At one point, The Good Doctor was the crown jewel of ABC’s drama-heavy slate.
But fans revolted several years ago thanks to big cast shake-ups and some unbelievable storylines.
For some reason, ABC kept rewarding the show with renewal after renewal, but with a continually challenging broadcast TV climate, it seems The Good Doctor’s luck has finally run out.
The Good Doctor Season 7 has been confirmed, and we’re rounding up everything there is to know about the next chapter before the series scrubs out for good.
With big changes at ABC, even bigger changes are coming for The Good Doctor.
Some of those are good, but some are bad.
The Good Doctor Season 7 is a go
The Good Doctor secured a renewal for Season 7 in April 2023 — ahead of its Season 6 finale.
For many shows, that’s an early vote of confidence, but it’s not unusual for The Good Doctor.
Given the show’s decent performance on-air, a renewal wasn’t out of the realm of possibility to get that renewal.
Knowing the show had been renewed allowed producers to frame the end of The Good Doctor Season 6 to lead into another season.
The Good Doctor Season 7 will be the last for the medical drama
Despite issues with the storylines and the casting shake-ups, it’s hard to believe the show is finally ending. It seemed destined to continue to get worse the longer it went on.
ABC revealed in January 2024 that Dr. Shaun Murphy and friends would say goodbye with Season 7.
“The Good Doctor has been a once in a lifetime opportunity, but it’s time to say goodbye,” executive producers David Shore, Liz Friedman and Erin Gunn said in a joint statement revealing the news.
“We are incredibly proud of the work we’ve done and the message we’ve been privileged to be a part of.
We look forward to giving our fantastic fans, the truly extraordinary Freddie Highmore, the rest of our talented actors (and friends), and the best crew in the business the series ending that you all deserve. Thank you, Sony; thank you, ABC; thank you all.”
While the news did come out of the left field, it wasn’t as surprising as it would have been six months ago.
ABC’s priorities have changed somewhat after the success of The Golden Bachelor and other unscripted offerings in the fall.
For the first time in a long time, the network forged ahead with an entirely unscripted fall slate due to the dual Hollywood strikes.
The network also picked up 9-1-1 after FOX canceled it because its budget ballooned, primarily driven by A-list talent Angela Bassett and Peter Krause.
There have been many questions about whether that expensive series pickup paved the way for ABC to cancel Station 19, with fans of the Grey’s Anatomy spinoff learning their favorite show would be wrapping with a truncated season.
Now, The Good Doctor is in a similar position, and it doesn’t sound like the creatives or Freddie Highmore were ready to end the show.
As TV ratings get more depressed, longer-running shows are more likely to get a surprising cancellation, but the only solace we can take is that The Good Doctor is getting a conclusion.
The Good Doctor Season 7 premiere date
In addition to the cancelation news, the series is also losing the Mondays at 10/9c time period it called home for six seasons.
The Good Doctor Season 7 will kick off on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, at 10/9c.
The move signals ABC doesn’t have much to lose by moving the show. It’s ending, so if it loses some ground, it will only be around for around three months.
How many episodes of The Good Doctor remain?
In a regular TV season, The Good Doctor would be in line for a full season order, but thanks to delays caused by the dual Hollywood strikes, the show is going out with a 10-episode order.
Will that be enough to bring all of the arcs to a close? Probably. The series doesn’t have an expansive cast like it did several years ago.
The Good Doctor Season 7 cast revealed
For a show with such a significant cast turnover over the years, it’s surprising we’re going into the final season with a relatively intact cast.
Brandon Larracuente and Hill Harper were both written out last season, so we don’t expect them to return during the final episodes.
Freddie Highmore will be back as Shaun Murphy, in addition to Chuku Modu as Jared Kalu, Fiona Gubelmann as Morgan Reznick, Will Yun Lee as Alex Park, Christina Chang as Audrey Lim, Paige Spara as Lea Dilallo, Bria Samone Henderson as Jordan Allen, Noah Galvin as Asher Wolke, and Richard Schiff as Aaron Glassman.
There is plenty of scope for special guest stars because the show has lost a lot of big names over the years, but given how late in the game the cancellation has dropped, there’s a possibility the writers won’t have time to adapt the conclusion and send out those availability calls.
The Good Doctor Season 7 plot
In one of the biggest surprises in Good Doctor history, the series didn’t end its previous season with countless cliffhangers.
Instead, The Good Doctor Season 6 wrapped things up very well, with Shaun and Lea becoming parents.
It was a rare moment of happiness on a show otherwise driven by drama.
The decision means we’re going into The Good Doctor Season 7 with what should be a relatively clean slate.
We’re sure that won’t last very long because this show loves switching things up for a nice dose of unnecessary drama.
The Good Doctor will return on Tuesday, February 20 at 10/9c on ABC.