"The Good Doctor" to Kick Off Season 4 with Coronavirus-Themed Storyline
by Ryan Schwartz
August 6, 2020


"The Good Doctor" will be on the front lines of the COVID-19 war when the ABC medical drama scrubs in this fall.

TVLine can confirm exclusively that the Season 4 opener will focus on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has already claimed more than 159,000 lives in the U.S. alone.

We’re also hearing that the premiere will be a two-parter.

https://tvline.com/2020/08/06/good-doctor-season-4-premiere-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic/

The Good Doctor's return to production delayed by a coronavirus testing standoff (https://deadline.com/2020/08/covid-testing-standoff-the-good-doctor-crew-layoffs-production-restart-vancouver-1203005705/)

"For weeks, ABC/Sony Pictures TV’s medical drama The Good Doctor had looked like the show that would restart U.S. series production in Vancouver, leading the way out of the coronavirus-related shutdown," report Deadline's Nellie Andreeva and Dominic Patten. "The cast flew in and started a mandatory two-week self-quarantine, and the series entered pre-production, targeting the week of Aug. 10 to begin filming. Then last Friday, July 31, the entire crew was laid off and pre-production was put on hold. The drastic measure was the culmination to an escalating standoff over COVID-19 safety protocols related to testing. It is being closely monitored by other studios as it could have potential implications for the more than 30 TV series that shot in Hollywood North, with a dozen or so eying to start production there by end of August."

Check out The Good Doctor tackling the coronavirus crisis (https://tvline.com/2020/09/29/the-good-doctor-season-4-teaser-trailer-covid-19-premiere-video/)

Dr. Shaun Murphy is in head-to-toe personal protective equipment in the first teaser for Season 4, premiering Nov. 2.

The Good Doctor's David Shore: Why we made the coronavirus-themed Season 4 premiere "visceral" (https://variety.com/2020/shopping/news/miss-piggy-ciate-makeup-collection-1234815198/)

"When you’re working on something, you sort of put your head down and get to work and there’s this intellectual part of your brain that takes over. You’re aware of the emotional responses — you have to be aware of them and you have to embrace them and you have to be trying to bring them out in the audience — but it’s kind of a detached approach that you have to take to writing," the showrunner tells EW. "Then it sorts of comes back and hits when you’re watching it. What you said, I’ve been hearing it from so many people in a way I honestly didn’t anticipate. We were just trying to be honest. We always feel a responsibility to be honest with all of our stories and to not just play into melodrama [and depict] just real people with people problems in real situations, and to embrace that and embrace the story that’s in that week after week. We felt an added obligation here in terms of getting the medicine right — and the medicine was changing constantly — and to accurately portray what so many people are going through right now. So yes, we felt an added weight in that regard. I think the word is 'visceral.' People watching it, it’s hitting them, I think, harder than an average show because it’s so about what we’re all going through right now. ALSO: Freddie Highmore weighs in on The Good Doctor premiere's pandemic storyline (https://tvline.com/2020/11/02/the-good-doctor-season-4-spoilers-shaun-lea-freddie-highmore-interview/).