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The Good Doctor is down one of its most beloved cast members ahead of its fourth season.
The Good Doctor Season 3 Episode 20 found Nicholas Gonzalez being written out of the series as his character, Dr. Neil Melendez died of septic shock after sustaining injuries during an earthquake.
Despite the character saying goodbye Dr Claire Brown (Antonia Thomas), Dr Lim (Christina Chang) and Dr Glassman (Richard Schiff), Gonzalez thinks his character had more story left to tell.
“Part of me is sad to see a character I respected a lot go, someone I felt that still had a lot more to say but there wasn’t always that opportunity, and I feel like we really built a beautiful world around that character, as much as can be in a show like ours where we’re still a procedural as well,” he told Entertainment Weekly.
“You know, we try to cram in some character here and there, and of course there’s a lot of personal stories, but we still have two cases a week and major surgeries that our episodes are formed around.”
The actor went on to speak about his three-year stint on the series.
“To me, it’s been nothing but a blessing. It’s something that I literally built a family on. You know, I got married, [and] we were pregnant with our first right when I did this job.”
“I left to go shoot the pilot when my baby was 6 days old, and we moved to Vancouver when she was 5 months old. Now she’s 3 years old and we just had her birthday.”
“This has been an amazing whirlwind ride, and I’m sad to see him go. I think there’s definitely going to be a void left there, but I’m excited to see what everyone does with it.”
Neil’s last stand was certainly surprising, primarily because many believed he was up there with Shaun as the characters who would not be written out in such a manner.
But TV shows love to play with emotions, and there are going to be some big ramifications for the surviving characters on The Good Doctor Season 4.
The show will also go on without Jasika Nicole, who played Carly Lever. She was written out following the breakdown of her relationship with Shaun.
What do you think of the comments from Gonzalez?
Do you think he should have been kept on the show?
Hit the comments below.
Remember you can watch The Good Doctor online right here via TV Fanatic.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.