Doc debuted early in the 2025 TV schedule and then immediately broke a ratings record for Fox with that first episode. With the story of Dr. Amy Larsen's lost memories (and the love triangle she didn't even know she was in) just getting more complicated, fans were likely relieved that the network didn't wait until after the finale to renew the medical drama for Season 2. I spoke with actor Jon Ecker, who plays Chief Resident Dr. Jake Heller, ahead of the finale on March 18 about what's on the way.
If it seems like Season 1 is ending right after it began, that would be because Doc only received an order for ten episodes the first time around. That will change for the next batch, as the renewal came with 22 more episodes. Ecker weighed in on getting the renewal ahead of the finale, saying:
It's been very exciting, and we're all super excited to get back together soon and work and have a lot more episodes to film, which we're very excited about.
Is it any wonder that the cast is "excited to get back together soon" considering how much time has passed since they wrapped filming? Jon Ecker shared that they finished the first season back in July of 2024, nearly half a year before the first episode would air on Fox and become available streaming with a Hulu subscription. The actor reflected on getting that good news after such a long wait:
Oh, it was glorious. I don't know how to describe it. We had to wait a long time, which I tend to always have to do, especially after first seasons, and especially with some streamers, you wait what seems like an eternity, and you can barely remember your character's names by the time you get around to doing interviews. So to finally air and people to respond to it and get an early pickup is just... I mean, it's a rough business that we're in, and it's gotten even rougher after COVID and the strikes. I just can't explain how grateful I am that it's done so well. Especially after doing a few shows that only went one season, it feels even nicer.
Television in the first couple years after the WGA writers strike and SAG-AFTRA actors strike could have been a tough landscape for a medical drama when there are already heavy hitters in the genre like Chicago Med on NBC and Grey's Anatomy on ABC, but Doc clearly carved out an audience quickly. Ecker went on to share his reaction to getting that episode count bump from 10 to 22:
That was very surprising, just because I've never done that many episodes, so I don't even know what that looks like or feels like, but I’m just very grateful.
At this point, of course, there's no guarantee that everybody from Season 1 will be back in the same capacity, or how much will have changed at the hospital by the end of the finale on March 18. As you may have guessed after the penultimate episode was called "What Goes Up..." on March 11, the last episode of Season 1 is called "...Must Come Down," with everybody called upon to pitch in after a mass casualty event.
And there could also be disaster for personal storylines to go along with the mass casualty event, after Amy (Molly Parker) and Michael (Omar Metwally) shared a passionate kiss despite him being married to another woman and Jake enjoying restarting the relationship that was cut short by her amnesia. That's not even accounting for how something surely has to give sooner or later with Dr. Miller (Scott Wolf) and the death he's been trying to hide all season!
So, how high are the stakes for this last episode of the 2024-2025 TV season? I asked Jon Ecker that very question, and he previewed:
They're pretty high for a lot of people. There's a lot of stuff going on. Obviously you have the whole love triangle between me and Amy and Michael, so what's going to happen there? And then also the whole situation – and we find out if it gets resolved – with Richard and the Dixon case. There's just a lot going on that just all will hopefully get wrapped up in Episode 10, but I'm sure, being that we're rolling into 22 more episodes, there's gonna be some loose ends there that still gotta get resolved.
Ecker of course didn't drop all the spoilers before the Season 1 finale could even air, but I think there are plenty of reasons to get excited about what Doc has in store for the last episode before the break. Check out the promo below for a bit more of a tease:
Tune in to Fox on Tuesday, March 18 at 9 p.m. ET for the Season 1 finale of Doc, which has been the network's first medical drama since The Resident wrapped in 2023. Fox has yet to announce what Doc will be paired with when it returns for Season 2; I'd love to see the series airing back-to-back with Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk's Murder in a Small Town, but we'll just have to wait for the news.
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