Good Doctor EP on Arrival of Shaun and Lea’s Baby, [Spoiler]’s Exit and Other Potential Cast Changes in Season 7

TVLINE | Talk to me a bit about the decision to bring Brandon Larracuente’s arc to a close after one season. It seemed like you were playing the long game with Danny and Jordan, and now he’s leaving…
As you said, we were playing the long game with the two of them, and there was something that felt right to us as storytellers about them not being able to get their timing right. It felt real. When we came up with the notion that Jordan, in order to save his life, would have to let go of the idea of having a relationship with him, that really was pleasing to me. It felt like the ultimate kind of declaration of love — a sacrifice of the love, in a sense. It’s a dynamic I’ve been fond of ever since they used it between the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman.

TVLINE | You’ve made great use of Chuku Modu since his midseason return. What was the idea behind bringing Jared back now, after all these years?
It felt like a really nice way to mark Shaun’s progress, by bringing somebody in from the outside who knew him at the very beginning of his journey at St. Bonaventure. And I like the reciprocal quality of somebody who left St. Bons in a not great position, and to see how he found his footing — or at least present him as someone who found his footing, then scratch the surface and reveal that it’s not all working the way he wants it to.

TVLINE | The finale gives no indication that Jared’s going anywhere, but Chuku only signed on for a seven-episode arc. Is the plan to bring him back for Season 7 — perhaps as a series regular again?
That is… that is a hope. It’s a hope.

TVLINE | You started Season 6 with two new residents. Both of them are now gone. Can we expect some new blood in Season 7?
Yes, I think so. We’re going to have a little bit of a new, interesting sort of presentation for that new blood this time around.

TVLINE | It’s been rumored that Hill Harper may run for political office. Obviously, you can’t speak on his behalf, nor would I expect you to. However, strictly from a storytelling perspective, this finale did seem to set up his potential exit. Do you know at this time whether Hill will return?
I have a pretty good inclination of how it’s going to go, but I do not feel certain either way.

TVLINE | Andrews was president in Season 2, then fired, then reinstated in Season 5. In the finale, he resigned. Even if Hill does come back, there’s no way Andrews would get a third chance at the presidency… right?
Well, in my family, we have this Christmas gift. It’s a Chia Pet, and it’s been passed around for close to 25 years. Nobody ever uses it. It just gets regifted, year after year. So, it’s a bit of a question. It does feel to me like the presidency of the hospital may be a little bit like a Chia Pet. You just can’t get rid of that thing, and it’s unclear why anybody wants it, so I’m not going to rule anything out.

TVLINE | There’s also been some concern among fans that Richard Schiff may be on his way out, in light of Glassman’s diagnosis and his inability to practice surgery. Tonight’s finale doesn’t feel a goodbye, though. It wasn’t intended as one, was it?
No.

TVLINE | So it’s safe to say we haven’t seen the last of Glassman?
That’s correct. That’s absolutely correct.

TVLINE | In the past, Shaun and Glassman have always been able to forgive and forget. This time feels different. Can you talk to me about the decision to let this standoff linger, and how this fissure in their relationship might have lasting implications moving forward?
That’s a good question. What we really liked about this as a conflict was that it presented the two areas of their respective characters where each of them had the least ability to be flexible. Shaun, in general, lacks flexibility; although he’s done a good job through his relationship [with Lea] learning it as an acquired skill, it is not something that he intuitively feels. When it comes to perfection and precision in surgery, he has no [flexibility]. And for Glassman, there are issues of ego — deserved ego. Really being aware of his skill, being aware of what he can offer, and feeling that [leaving surgery] is his decision to make. His career has been tremendously important to him, and he’s been successful at that in ways that he hasn’t been successful in certain other areas of his life, right? To some extent, Shaun is the biggest personal success that he’s had, so for [Shaun] to come around and take away the other thing that he’s felt good about is very, very hard to let go of. And I am very interested in forgiveness — when it’s useful to forgive and when it’s earned…. I’m really excited to see how they sort it out.

TVLINE | I want to talk a bit about Freddie Highmore’s performance, particularly when Shaun lays eyes on his child for the first time. There is so much processing happening behind those eyes, and I love the way the camera lingers on him. Was that in the script? Or was that something Freddie did in the moment? 
Welcome to the magic! That’s just the amazing experience of working with Freddie. You can write that Shaun looks at his son, but I’m not going to tell Freddie what to do there. If he has questions about it, he’ll come and he’ll talk to us about it, but we didn’t have any particular discussions about that. He just brings so much to it. I think being a good writer for a great performer is knowing when to get out of the way — at least in terms of dialogue. You set up a very clean situation — those moments where there doesn’t need to be a lot of talking — then he can [just say] “I am Dr. Shaun Murphy.”

TVLINE | I love that Shaun and Lea’s baby is named after Shaun’s brother Steve and after Dr. Glassman. TVLine actually predicted the full name — Steve Aaron Murphy — in the Jan. 27 edition of our Burning Questions column. 
Did you really?! [Snaps fingers] Well done, you guys!

TVLINE | Was there ever any question that that would be the name?
I think we always knew it would be Steve. That’s something David Shore said to me [when] I came on the show in the second season. I believe that was the plan. And here’s a little tidbit: Shore had originally thought of this as the ending of the series. But in the process of getting to know Shaun [over the last six seasons], we realized there’s way more [story] to tell. How is he as a father? How does he juggle work and home [life]? So, I believe we always knew it would be Steve. We went back and fourth on Aaron [as a middle name], but it’s beautiful.

TVLINE | What excites you most about writing for Shaun and Lea as first-time parents next season? I’ll go ahead and assume it’s not the having babies on set part. 
Yeah, exactly! If we could eliminate babies on set, where the babies give us COVID….

TVLINE | I’m sorry, what?
I don’t know if you heard about that, but Morgan’s baby gave everybody COVID. I don’t know if I was supposed to say that. Lovely, lovely baby, but…. [Laughs] I have kids — a 12 year old and a 17 year old. When my son was first born, my wife was breastfeeding. She was struggling with that, and she felt terrible about herself. I was working on House as a mid-level writer, and I remember knowing I was going to have a lot of rewrites the next day, and I was trying to get my son to go to sleep [and couldn’t]. It’s so overwhelming [being a first-time parent], and Freddie and I have already started having conversations about this. Like, for Shaun, exposure to crying is really difficult, and changing diapers is a real sensory issue. To really be able to look at the challenges of this and how you feel when you both feel like coming up short in a very major way, yet also know that you love this little creature more than anything you’ve loved in your life, I think those are great stories. I can’t wait to tell them.

TVLINE | Park committing to raising a child with Morgan is a big deal. Likewise, Morgan realizing that she never wants to put her career over the people she loves again is a big deal. So, can #Parnick fans rest easy now?
Yes, I think their relationship is on much more solid ground this time around. I would add as a significant caveat that the first year of your baby’s life is not often the best year of your marriage. So, I’m just going to raise that as a possibility. Don’t get too settled there, everybody! But I do think that the two of them have really come a long way from where we left them at the end of last season.

What did you think of The Good Doctor Season 6, Episode 22: “Love’s Labor”? Grade the finale via the following poll, then hit the comments with your review (and your hopes for Season 7).