The Good Doctor premieres its seventh and final season tonight on ABC, giving viewers their first in-depth look at Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) and wife Lea (Paige Spara) as new parents.
“I think [the characters] are going to be challenged in ways that they didn’t expect,” showrunner Liz Friedman teased in a recent interview with Parade. “It’s going to bring up issues within their relationship. Then it’s also just an incredible joy to be a new parent. I feel safe saying that they are very happy and they love this baby so much. But it’s also a big change. Change does lead to some ups and downs.”
Incidentally, the introduction of several infant scene-partners has also led to changes on set: “Everybody’s hands are very clean, which is a must, and also there is no bell,” Friedman explained. “Usually, when the camera turns or when you call ‘cut’ there is a bell that rings letting everyone on the stage know. But when we have the baby there, we do it without the bell.”
The cast recently began filming episode 6 of the 10 episodes planned for the final season.
“I like that we’re getting to explore the challenges and the joys of parenting and the ways that it impacts all aspects of your life, and not just the stuff at home,” Friedman said. “Certainly, becoming a parent has changed my writing, it’s changed my perspective on things. It certainly has an impact on when I can work and when I can’t. I think getting to be able to explore those issues through these characters is a lot of fun.”
Parenting storylines aside, Season 7 will also dive into new territory with the introduction of two new medical students who are greener than any past characters who’ve appeared on the show. “We’ve never done medical school students who walk out of their classrooms and onto the hospital floor having never done a blood drawn or dressed a wound,” Friedman told Parade. “We thought, let’s bring in some new, very green doctors who have personalities that are going to be both a challenge and a delight to other people in our universe.”
One such character, Charlene “Charlie” Lukaitis (Kayla Cromer), is a third-year medical student who has autism and is a “hard-core Shaun Murphy fan,” Friedman shared. “[She] became a doctor because of seeing that viral video of Shaun in the airport saving that boy [in the series premiere] and now she’s at the hospital and she’s going to get to work with her hero. It’s going to be a challenge that neither of them is expecting.”
Speaking of challenging relationships, Dr. Murphy will also be navigating his fractured bond with Dr. Glassman in the show’s final run. “I would say that the two of them are key in each other’s lives,” Friedman said. “They are going to find their way back to each other. But it’s not necessarily going to be a straight line.”
As the cast and crew approach the final episode of the show, Friedman says that the reality of its conclusion is setting in. “We’ve started to think about it and talk about it. It’s been on all of our minds, somewhere on our minds, since ABC made its decision,” Friedman said. “This has been an incredible work environment and we all get along well. I’m not sure when I’m ever going to have this good of a situation again.”
Still, she continued, “We’re also all sincerely grateful that we’ve had the time we’ve had and we get to make a show that we’re proud of, that I feel like I can say and mean it, a show that has made a difference to people. You don’t always get to do that.”
