ABC’s medical drama, The Good Doctor, will receive a spin-off series after the show completed its fifth season in May. The future series reported that a female protagonist would lead the new series with a similar premise.
In a report made by Deadline, The Good Lawyer is ABC’s upcoming series and will be tied to the same setting as The Good Doctor. A ”backdoor pilot” of the show will be featured in Season six of The Good Doctor once it airs later this year. Shaun Murphy, played by Freddie Highmore, will cross paths with Joni, a defense attorney with ODC, who’s new to the firm. She will be representing Dr. Murphy after the skilled surgeon has gotten himself into legal trouble.
Some of the characters in the upcoming spin-off will have some connection to the main cast of the medical series and will play a role in the pilot. Similar to The Good Doctor, Joni wants to excel in her field without being held back by her disability.
“Relatively new to her upscale law firm, Joni, who is funny, eager, self-aware and a bit anxious, is part of Shaun’s (Highmore) legal defense team. Despite breezing through law school and her Bar exam, Joni’s OCD symptoms take a severe toll on her personal and professional life. Living with OCD, Joni has never wanted to be treated differently and is often embarrassed of her symptoms.
She is a great lawyer, using her attention to detail, compulsive over-thinking and analytical skills as a superpower, but was forced to threaten to sue the firm (for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act) when they tried to fire her because of her peculiar behaviors. The role is listed as open to all ethnicities and abilities.”
So far, the cast for The Good Lawyer hasn’t been revealed to the public. The Good Doctor‘s David Shore and Liz Friedman will also produce and write the new series.
The Good Doctor is a medical drama series released in 2017 and is based on a Korean drama of the same name. It’s about a skilled surgeon who suffers from autism. Yet, he’s able to perform stressful tasks and procedures in his field of expertise. The spin-off series is expected to follow a similar premise to the medical drama, where a skilled lawyer can excel without being hindered by their disability.
A release date for the courtroom drama has not yet been announced, but the Season Six of The Good Doctor is scheduled to release in Oct. 2022.