I’m Loving Doc’s Cast Changes For Season 2, But Are They Also Bad News For One Major Character?

Doc brought Fox back into the medical drama game this year for the first time since The Resident ended in 2023, and the record-breaking ratings for the premiere proved that there was definitely an audience for the story of Dr. Amy Larsen as a doctor who lost her memory in an accident. Of course, that premise might have run out of steam pretty quickly if nothing else was going on, so the show threw in a “fresh” kind of love triangle and somebody to root against: Scott Wolf’s Dr. Richard Miller. Now, cast changes are happening, and I’m concerned about somebody returning (or not returning) after Season 1.

Cast Changes For Season 2

Let's start with the good news! Two actors from Season 1 will be around even more in the second season, as Deadline reports both Patrick Walker and Charlotte Fountain-Jardim have been promoted from recurring to series regular status. I’m not terribly surprised by Walker’s bump up, since Dr. TJ Coleman started getting meatier storylines in the second half of the season and his status as a first-year resident meant that he could very well have a future at Westside Hospital. (You can stream the series now with a Hulu subscription.)

I was less certain about Fountain-Jardim, who plays Amy and Michael’s daughter Katie. With most of the action set at the hospital and Amy possibly regaining some of her workaholic ways the more she gets used to her intense work as a doctor again, I could imagine Katie actually having a less prominent role in Season 2. Still, the actress was great in the first season, and Amy and Michael sharing a kiss toward the end of Season 1 in the spring 2025 TV schedule means messiness for the already complicated family.

So, good news all around, right? Well, maybe so for seeing more of TJ and Katie, but those changes make me a little nervous about Scott Wolf.

What About Dr. Richard Miller?

I’ll admit it – I was as ready as anybody when Doc premiered to hate Dr. Richard Miller for what he was doing to Amy by blaming her for a patient's death. Then, the season slowly but surely introduced context to the fateful decision that led to him as the one who killed a patient. That, combined with Scott Wolf’s performance, made me appreciate the character a lot more. Root for him to get away with shifting blame to Amy for killing the man? Of course not, but Richard was a much more compelling character than I expected from the start.

The other shoe dropped for Richard at the end of Season 1, when Amy learned the truth about Dixon’s death and Richard faced consequences for his actions. He was seen packing up his office, but the episode technically never confirmed what the future holds for him. Realistically, Richard seems like he would never work at Westside Hospital again even if he did manage to keep his medical license.

But who watches the show about the amnesiac doctor and her love triangle for realism? Scott Wolf was a standout performer in Season 1, and I’m willing to suspend disbelief for Season 2 if it means keeping Wolf around in some form or other. I wish I could be confident one way or the other, but the medical drama had not yet been renewed when I spoke with the Doc showrunners and cast earlier this year, and Michael Ecker didn’t spoil the future when he broke down the Season 1 finale to CinemaBlend either.

I’m not sure if it’s anything to go on, but Scott Wolf did drop an encouraging comment when Fox announced Doc’s renewal for Season 2 on Instagram. He wrote: “🙌🙌🙌👏👏👏🔥🔥❤️” Does that translate to “I’m definitely coming back next season?” Maybe not, but Season 1 had already finished filming by the time episodes were airing on Fox. There’s hope for more of Richard when Doc returns in the fall, especially with the episode count being bumped up to 22.

For now, you can always rewatch Season 1 streaming on Hulu and stay tuned for more updates on Doc. I got my wish for the medical drama to be paired with Season 2 of Murder in a Small Town, so viewers should be in for dramatic Tuesday nights in the fall.