We saw our first sneak peek of The Good Lawyer in March 2023. But unfortunately, the first season of the The Good Doctor’s legal spinoff may not premiere for a very long time (or in the worst case, never at all). When does The Good Lawyer come out? Keep reading to find out.
The Good Lawyer is the legal spinoff of the popular ABC medical series, The Good Doctor. Bethlehem Million, Kennedy McMann and Felicity Huffman star in the anticipated new show produced by Sony Pictures Television and ABC Signature. When the legal drama was announced back in August 2022, Deadline reported that expanding The Good Doctor was a goal for ABC. The network had similar success with Grey’s Anatomy’s Station 19 and The Rookie’s The Rookie: Feds.
The legal spinoff premiered in an embedded pilot episode of The Good Doctor in March 2023. Written by co-showrunners David Shore and Liz Friedman, in the first episode, we saw Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) seek legal representation to him win a case. He put his faith in Joni (McMann), a promising young lawyer who also has obsessive-compulsive disorder. Million portrays Abbie, Joni’s slightly older sister and her best friend. Meanwhile, Huffman plays Janet, a partner at the law firm where Joni works. Janet also represented Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) in several legal matters over the years.
The Good Doctor marks Huffman’s first leading role since she was involved in the Varsity Blues College Admissions scandal. In September 2019, Huffman was sentenced to two weeks in prison and served 11 of them for paying $15,00 to have a test proctor correct her daughter Sophia’s SAT exam answers, according to Entertainment Weekly.
The ongoing Hollywood strikes are impacting the future of The Good Lawyer (which we’ll get to more below). On July 13, 2023, the national board of the Hollywood actors’ union SAG-AFTRA approved to strike. The union represents 160,000 television and movie actors. During the strike, actors are not allowed to work union jobs, promote their respective films and shows, attend press junkets and premieres and more.
The actors’ strike comes two months after the WGA began their strike on May 2, 2023. The demands requested by the actors and writers are similar: They want better compensation for TV shows and movies, increased residual payments for their work on streaming services and regulations on artificial intelligence. Leaders on both sides of the strike say that they’re in it for the long haul. As of August 12, 2023, the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) have resumed negotiations that may end one of the strikes.
So, what does this mean for the much-anticipated first season of The Good Lawyer? Here’s everything that we know.