Ahead of the premiere of season 6 on ABC, it has been announced that The Good Doctor will be getting a spinoff series. Based on the South Korean series of the same name, The Good Doctor first premiered on ABC in 2017. Starring Freddie Highmore in the lead, the show has garnered great acclaim and will debut its upcoming sixth season on Oct. 3, 2022.
Per Deadline, there are plans in place at ABC for a spinoff to be developed called The Good Lawyer. As it sounds, the show will take the story out of the medical facility and into the courtroom as a legal drama. Word is the series will follow a character named “Joni” as the titular lawyer as well as another character named “Janet.” Both are reportedly set to appear in episode 613 of The Good Doctor, that episode serving as a backdoor pilot for The Good Lawyer. Casting is said to be underway for Joni and Janet.
The Good Lawyer will be written by The Good Doctor showrunners David Shore and Liz Friedman. Deadline has also divulged some details about Joni, the show’s lead character, a 20something brilliant lawyer who battles OCD. You can read that information below.
“Relatively new to her upscale law firm, Joni, who is funny, eager, self-aware and a bit anxious, is part of Shaun’s (Highmore) legal defense team. Despite breezing through law school and her Bar exam, Joni’s OCD symptoms take a severe toll on her personal and professional life. Living with OCD, Joni has never wanted to be treated differently and is often embarrassed of her symptoms. She is a great lawyer but was forced to threaten to sue the firm (for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act) when they tried to fire her because of her peculiar behaviors.”
Another main character will be Janet, a respected attorney and partner at the firm who has a “fierce intellect and a dry, rapier wit.” Janet and Joni play a role in the new series similar while simultaneously different to the dynamic between Shaun and Dr. Glassman (Richard Schiff) in The Good Doctor. You can read more about the Janet character below, per Deadline.
“A seasoned veteran, Janet has represented Dr. Glassman in several legal matters over the course of 30 years; so Glassman turns to her to represent his protégé Shaun. Having seen it all, Janet has developed a cynical side, which contributed to her attempt to fire Joni. But when Shaun declares that he wants Joni to represent him, Janet is forced to give Joni the rope to possibly hang both of them.”
The Good Lawyer Joines Many Legal Dramas
News of The Good Lawyer happening arrives one week after the series finale of another acclaimed legal drama series, Better Call Saul. Meanwhile, this week has also seen the premiere of the half-hour legal comedy She-Hulk: Attorney at Law on Disney+. Recently, the Korean legal drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo also premiered on Netflix, and though this series has a similar concept, Deadline reports that The Good Lawyer had already been in development before that show’s arrival.
