ABC is preparing for a legal comedy-drama series with title The Good Lawyer to spinoff from the favorite The Good Doctor. Apparently, the network has been simmering the idea for a while. With the same showrunners, David Shore and Liz Friedman, ABC Signature is in position to co-produce the series with Sony Pictures TV and Shore Z Prods.
Deadline reports that the spinoff series will embed an episode in The Good Doctor to introduce the lead characters for The Good Lawyer. According to the article, Shore and Friedman writes that The Good Lawyer centers on a 20-something woman, Joni, who has an obsessive compulsive disorder. At the same time, she is a brilliant lawyer who will defend Freddie Highmore’s Dr. Shaun Murphy as he happens to get into a legal conundrum.
ABC Spins The Good Doctor Off With The Good Lawyer
Image: Pixabay
Furthermore, the episode will show that Joni is funny, eager, self-aware and a bit anxious. Even though she has gone through law school and conquered her Bar exam, her OCD heavily affects her personal and professional life. Currently, the role is up for casting and is open to all ethnicities and abilities. In addition, Janet, who stands as some sort of a mentor for Joni, appears in the episode as well.
Perhaps there will always be room to cover legal dramas given that content will always be inspired by actual cases. Notably, the article also mentions Extraordinary Attorney Woo. It is a Korean legal drama comedy series about a young woman’s challenging adventures as a lawyer with autism spectrum disorder. We have reported back in July that the drama is about to get its US version. Although, The Good Lawyer is not in any way connected to the Korean drama. Many fans speculate that somehow it has pushed the spinoff to move forward with its development. Despite the disorder difference from autism to obsessive compulsive, viewers may see some similarities down the line. In addition, the series reportedly has been in development since last year. Deadline interviewed Sony TV Studios’ previous President Jeff Frost and he commented on the possible spinoff at the time. He said:
I think it’s always a possibility; it’s something we would love to see happen. Obviously we don’t want to do anything that is going to impact the mothership but at the same time we do think there is a potential for that.
ABC Spins The Good Doctor Off With The Good Lawyer
Image: ABC
Television and streaming content is even more competitive nowadays. Networks have taken into delving into their treasure troves of IPs for expanded, extended content. This is because they already have an audience for familiar characters and base stories. There has to be something in common before they add a bit of difference.
The only other comment that fans have now is that why did the network wait for more than five years to develop the spinoff? In any case, at least they are doing it soon right?
The upcoming spinoff series will most likely be having more comedic scenes than The Good Doctor. Given that the character has OCD not ASD, viewers can imagine Joni’s actions or potential scenes to be similar with what Tony Shalhoub’s Adrian Monk has gone through during his run as a detective. Undeniably, this still is a series to look forward to.
