The Good Doctor star Freddie Highmore on Lea and Shaun’s ‘exciting’ future

The Good Doctor fans who want Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) to build a relationship with his former neighbor Lea (Paige Spara) were disappointed when she left town in the ABC drama’s midseason premiere. But now that we know Spara is returning to Good Doctor in season 2 as a series regular, can we expect to see more of Shaun and Lea together?

“Absolutely, yes we can,” Highmore revealed in the latest episode of EW’s Chasing Emmy podcast. “It’s funny because actors can usually just rely on the excuse that they have no idea what’s coming, so they don’t have to give any teases about what’s happening in season 2. But I’m actually in the middle of being in the writers’ room, so I know lots of what’s going to happen with Lea and Shaun, and all of it is exciting, but” — yes, here’s that but we were dreading — “I can’t reveal any of it.”
You read that right: In addition to starring in and producing The Good Doctor, Highmore is now a writer on the show as well. The actor is used to multi-multitasking — he wrote and directed episodes of Bates Motel — and he says Doctor creator David Shore “has taken me under his wing and let me write an episode this second season, and direct one, too.” Because the show doesn’t begin shooting season two until the end of June, Highmore said he’s been focusing his time “on being as helpful as I possibly can be to the brilliant writers [on the show].”

One story those writers will need to crack is what happens to Dr. Murphy and his mentor, Dr. Glassman (Richard Schiff), now that Shaun has reported himself to Dr. Andrews (Hill Harper) for making a near-fatal mistake in a surgery. Certainly, The Good Doctor couldn’t fire…the good doctor, right? “Yes, this is, in fact, my very last interview for the show because I’m no longer a part of it,” jokes Highmore. To hear more about what you can expect for season 2 — including how Dr. Glassman’s cancer treatment will affect his relationship with Shaun going forward — and why Highmore didn’t watch the original Korean series on which Good Doctor is based, check out the full interview in the episode above. Plus, subscribe to EW’s Chasing Emmy podcast for additional TV news.