‘The Good Doctor’: Meet the New, Returning and Departing Cast Before Season 2 Premiere

The series will continue will to follow surgeon Dr. Shaun Murphy, played by Freddie Highmore, as he navigates through medical procedures and miracles at St. Bonaventure Hospital in San Jose, California. Shaun isn’t your typical doctor. He has autism spectrum disorder.

While Shaun particularly struggled to connect with his fellow colleagues and patients because of his autism, Season 2 could show the doctor learning to open up more when his relationship with Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) is challenged. Last season, Glassman was diagnosed with brain cancer.

Show runner David Shore teased the first episode of the new season, titled, “Hello,” and written by Highmore, would pick up right where Season 1 left off. “What we set up at the end of last season—I didn’t want to jump forward. I wanted to follow up on that,” Shore told TV Guide in an interview released Sunday.

“I wanted to see the fallout of where we left it at the end of last season. Both professionally, the changing of the guard in the hospital and how that impacts all our people, and probably more importantly personally, Glassman’s diagnosis and how that’s going to impact Glassman and Shaun,” Dove continued.
Season 1 ended with Glassman discovering he could potentially beat his brain tumor despite initially being told he only had a short time left to live. Glassman’s treatment and recovery will bring about a new character on the show while Dr. Jared Kalu (Chukuma Modu) is expected to officially make his exit during Season 2 following his job offer at a hospital in Colorado last season.

Read on to find out all about the new and returning cast members on The Good Doctor Season 2.

Dr. Shaun Murphy

Freddie Highmore returns as the lead protagonist in ABC’s medical drama. After winning the hearts of millions of viewers as the ASD doctor during Season 1, Highmore took his role on the show one step further by writing the premiere episode. Shore told TV Guide Highmore first mentioned writing for the show back during Season 1. “During the hiatus when the writers room was getting back together, he joined us for a while,” Shore said. “We sat there and we collectively talked about what the first story should be and worked it out a fair bit and then he went off and worked on it. Then he and I worked on it together a little bit to get ready. He did a great job.”

Dr. Aaron Glassman

Although his character is on suspension from the hospital due to his diagnosis. fans haven’t seen the last of actor Richard Schiff just yet. Season 2 will track Glassman’s battle to recovery intimately, Shore revealed. “We want to take [Glassman’s illness] through honestly and we want to deal with what it’s like to be a patient. We’re dealing with doctors. They deal with patients, but I really want to explore the patient experience, particularly somebody we care about,” he said.

Dr. Blaze

Lisa Edelstein is back in a lab coat after her long-running role of Cuddy on Fox’s former medical drama House, also created by Shore. As Dr. Blaze, Edelstein is expected to help and treat Glassman as his oncologist. Fans were introduced to the character when Glassman was first diagnosed with brain cancer in Season 1. They’ll see a lot more of Blaze as Edelstein was promoted to a regular cast member for Season 2.

Dr. Jared Kalu

Despite appearing on the new season limitedly, Chukuma Modu’s character will get a proper goodbye before he heads down to Colorado. “We wanted to give him a good send off,” Shore said. “We knew he was leaving but we didn’t want to do it at the end of last season because I thought we had a tremendous story to end it on with Dr. Glassman getting the diagnosis he does, the impact that has on Shaun and the fallout from all that.”

Lea

The last time fans saw Paige Spara she was on her way back home to the East Coast. It’s unclear what will bring Lea back to San Jose, but fans should expect to see her comeback on Season 2 and soon.