ABC has commissioned The Good Lawyer, a spinoff of The Good Doctor with a legal theme and a female lead, Deadline reported. Executives from The Good Doctor’s original production team, including David Shore and Liz Friedman, will work on the new show. The news was released shortly after The Rookie, another popular ABC series, had its spin-off announced.
In the series The Good Doctor, Freddie Highmore portrays Dr. Shaun Murphy, a surgeon who is autistic and savant-like. He receives support and ultimately decides to go to the city to work at the renowned St. Bonaventure Hospital under the direction of Dr. Aaron Glassman. The young surgeon needs to find a method to connect with individuals around him and demonstrate his abilities to the rest of the surgical team due to doubt from his colleagues about his capacity to execute the job. The show investigates what it’s like to have an invisible impairment and the effects it has on people’s social and professional life.
Two characters from The Good Lawyer, the lead Joni and Janet, will reportedly appear in Episode 613 of The Good Doctor. Casting is currently taking place for the parts. Tori McCaleb/Sony Pictures Television The Good Lawyer, written by Shore and Friedman, will be centred on Joni, a 20-something woman who struggles with OCD but is a smart lawyer and gets the opportunity to represent Dr. Shaun Murphy (Highmore), who runs into legal issues.
The spinoff of The Good Doctor was mentioned last year, and previous president of Sony TV Studios Jeff Frost said that it was always a possibility and something the studio would love to see happen. Now, over a year later, the series has been announced. Then he said there was absolutely room for a spinoff but that he didn’t want to affect the mothership by making anything.
The spinoff is built on a unique concept because The Good Doctor, the Korean series it is based on, didn’t have one. Along with Shore and Eric Gunn, who will executive produce for Shore Z Prods, Friedman will also serve as an executive producer. Along with Shore Z, Sony Pictures TV will also produce the show.