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One of The Good Doctor's original doctors bid farewell to his on-screen persona before the show's seventh and final season aired. Hill Harper, who appeared in the series as Dr. Marcus Andrews for the initial six seasons, is leaving the show. According to Entertainment Weekly, the 57-year-old actor has decided to leave acting to pursue political endeavors.
Harper transitioned to becoming an actor after completing his studies at Brown University and Harvard Law School. Before The Good Doctor, he portrayed Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on the enduring CBS procedural CSI: NY, which aired for nine seasons and concluded in 2013.
Harper is currently campaigning for the Democratic nomination, hoping to win Michigan's open Senate seat.
Why did Hill Harper exit from The Good Doctor?
The Good Doctor season 6 finale established the events involving Harper's departure by featuring Dr. Andrews' resignation as president; however, his whereabouts remained unknown until Tuesday's season 7 premiere.
Following the return to work of Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) following the birth of his son, Nurse Dalisay Villanueva (Elfina Luk), the romantic interest of Marcus, presents Dr. Audrey Lim (Christina Chang) with a postcard sent by the absent doctor. Dalisay states,
“Marcus sends his greetings from Spain!”
In response to that, Audrey says,
“Oh, I thought he was at a meditation retreat in Vietnam.”
Dalisay responds,
“He was, and now he’s walking the Camino de Santiago.”
Following this, Audrey says,
“How nice for him. I’m two surgeons down with no one to approve hiring a new one.”
Discussing Harper’s campaign, a spokesperson told TVLine in November 2023:
“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.”
Harper formally announced his departure four months after the public declaration of his candidacy. In his candidacy for political office in the state of Michigan, he intends to contest the incumbent Senate seat of Debbie Stabenow against Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin.
In an interview with TVLine, executive producer Liz Friedman outlined the character's absence.
“Since he got divorced, Andrews has been juggling a lot [at the hospital] and trying to find a fit for himself. He was involved with Salen [Rachel Bay Jones] — that, obviously, was not meant to be — and he had a relationship with Villanueva, but I think the job has been very subsuming for him."
Friedman added,
"To have him take a moment, having stepped down, to go and find himself, seemed like the right thing for the character.”
Alongside lead actors Freddie Highmore and Richard Schiff, Harper was one of the only series regulars remaining from the premiere season of The Good Doctor.
According to his campaign website, the actor, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1992, is running on a platform that includes support for universal healthcare, an increase in the minimum wage, climate justice, and the removal of the Senate filibuster.
The seventh and final season of The Good Doctor airs on ABC on Tuesdays at 10 p.m.
