The revolving door at St. Bonaventure has not gone unnoticed.
Since its 2017 debut, ABC’s The Good Doctor has said goodbye to a whopping seven series regulars. Some actors left on their own accord, while others were written out once their storylines reached their natural conclusion. Either way, saying so-long is never easy. Take, for instance, the response to Nicholas Gonzalez’s departure after Melendez succumbed to internal injuries sustained in the San Jose earthquake of 2020, or when Antonia Thomas made the decision to part ways with her role as Claire ahead of Season 5.
Below, TVLine has compiled a comprehensive guide to all the cast members who have bid the medical drama adieu since the end of Season 1, from least to most significant. Review our rankings to see who topped our list, then hit the comments to tell us which goodbye hit you hardest and who you miss the most!
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Osvaldo Benavides (as Mateo Rendón Osma)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Benavides was elevated to series-regular status ahead of Season 5, at which point Mateo relocated from Guatemala to San Jose, Calif., to pursue a relationship with Dr. Audrey Lim. But just three episodes later, poof! Mateo was gone! His character’s swift departure didn’t sit well with Lim — dude left her a note! — but Benavides wasn’t around long enough for us to care that Mateo was never seen again.
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Tamlyn Tomita (as Allegra Aoki)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Let’s face it: The writers never quite knew what to do with Allegra. The show seemed to be setting up a romance between the board member and a charming businessman named Aiden toward the end of Season 1, but the storyline was dropped after a single episode. Allegra occasionally consulted with Glassman and Andrews, but she never really existed outside the hospital. Tomita was demoted from series regular to recurring guest star after Season 2, but returned only for a cameo in the Season 3 premiere.
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Chuku Modu (as Jared Kalu)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Sure, the series might have written itself into a hole by having Jared assault an attending, then play the race card to get his job back, which didn’t sit well with Drs. Melendez and Andrews. But it’s also the only storyline involving Jared that we can recall without the use of Wikipedia, so it’s not really a surprise that Modu scrubbed out after a single season. Jared left San Jose to continue his residency in Denver, and none of his colleagues (not even ex-girlfriend Claire!) spoke of him again.
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Beau Garrett (as Jessica Preston)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Garrett’s role as St. Bonaventure’s in-house attorney never really came into play, and Jessica’s romance with Dr. Neil Melendez fizzled out after a dozen-or-so episodes. The show did well establishing Jessica as Dr. Glassman’s surrogate daughter, but as soon as Glassman began chemotherapy for an aggressive form of brain cancer, she was gone. We assumed she’d been retconned, but she resurfaced (via Zoom) for a brief cameo in the COVID-themed Season 4 opener, suggesting that Jessica still works at St. Bons. Perhaps there will be a role for her on The Good Lawyer?
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Jasika Nicole (as Carly Lever)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Nicole’s chemistry with Freddie Highmore was so good that series boss David Shore admitted to TVLine that he second-guessed Shaun and Carly’s Season 3 breakup. “The intention was always [that it was] going to be Lea [in the end], and then Jasika was so great and that relationship was so great,” he said at the time. “We had the luxury of two great relationships [with Shaun and Carly and Shaun and Lea], which is what we wanted. It’s easy to choose A over B when B sucks. It’s more difficult to choose A over B when they’re both good options.” At the time, Shore said he’d love to have Nicole return in a recurring capacity, but we have yet to venture back to the pathology lab.
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Nicholas Gonzalez (as Neil Melendez)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Two extremely vocal factions of the Good Doctor fandom — both those who ‘shipped Drs. Neil Melendez and Claire Browne despite the fact that he was her boss, and those who ‘shipped Melendez with Lim — vowed never to watch another episode after Gonzalez’s alter ego was killed off at the end of Season 3. “You want to tell stories of life and death, and that includes your regulars on occasion…. Otherwise, you don’t have credibility,” Shore opined. Even still, it feels like the show could have done more with Melendez that didn’t involve his love life. For example, we never did explore his relationship with his sister who lived with Down syndrome, or his desire to start a family — the very desire that led to his breakup with Jessica in Season 1.
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Antonia Thomas (as Claire Browne)
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC Not only was Claire a universally beloved character, but Thomas was among the series’ best actors, and her decision to leave after four seasons was a real blow to the medical drama. Claire was consistently dealt a rough hand — whether she was being harassed by a handsy attending, or left reeling after the very sudden losses of Breeze and Melendez — but Thomas was always up to the challenge.
Prior to getting together with Carly, Claire was the most important woman in Shaun’s life, and his very best friend. Her antagonistic relationship with Morgan was also an absolute delight, as was the friendship she built with Lim in the aftermath of Melendez’s demise. We can only hope her brief Season 5 encore was not her last.
