The Good Doctor Cast Exits, Ranked — Which One Hit You the Hardest?

Ryan Schwartz

April 4, 2024 at 1:00 AM·7 min read

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 10 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 died of 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.

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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!

10. Osvaldo Benavides (as Mateo Rendón Osma)

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.

9. Tamlyn Tomita (as Allegra Aoki)

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 at 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.

8. Brandon Larracuente (as Danny Perez)

Larracuente was charming as surgical resident Danny, but his character never amounted to more than a walking PSA about the dangers of drug use. We never knew much about him beyond his struggles with addiction, which made it hard to invest in his potential romance with Dr. Jordan Allen. Both his residency and their relationship fizzled out in the Season 6 finale, once Dr. Perez suffered extensive internal injuries in an ambulance crash. In the aftermath, Jordan made the difficult choice to forgo the recovering addict’s wishes, and gave him fentanyl to prevent a fatal cardiac arrest. He’ll return for a single episode in Season 7.

7. Hill Harper (as Marcus Andrews)

Once Harper announced his candidacy for United States Senate, Andrews’ time was up. After six seasons as St. Bons’ on-again/off-again president, Andrews resigned and was replaced by Drs. Glassman and Lim.

Alas, the series never had a handle on Andrews’ personal life. At one point, Andrews was married and wanted children. Then he and Isabel grew apart. Then he and Isabel divorced off screen. Then he got together with Salen Morrison. Then they broke up. Then he and Isabel were reunited on a case, and it seemed like there was still a spark. Then he pursued a different romance with Nurse Dalisay Villanueva. It was a lot for a character with limited screen time.

6. Beau Garrett (as Jessica Preston)

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 worked at St. Bons. (If only The Good Lawyer had moved forward, perhaps there would’ve been a place for her there….)

5. Chuku Modu (as Jared Kalu)

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’s first stint at St. Bons 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 — that was, prior to his Season 6 return. Jared was a sight for sore eyes after so much cast turnover, and the writers found better use for him working as a resident under Shaun.

4. Jasika Nicole (as Carly Lever)

Nicole’s chemistry with Freddie Highmore was so good that series boss David Shore admitted to TVLine that he second-guessed Shauna 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, 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.” Upon her exit, Shore said he’d love to have Nicole back in a recurring capacity, but we never ventured back down to visit Carly in the pathology lab.

3. Noah Galvin (as Asher Wolke)

Time will tell what sort of impact Asher’s death has on the remaining episodes of the medical drama, but it certainly stings right now. We were immediately drawn to Dr. Wolke upon his introduction in Season 4 — an atheist with a God complex who left the Hasidic community at age 18. He was one of the series’ most dynamic characters — and, with the exception of Shaun and Lea, was one-half of the series’ longest committed relationship, with St. Bons nurse Jerome. But on the second anniversary of their first date — the same night that Jerome planned to propose — Asher was the victim of a brutal antisemitic attack that left TVLine readers stunned. It’s a scene we won’t soon forget.

2. Nicholas Gonzalez (as Neil Melendez)

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.

1. Antonia Thomas (as Claire Browne)

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 Shaun getting together with Carly, Claire was the most important woman in Dr. Murphy’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 were thrilled when she reprised her role for a pair of Season 5 episodes, and are elated she’ll be back for two Season 7 installments — including The Good Doctor‘s series finale.