Medical drama about a gifted surgeon with autism has ended after seven years

After seven seasons, The Good Doctor has wrapped up its final case and aired its last episode, with a major character death leaving fans in floods of tears.

It was announced in January that the popular US medical drama would be ending this year, concluding the story of Dr Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore), a gifted surgeon with autism, and his colleagues at Saint Bonaventure Hospital.

Its final episode aired in the US on Tuesday evening (21 May), and included callbacks to previous seasons, triumphant plot shifts and a goodbye to another fan favourite, months after the tragic death of Dr Asher Wolke (Noah Galvin).

Spoilers to follow – you have been warned!

The series finale saw the death of Shaun’s longtime mentor and champion at the hospital, Dr Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff), who had previously shared that his cancer had returned. This time, however, it was terminal.

After trying to convince Glassman to undergo a rare treatment that could add a year to his life, Shaun eventually accepts his mentor’s decision to decline the procedure and enjoy the three to six months he had left with his family.

Later, Shaun and Glassman are seen riding a carousel, something that featured frequently in the show’s first season. Then a shot shows Shaun on it alone, indicating that Glassman has died.

A flash-forward to the future reveals that Shaun and his friend and colleague Claire (Antonia Thomas) run a foundation in their late teacher’s honour: the Dr Aaron Glassman Foundation for neurodiversity in medicine.

The episode wrapped with Shaun giving a TED Talk, in which he recalls how Glassman was a friend to him when others had doubts about whether he belonged.

“There were a lot of people who didn’t want me to be a surgeon – at Saint Bonaventure Hospital, or anywhere,” he told the audience.

“Because I was different. I couldn’t make eye contact. I didn’t know how to lie. I made people uncomfortable. But someone believed in me. Dr Aaron Glassman was my friend.”

In response, fans of the show have shared their tearful reactions on social media.

“The Good Doctor finale has me in shambles,” one person wrote on X, while another added: “The final episode of The Good Doctor is taking me out. Every 5 minutes I’m crying again.”

“If you didn’t cry, watching the finale of #thegooddoctor, then you watch television wrong,” a different viewer wrote on the social media site.