ABC is expanding upon their popular series The Good Doctor, with a new legal spinoff titled The Good Lawyer in the works, according to Deadline.
What’s Happening:
- After expanding one popular long-running procedural drama, The Rookie, with a backdoor pilot for the next season, ABC is looking to do it for another, The Good Doctor with an embedded episode.
- The Good Lawyer will have a female lead and will be introduced as a backdoor pilot during The Good Doctor‘s upcoming sixth season.
- Two characters from The Good Lawyer, the lead Joni as well as Janet, will appear in Episode 613 of The Good Doctor. Actors have yet to be cast in any roles.
- Written by David Shore and Liz Friedman, The Good Lawyer will center on Joni, a 20-something woman who battles OCD but is a brilliant lawyer and gets to be a defense attorney for Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) who finds himself in legal trouble.
- Relatively new to her upscale law firm, Joni, who is funny, eager, self-aware and a bit anxious, is part of Shaun’s legal defense team. Despite breezing through law school and her Bar exam, Joni’s OCD symptoms take a severe toll on her personal and professional life. Living with OCD, Joni has never wanted to be treated differently and is often embarrassed of her symptoms. She is a great lawyer but was forced to threaten to sue the firm (for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act) when they tried to fire her because of her peculiar behaviors.
- Armed with a fierce intellect and a dry, rapier wit, Janet is a highly regarded attorney and partner at the firm. A seasoned veteran, Janet has represented Dr. Glassman (Richard Schiff) in several legal matters over the course of 30 years; so Glassman turns to her to represent his protégé Shaun. Having seen it all, Janet has developed a cynical side, which contributed to her attempt to fire Joni. But when Shaun declares that he wants Joni to represent him, Janet is forced to give Joni the rope to possibly hang both of them.
- While Janet and Joni resemble the mentor-mentee duo of Glassman and Shaun on The Good Doctor, the dynamic between the two characters is very different, at least on the outset.
- Friedman executive produces The Good Lawyer alongside Shore and Erin Gunn who exec produce for Shore Z.