and Morgan Reznick, while Chang stars as one of the hospital’s attending surgeons, Dr Audrey Lim, and Spara plays Lea, the love interest and neighbour of Dr Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore).
The last time we saw Lea, she had decided to return home to the East Coast after a road trip with the doctor – we’re expecting her to change her mind, unless The Good Doctor’s about to completely change its structure for season two. (It won’t).
Lisa Edelstein, best known for playing Cuddy in The Good Doctor creator David Shore’s other major medical drama House, will also recur as an expert oncologist who returns to the hospital after a brief suspension at the request of Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) to help treat his cancer.
Speaking of which…
The Good Doctor season two plot: What will it be about?
Season one’s finale ended on a note of hope. We learnt that Dr Aaron Glassman’s (Richard Schiff) inoperable brain cancer was actually a low-grade glioma that can be treated.
But don’t get too excited – David Shore warned fans that Glassman is not in the clear yet.
“To be honest, people seem to die on TV way more than they die in real life,” he said. “For your regular characters, it seems to be the go-to place.
“But Glassman’s not out of the woods, and I think it’s much more realistic and much more interesting and a greater storytelling opportunity to explore that journey of being sick.
“This is a show about medicine, and we have guest stars come in and get sick and get better and whatever. How do our people deal with that?
“How is Dr Glassman going to deal with his illness going forward? How is Dr Murphy going to deal with a sick mentor? What is that going to do to their relationship? What challenges is that going to present? I want to fully explore that.”
Expect this storyline to be a key aspect of season two.
