‘The Good Doctor’ EP on Shaun & Lea’s Parenthood Journey & Possible Fan Fave Returns in the Final Season (Exclusive)

The Good Doctor is answering its final call. The seventh and final season premieres on February 20 and begins with many of the show’s characters starting new chapters. Hollywood Life spoke exclusively with co-showrunner Liz Friedman about the final season — including Shaun and Lea’s first few weeks as parents to baby Steven.

“When we meet Shaun and Lea, they’re about two weeks in,” Liz said about when season 7 begins. “They’re both learning about the challenges and the joys of parenting. We wanted to explore the ways in which Shaun is really terrific at this. It’s something we talked to our autism consultant about and she said, ‘Absolutely, there are a lot of parents who are on the spectrum who, especially with a baby, there are things about babies you can’t control, and there’s a lot that you actually can control. Shaun believes in a schedule, and he’s got that running. In fact, the first real challenge that Shaun and Lea have is that the two of them have different approaches to this and how scheduled or unscheduled they want to be.”

While Shaun adapts to fatherhood, he’s also juggling his career as a doctor and his fractured relationship with Glassman. Their relationship hit a low point when Shaun outed Glassman’s cognitive issues to Dr. Lim. Liz noted that Shaun and Glassman will “find their way back to each other,” but it won’t be an easy road.

“When you see them at the beginning of the season, they’re still really not dealing with each other,” Liz told Hollywood Life. “Both of them, I think, still have a lot of feelings about what happened at the end of last season. They will find their way back to each other, but it’s not going to happen all at once. They both have some things that they have to navigate and some things that they have to say to each other. I think it’s going to be a really interesting and emotional journey for them.”

Now that he’s stepped away from surgery, Glassman will be “trying to figure out how to fill his time.” The EP added, “Much to his dismay, he’s going to end up having some more administrative responsibility than he wants, but I think he’s trying to figure out the next chapter of his life.”

At the end of season 6, Jordan sacrifices a relationship with Danny to save his life. Despite Danny, a recovering addict, asking doctors not to give him pain meds after a car accident, Jordan ended up giving him the medication to help him. Danny left St. Bonaventure to go live with his family in Texas.

“Jordan is going to start off the year still dealing with the decision that she made at the end of last season to sacrifice her relationship with Danny to some extent to keep him alive,” Liz teased. “But that’s not going to be the last challenge she’s going to face. That’s kind of what I can tell you now.”

Similar to Shaun and Lea, Morgan and Park are embarking on the parenthood journey as a couple. “Morgan and Park give us another way to explore how adding a kid can change the dynamic,” the co-showrunner revealed. “They are a different couple than Shaun and Leah. Open contentiousness has been an element of what even drew them to each other in the first place. And now, as they unify to be this great parenting team for Eden, that’s going to then challenge other aspects of their relationship. We have some really fun stuff coming up with them.”

The Good Doctor has become one of ABC’s most beloved medical dramas, so fans were surprised when it was announced that the series would be ending after season 7. “If I can quote my co-showrunner David Shore, ABC told us that it was time to end the show, so that’s a lot of the reason,” Liz replied when asked why the show was ending. “But what was really terrific and that we so appreciate is that they told us in a time and manner that we can wrap up the show in the way that we want and go into it knowing that that’s what we’re doing. We’re looking forward to giving Shaun Murphy a great, great ending to his story.”

As for whether or not we’ll see fan-favorite characters like Claire and Andrews back at some point in the final season, Liz cryptically responded, “Well, you’re going to have to wait and see.”

The final season is just starting, and The Good Doctor team is still putting the finishing touches on how the show will end. “We’re still molding it. I mean, we have a good idea of stuff, but it keeps evolving until you shoot it, right? And then it can evolve a little more in the cutting room,” Liz said. The Good Doctor will air Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on ABC.