Spring TV season is the time of year when fans can only wait and hope about the fates of their favorite series. Fortunately, The Good Doctor fans can stop worrying that the show will go the way of The Resident and become another cancelled medical drama this year. ABC has officially renewed the Freddie Highmore-led series, meaning that it will be back in the 2023-2024 TV season with Season 7. But what about The Good Lawyer as its potential spinoff? Is there still hope for the legal drama? Let’s start with what we know for sure.
The Good Doctor Renewed For Season 7
Although the medical drama was not among ABC’s earliest renewals (which included Grey’s Anatomy for a Season 20 that will bring back Meredith Grey at some point), the network evidently has enough faith in the show to order another season. TVLine reports that The Good Doctor Season 6 currently averages 6.2 million viewers total and a 0.6 rating in the key 18-49 age demographic.
While those are respective drops of 11% and 25% from the averages in Season 5, the show is second out of ABC’s ten dramas in audience size. It ranks behind only The Rookie, which was renewed earlier this week, prompting Nathan Fillion to open up and celebrate. It is also tied for fourth in the demographic numbers. The Good Doctor is renewed just a day after ABC gave an order for another season of Will Trent.
Plus, it’s worth noting that there are still two episodes left before summer hiatus begins on Monday, May 1, so the ratings and audience averages may change by the time the final credits roll on the Season 6 finale. On the whole, it’s not completely shocking that The Good Doctor will be back for Season 7, but the question that remains is whether it will be followed by The Good Lawyer.
Will The Good Doctor Get Its Spinoff?
Like ABC’s The Rookie: Feds as The Rookie’s spinoff and Station 19 as Grey’s Anatomy’s spinoff, The Good Lawyer hasn’t received an order for the 2023-2024 TV season just because the parent series did. The backdoor pilot (available streaming with a Hulu subscription) for The Good Doctor’s potential legal spinoff aired back in March and introduced Nancy Drew alum Kennedy McMann as Joni DeGroot, an attorney who uses her obsessive compulsive struggles to her advantage in her profession.
It was unclear at the time if The Good Lawyer could stand on its own and separate from The Good Doctor, and its fate has not yet been determined. TVLine went on to report that even though the spinoff hasn’t gotten a series order to go with The Good Doctor’s renewal, no decision has been made and a pickup is still possible. ABC has reportedly declined to comment at the time of writing.
For now, fans of the parent series can look forward to the last two episodes of Season 6, with Shaun realizing some bad news about Dr. Glassman in the latest episode while also looking forward to the birth of his first child with Lea. It seems safe to say that there are still complications in store, because what would a season finale of The Good Doctor be without some serious complications?
The final episodes of The Good Doctor Season 6 will continue airing on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC, with the finale on May 1. For some viewing options once Shaun Murphy and Co. are missing from the small screen over the summer, be sure to check out our 2023 TV premiere schedule.
