'Good' lessons: TV series teaches Freddie Highmore much about relationships

LOS ANGELES – Characters aren’t the only ones who change on a television series. Actors can, too, says “The Good Doctor’s” Freddie Highmore.

“I’m naturally quite cynical,” he says. But Shaun, the character he plays, “hopefully has made me a little bit of a better person and a bit more optimistic.”

Now as the ABC medical drama ends its seven-year run, Highmore marvels at the progress Dr. Shaun Murphy has made as an autistic surgeon at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. In addition to moving up in the ranks professionally, he has found love, marriage and fatherhood. He also has learned the value of friendship and the importance of compromise.

“This guy (arrived) at the hospital naïve, innocent and starting his first job and, all of a sudden, he’s married, and he has a kid,” Highmore says. “It’s an incredible journey.”

When “The Good Doctor” was pitched, the former child star had just finished five years on “Bates Motel.” He was looking for a break and, three days after filming ended, started talks with “Good Doctor” producers. While it’s unlikely he will jump into another series as quickly, “I’d be open to more.”

“To me, it feels a little bit like graduation,” the 32-year-old says. “It’s this momentous event that fills you with nostalgia. You realize that bubble, that world you created for seven years will never exist in the same way. The flip side of that is, like graduating, you’re excited for new opportunities.”

During the run of the series, Highmore became a producer, writer and director.

“He’s been involved in the process since Day One,” says Executive Producer David Shore. “And that’s a tricky situation. Physically, we’re in different places (‘Good Doctor’ filmed in Vancouver while staffers were headquartered in Los Angeles). But Freddie was fantastic. We’ve been incredibly lucky.”

Expanding the world

Although everyone in the final cast wasn’t there from the beginning “there are bleeds between the characters and the actors,” says Executive Producer Liz Friedman. “Shaun’s world has expanded over the years and the cast has expanded.”

Adds Shore: “It’s very much a show about how Dr. Murphy responds to new challenges and new people and how those people respond to him. So, there is opportunity.”

While Shore was able to mine medical stories on his previous series, “House,” he got new perspective with “The Good Doctor.”

“It’s a crucible and you see what happens to people,” he says. “We’re not doctors telling stories, we’re just people telling stories.”

Highmore says much of the series’ success hinged on smaller moments, not medical breakthroughs. “Big things happen to Shaun and all of these characters on the show but, ultimately, they’re often explored through something small and simple that actually speaks to something so much bigger,” he says.

Learn by doing

The medical lessons? They were received by other actors in different ways.

“It seems like so much of it is guesswork,” says Fiona Gubelmann, who stars as Dr. Morgan Reznick. “I remember when we had to shock somebody to bring them back to life,” she says. “After doing it twice, they declared them dead and I got really upset and was like, ‘Wait is that what you do? You get two shocks and you’re dead?’ And one of the (actual) nurses said, ‘No, no. It’s 45 minutes. We give them a lot of time.’ So, they calmed my nerves.”

According to Bria Samone Henderson, who plays Dr. Jordan Allen, suturing is almost like sewing. “That’s fun, sometimes to do.”

And those relationships? They resonated, too. When Highmore’s character had a falling out with Richard Schiff’s Dr. Aaron Glassman, the emotion was felt.

“It was ‘real life’ in a way,” Schiff says. “How these characters, who have a lot of love for each other, worked through that was a good story to tell.”

While seven years seems like a long time for a series to run, Highmore says it’s likely it lasted for a simple reason. “We’ve always cared deeply about the show. Everyone fought to make it as good as it possibly can be. And it does feel incredibly special and meaningful to have told seven years of stories with Shaun.”