The Good Doctor season 3 premiere date hopes: When should it return

Following tonight’s season 2 finale, it only makes sense that you’d want a premiere date for The Good Doctor season 3. This is a drama that makes its money off of the element of surprise and while we do consider it a story of hope in the end, the title here is not The Good Doctor’s Story of Unicorns and Rainbows. Shaun Murphy has setbacks — many setbacks — and that’s not going to change anytime soon. Maybe if he ever gets to be an attending physician that can change, but he’s far from that position yet. Maybe it’ll change following the finale, but entering it he is not even an employee of the St. Bonaventure Hospital at all!

Before continuing, let’s spend a moment now send our thanks to ABC for confirming a season 3 of The Good Doctor. That takes the pressure off of us as a viewer, and it also probably did the same for the creative team. They likely had enough foresight that this would be coming that they could plan out the ending with this in mind.

So as for when we imagine The Good Doctor will actually return, if you were ABC why would you change anything up? This is a show that was one of their biggest launch hits of the past few years when it premiered, and by the midway point of this season it overtook Bull and Manifest (which got off to a hot start before slowing down) as the #1 show Mondays at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. Overall, it’s averaged a 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic, a better overall performance than any of ABC’s other 10:00 p.m. dramas during the week. Compare this to the ratings for The Rookie, Whiskey Cavalier, or How to Get Away with Murder and you’ll see why executives love it — it also performed better than A Million Little Things when it was airing on Wednesday.

For some great The Good Doctor video discussion… – Be sure to take a look at the bottom of this article! Remember to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube for more. We’ve also got an official series playlist that is absolutely worth your time, as we post a number of The Good Doctor discussions there.

For now, we’re banking on The Good Doctor holding firm at 10:00 p.m. Eastern on Mondays. Beyond that, we’re also holding firm on a late September premiere date after Dancing with the Stars. What makes the schedule work so wonderfully for this show is that its eighteen episodes are long enough to tell a beautiful, fluid story, but also short enough for ABC to then shift that timeslot over and use it for something else. Also, doing eighteen episodes allows Freddie Highmore, who is talented enough to take on both directing and writing responsibilities while also acting in this show, the chance to pursue other projects during the off-season. Following Bates Motel, he didn’t have an interest in dealing with the rigors of a 22-episode season — who can blame him?

ABC will confirm the timeslot for The Good Doctor season 3 this May at their annual upfront presentation; also, they’ll likely confirm the premiere date this summer. There’s a lot that goes into figuring this stuff out, including looking at competition, advertiser needs, and also production for a given show. The Good Doctor benefits from starting production reasonably early; it helps to ensure the eighteen episodes are done early enough for the finale to air in March!

So what do we want to see?

For starters, how about romance? We’re excited about the opportunity to explore some stuff coming up for Shaun and Carly now that this relationship is off the ground, and beyond just that, we’re also interested in what the future could hold for an engaged Dr. Glassman. Shaun has his job back and the patients will be there, but this is a show about relationships and what happens when these people tackle big problems.

When do you want to see The Good Doctor season 3 on the air?

Be sure to share right now in the comments! Throughout the entire hiatus, rest assured we’ll have more insight at our official The Good Doctor archive page — think in terms of character spotlights and other features. (Photo: ABC.)