The Good Doctor season 7 will see one of its three remaining original cast members depart the ABC medical drama for a surprising reason.

Hill Harper, who plays Dr. Marcus Andrews in The Good Doctor, will be leaving the show to focus on his campaign for the United States Senate.

The medical drama, which premiered on ABC in 2017, follows Freddie Highmore as Dr. Shaun Murphy, a young surgeon with autism and Savant syndrome working at the prestigious St. Bonaventure Hospital in San Jose.

Highmore is one of three remaining original Good Doctor cast members alongside Harper, who plays Dr. Marcus Andrews, and Richard Schiff, who plays Dr. Aaron Glassman at the hospital.

However, The Good Doctor season 7 is set to lose one of those original cast members.

As confirmed by TVLine, Harper will not return to the show as the actor focuses on his campaign for the United States Senate.

Hill Harper

 Harper’s campaign spokesperson shared the following statement explaining his exit from the show:

“Hill Harper feels strongly that there is a crisis in American democracy — too often, government only works for the rich and powerful while the rest of us struggle to find a voice”

“Hill is dedicating his efforts full time to fixing that, and he’s running for the U.S. Senate as an active union member to give working people more of a voice in Congress”.

The confirmation that he is exiting The Good Doctor comes four months after Hill Harper announced his senate campaign.

The actor, who is a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School, is running as a Democrat in the Michigan primary to replace the retiring Senator Debbie Stabenow and will be opposed by Representative Elissa Slotkin.

Harper told The Detroit News when announcing his Senate run that he’s a member of the Screen Actors Guild and owns a Detroit coffee shop, which would make him the “only U.S. senator who is a current dues-paying, card-carrying union member” and “one of the very few small business owners in the U.S. Senate” if elected.

After Harper’s initial announcement in July, it was widely assumed that he would be stepping down from The Good Doctor considering the time and effort required by a senate campaign, so this is the first official confirmation he won’t be back for season 7.

Prior to his role opposite Freddie Highmore in The Good Doctor, Harper appeared in CSI: NY as Dr Sheldon Hawkes, in Limitless as Spelman Boyle and in Homeland as Chief of Staff Rob Emmons.

The Good Doctor

The good news is that The Good Doctor planned ahead and had already instituted an exit plan for Harper to explain his upcoming absence from the show.

During The Good Doctor season 6 finale, Dr. Andrews resigns from his position as St. Bonaventure president after his ethically questionable relationship with Nurse Villanueva (Elfina Luk).

This will provide an in-show explanation for why Dr. Andrews won’t be seen around the hospital during The Good Doctor season 7, which premieres on February 20, 2024.