The Good Doctor EP Daniel Dae Kim talks adapting show for US viewers

As the majority of diehard The Good Doctor viewers almost certainly know at this point, Daniel Dae Kim is one of the real keys to the series’ overall success. He is an executive producer on the series, a recent recurring guest star, and without his contributions, we would never have a US version of the show in the first place.

While we know that there are a number of people out there who already know the story of The Good Doctor and its origins, Kim appeared this week (promoting his new project Always Be My Maybe) on Live! with Kelly and Ryan and spelled some of it out:

“It started as a Korean show … in Korea they do a show for about twenty episodes, and then the shows are done. I happened to see that show, and it had at its center a doctor with autism. I thought it was a medical drama with a character we haven’t seen on American television before … I started developing it here and it took three years, but we brought on David Shore, who we brought on from House, and the rest is history.”

Want to get some other The Good Doctor discussion, this time in video form? Then check out some of what we’ve got for you below! Also, remember to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube for more insight and view our official show playlist.

While we felt The Good Doctor would be a success from its early days, we do think that it’s gone on to become one of the staples in ABC’s lineup. It’s got an Emmy-worthy performance from Freddie Highmore at the center, and while Kim’s character of Dr. Jackson Han from the end of season 2 wasn’t the easiest to root for, he elevated the show and he elevated the performances around him. His scenes with Highmore were on another level … but we have a hard time imagining that we’re going to see that much more of Dr. Han moving forward. He was let go at the end of season 2, and with Dr. Lim now getting his old position, the series moves on.

Is there more that we could have learned about Dr. Han? Certainly, but that was probably one of the fundamental messages of this show — often, you don’t get all of the information that is out there about someone. In this case, we never learned about whatever past experience Dr. Han had with someone with autism who framed his judgments about Shaun.

Even though he may not have an on-screen presence, we certainly believe we’ll continue to see Kim around The Good Doctor set once more. Filming is going to begin on the series starting next month, and we expect it at the moment to premiere in late September/early October.

If you missed it…

We spoke about Highmore’s Emmy worthiness earlier this week, and we even have a piece over at the link here all about it.

Now that we’re two seasons into the run of The Good Doctor, where do you want to see the story go from here? Be sure to share in the comments, and stay tuned for more news. (Photo: ABC.)