Warning: This article contains spoilers for the season 4 finale ofThe Good Doctor.
DAVID SHORE:We owe a great debt to our crew in Vancouver.
[They] did a great job of finding places in British Columbia.
Paige Spara and Freddie Highmore on ‘The Good Doctor’.Jeff Weddell/ABC
We were very worried about it.
We wanted to be as accurate as we could.
They found great locations for us.
Antonia Thomas and Freddie Highmore on ‘The Good Doctor’.Jeff Weddell/ABC
How did you settle on this being the way you’d write Claire off the show?
What made it this feel like a satisfying conclusion to her journey?
I wanted this to be hopeful and positive.
I wanted her to be running to something."
Did Antonia have any input on Claire’s ending?
I spoke to her about it and I explained what I just said to you.
I spoke to her quite a while ago and I was really excited about it.
I wasn’t excited about her leaving.
It’s very sad that she’s leaving, but I respect her choice.
She’s done great work for us for four years.
She’s given us everything we could’ve asked for.
So I wanted to give her a good sendoff and I wanted to double-check she was happy with it.
We talked about it and had a good talk.
Over the past four seasons, Claire’s empathetic perspective has been an integral part of the show.
Do you have any idea of how you’ll deal with that void?
We’ve got a lot of characters on it.
I think there are some characters that fill that aspect to some extent.
And that might change from episode to episode.
I also believe that Claire has impacted the rest of them.
I think they’re all carrying a little bit of Claire as they go forward.
How early did you decide you wanted to end the season with Shaun and Lea getting engaged?
About halfway through the year we started thinking in those terms.
But it’s been a rough year [for everyone], we wanted to give everybody a break.
That was exactly it.
Coming out of that, we didn’t want to break them up at least not yet.
We like them together and want to keep exploring [them].
They went through a hardship and they came through.
He proved himself as a good boyfriend and worthy of her love.
I think she’s sensing it at this point as he stayed with her.
I think that was really important.
You hit the nail on the head to some extent.
Last year, he was pursuing her.
I mean, they’re still very much in love, but he’s not pushing her.
Park and Morgan also got together in the finale.
From your point of view, what makes them such an interesting and right pairing?
They joined the show together, and we just had lot of fun with them.
you could’t write a story, see how it plays, and then write the next story.
You have to be ahead and anticipating.
You see how that works and go, “Okay, they’re clearly flirting.”
I hope this is satisfying but makes sense.
Those are the surprises that you strive for on TV.
I think we got a lot of that going on.
Has she made peace with the fact that she can’t do surgery anymore?
The short answer is yes.
That’s been a year long arc in the background at times, but she hadn’t made peace.
Can you talk about the decision to introduce Mateo andpromote Osvaldo Benavides to series regularfor season 5?
We’ve been talking about bringing in a new doctor, a different point of view.
It all came together very nicely.
I think that feels nice.
What new point of view does Mateo bring to the show, and presumably the hospital?
The writers' room just started up, and we’re just starting to explore that.
We really enjoyed watching him, and we really enjoyed what he did in those final two episodes.
So that question you just asked me, we’re all asking ourselves at this point.
Or we’re on the way to that.
Every year we attempt to challenge him.
It’s not just about challenging him, but it’s also about getting his insights.
So what I’m looking forward to is watching his growth and also his insights.
Professionally, the same thing.
He’s even further up now and competing for work at this point.
They’re reaching the end of their residency.
What does that mean to them all?
Is the end of their residency and what they do next driving the next season?
Room just started up.
We’re asking these questions ourselves.
