Freddie Highmore Ponders Past, Present, and Future Career Opportunities as the Final Season of THE GOOD DOCTOR Proceeds

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede It may seem like an odd observation, but with THE GOOD DOCTOR in the midst of its seventh and final season, star Freddie Highmore is wondering whether he has made the best use of his time. The subject came up when Highmore was asked about his personal learning curve with regard to the medical community. “It has dawned on me in the last seven years, I could’ve actually become a real doctor, and instead, I’ve just continued to pretend to be one,” said Highmore with a smile during a virtual interview. “So hopefully no one judges me for that, because I certainly feel a greater appreciation for real doctors, and what they’re able to do, and the magic of what they’re able to do.” Highmore said that if he ever needed a reality check during the highly successful run of THE GOOD DOCTOR – which returns with a new episode, Tuesday, March 19 at 10 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app – all he had to do was have a brief chat with real physicians. “We’re telling these stories in a fake setting, but it’s something else to have real surgeons and real nurses come in and say, ‘this is what actually would happen, and this is what I did last week and saved someone’s life,’ ” Highmore said. “It puts it into perspective. Maybe I should’ve just actually become a doctor over this time, and it would’ve been the better thing to do. It certainly makes me realize how incompetent I am at pretending.” Loyal viewers of THE GOOD DOCTOR would strongly disagree with Highmore’s modesty in that regard. Playing Dr. Shaun Murphy – a highly skilled surgeon who is also on the autism spectrum – Highmore has broken ground and opened eyes since the series debuted in 2017. “One of the things I’ve really enjoyed, and hopefully that has translated and maybe is part of the reason people have continued to watch, is there has been a hopeful, optimistic tone at the centre of it,” Highmore said. “I think Shaun believes that people are fundamentally good, and is optimistic for the future. He doesn’t judge people, or prejudge people, and tries to see the best in them. Looking around the world at the sort of tumultuous past seven years on many levels, from local events in particular countries, to the global pandemic with COVID, I think for me certainly there has been something lovely about being able to return to that type of message, and perhaps other people have felt the same.” Adding a layer of personality intrigue in Season 7 has been the addition of a new intern named Charlie who is also on the autism spectrum, as is the actress who plays her, Kayla Cromer. Charlie considers Shaun to be one of her heroes, but Shaun has found Charlie to be a bit of a challenge in the early stages of their working relationship. “Yeah, that’s certainly a big part of this season,” Highmore said. “More generally, it’s looking at Shaun as a teacher. Shaun’s communication has never been his strong point, and I think he’ll struggle in terms of being the boss, and trying to impart wisdom. And I think in terms of his relationship with Charlie more specifically, because she has autism, there are certainly parts of her that remind Shaun of himself. But I think something else that we really do want to explore with Charlie as a character, in comparison to Shaun, is the ways in which they’re different. Shaun, as we’ve always said, is one person, and has never been able to, nor should he, represent everyone who is on the spectrum. So I think offering a different view of autism through Charlie is going to be really exciting, and important.” With THE GOOD DOCTOR now in the home stretch, is Highmore feeling sentimental? “It’s the longest time I’ve ever spent with any character, 100-and-something episodes, I don’t have the number in front of me, but it’s a huge amount of time,” Highmore said. “If there’s one analogy that sums it up it’s that it feels like graduation. You’re nostalgic, because this big part of your life is coming to an end, and you know that bubble and that group of people who feel so special and are so close to you will never be replicated again, and everyone will move on and do other things. But at the same time, like graduation, there’s an excitement to move on, and it’s probably healthy to seek out other opportunities and other things in life. So I think I’m feeling both nostalgic and excited for the future, and very much enjoying the time we have left.” Aren’t you forgetting something, Freddie? “The one thing that’s missing with my graduation analogy is that there are parties at the end after you’ve graduated, and we haven’t quite sorted that out,” Highmore said. “But hopefully it will feel celebratory at the end as well, and that everyone – as I do – will feel proud of what we’ve all accomplished together.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv