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Doc wrapped its second season last night, and fans can expect some changes when the series returns for its third season. It has been revealed that season three will consist of 22 episodes.
The arrival of Blair Underwood (above, right) was revealed last month, and he will be a series regular for the series’ third season. Dr. Ben Grant arrived during the season two finale. According to Deadline, co-showrunner Hank Steinberg said the following about Underwood joining the FOX series:
“Blair’s incredible; he’s so charismatic, and he was organic, new energy. Bringing a surgeon also, we have a lot of our medical stories pass through surgery, and we didn’t really have a surgeon character to anchor that side of things. So it felt like a cool way to add that element into the show through a character who has a past with Amy. It feels fresh.”
It was also teased that fans may see Scott Wolf return again next season at some point, but Felicity Huffman will not return for season three.
She is not the only face fans will not see in season three. At least, not as a series regular. It has been revealed that Charlotte Fountain-Jardim is not returning for season three of Doc. She plays Amy’s daughter Katie, who is now off to college. Steinberg said the following about her departure:
“Katie’s off to college, and that’s a different chapter for Amy and Michael, which is appropriate and a good shift. Empty nest is a whole other psychological, emotional challenge for people, especially for Amy, who doesn’t remember all that time.
We love the character, and we adore Charlotte, so she will be in the show, but she will not be living at home; she’ll be off in Chicago at school. So she will be in the show as needed.”
Viewers did see one death as a result of the virus that hit the hospital during last night’s finale. Paulyne Wei will not return next season. According to Deadline, Steinberg said the following about the departure of Wei and the death of nurse Lucy:
“We wanted to pick a character who’d been in the show from the beginning. She was Amy’s nurse in the ICU in the pilot, so she was a familiar face and somebody that would land on the other nurses and everyone else,” he said. “We wanted to have a hit on the staff but we weren’t ready to kill off any of our regulars that we love. And so that was, we felt, a happy medium.”
As for season three, Steinberg did talk a bit about what fans can expect next season. He teased a time jump for next season. He said the following:
“It’s unclear yet exactly when we’ll pick up in the third season, we will probably fast forward a bit, but that for sure will hang over people; we like to make sure we carry things through, even if it’s not hitting over the head with it in the first episode, it might come up again in the fourth episode, but we will definitely make sure that we are carrying that storyline through.
The writers room starts this week. We were literally still doing the sound mix on the finale [last week], and the writer starts this week, so it’s certainly early stages. Probably not a huge time jump, but there might be slight time jump.”
Doc’s season three premiere date will be announced later.
What do you think? Do you enjoy this FOX series? Do you plan to watch its third season?
