Jeff Weddell/ © ABC/courtesy Everett Collection
Antonia Thomas is departing The Good Doctor after 4 seasons.
The Good Doctor said goodbye to Thomas, who played the role of Dr. Claire Brown, during the season 4 finale of the medical drama which aired on Monday.
“It was a really, really difficult decision, and leaving, I have to say, is a bittersweet thing for me because the last four years have been absolutely incredible,” Thomas told Deadline who first broke the news.
“I feel so lucky and basically indebted to David Shore and the writers for having the experience to play Claire, who has just been a wonderful, wonderful character to explore, so layered and complicated and flawed, the kind of character that I think an actress dreams to be able to play,” she continued.
“I think, ultimately, for me, it’s about coming to the point where I think we’ve really run the gamut of different things that Claire can have gone through, and I’m now really excited to explore different creative opportunities.”
The good news for The Good Doctor fans, however, is that Thomas shared that she’s open to coming back to the show and has already had discussions about this with costar Freddie Highmore. “I’ve had conversations with Freddie about coming back, and absolutely, yes,” she began.
“Really for me, if there was more time in the year to be able to shoot the show and to be able to go off and do some of the other things that I’m wanting to explore now, I’d do both. It has not been an easy decision for me to leave, so I absolutely would love to come back every now and then and say hi, I’m very much looking forward to that,” she said.