After seven seasons, The Good Doctor is officially over. But why was The Good Doctor cancelled by ABC? Keep reading for the real reason that it’s ending and how it almost made it to Season 8.
ABC’s The Good Doctor is a medical drama following Dr. Shaun Murphy (played by Freddie Highmore), a young, autistic surgical resident at the fictional San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. Despite skepticism from his colleagues, Shaun use his extraordinary gifts and unique talents to save lives. The series first premiered in 2017 and was renewed for a seventh season in April 2023. Rounding out the cast is Richard Schiff as Aaron Glassman; Christina Chang as Audrey Lim; Chuku Modu as Jared Kalu; Fiona Gubelmann as Morgan Reznick; Will Yun Lee as Alex Park; Paige Spara as Lea Dilallo; Noah Galvin as Asher Wolke; Giacomo Baessato as Jerome Martel and Bria Samoné Henderson as Jordan Allen.
Despite consistently high ratings, ABC announced in January 2024 that the hit show would be ending with Season 7. The network did not provide a specific reason as to why The Good Doctor was being canceled at the time, only noting that it “was time to say goodbye.” The show’s executive producers also promised to give fans “the series ending that you all deserve.” Now that time has passed, more information has come out to the real reason The Good Doctor was cancelled.
Why was The Good Doctor cancelled?
The Good Doctor‘s cancelation came as a huge to shock fans, as Season 6 drew in more than nine million total viewers. However, it’s not the only primetime drama ending this year. ABC also pulled the plug on the hit firefighter drama Station 19, while CBS canceled the long-running procedural Blue Bloods and The Big Bang Theory prequel series Young Sheldon.
Majority of these cancelations were due to tightening budgets and production delays caused by Hollywood’s dual strikes. While speaking to the press at the 2024 Television Critics Tour, executive producer David Shore shared that decision to cancel The Good Doctor was both a network decision and a storytelling decision.
“Years ago when I was doing another show, someone asked, ‘Do you know how the show is going to end?’ Yes, I know exactly how this show will end. One day I will get a call from the network,” he said, per Deadline. He went on to admit that it’s been a “weird” year for television and added that the reduced episode count for Season 7 is “unfortunate.”
According to a report by Deadline in January 2024, The Good Doctor — as well as network shows like Young Sheldon, Station 19, and SEAL Team — were all canceled after their seventh seasons in January 2024 due to declining viewership and increased financial pressure in the linear TV business. “A lot of it comes down to budgets for most series,” a source told the magazine at the time.
The magazine also explained that, as a show runs or more seasons, networks have to pay “full freight” the cost of production, which makes seasons past Season 6 expensive to license. Typically, series regular actor contracts are also for six years and often extended to seven in a salary negotiation after Season 2 or 4. This means that many shows must make new cast deals after Season 7 that could also come with expensive salary increases.
However, that doesn’t mean The Good Doctor wasn’t close to a renewal. Sources told Deadline that original star Freddie Highmore’s contract was set to end after Season 7, with new deals needed for both him and the series’ showrunners. Per the magazine, Sony TV, which produces The Good Doctor, was willing to make a deal with Highmore and the showrunners, however cuts would be needed, such as a reduced Season 8 order.
In the end, it never got to that point in the negotiations. Deadline reported that, though Highmore had been open to continuing on The Good Doctor, he had not been officially approached about a new contract before ABC’s decision to cancel the series. Despite this, Deadline reported that The Good Doctor was relatively cheap for two reasons. One was its filming location in Vancouver, Canada, which kept costs under control compared to if the series filmed in the United States. The other reason was that only had two original series regular cast members were still on the show at the time of its cancellation — Highmore and Richard Schiff, who plays Dr. Aaron Glassman — which also kept costs down.
In the end, however, it came down to money and Deadline reported that ABC canceled The Good Doctor to save the cash so that it could have a more economical schedule that balanced both scripted series with reality shows and live sports. The decision was to lean more into reality TV only became more clear after ABC successful fall schedule with reality TV shows like The Golden Bachelor and Dancing With the Stars.
