San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital is about to get a blast from its recent past, and we may not know exactly what brings the doctor back, but we do have an idea of what we’ll see when she appears, thanks to photos from the set.
It was revealed earlier in March that Antonia Thomas, who played Dr. Claire Browne for the first four seasons, is returning for a couple episodes of The Good Doctor this spring. There are no details as of yet about what brings her back. However, thanks to photos posted on social media by series stars Christina Chang (Dr. Audrey Lim) and Fiona Gubelmann (Dr. Morgan Reznick) showing Thomas in a white lab coat, it looks like at some point she’ll be working with the former coworkers.
“Saturday with these lovelies,” Chang captioned a photo of herself, Thomas, and Freddie Highmore (Dr. Shaun Murphy) behind-the-scenes on March 19. Then, Gubelmann reminded fans of the new episode on March 21 with a photo of herself, Noah Galvin (Dr. Asher Wolke), Chang, and Thomas. Check them out below.
Thomas exited the ABC medical drama in the Season 4 finale (news broke the same day it aired). When the rest of the staff left Guatemala after a medical mission, Claire stayed behind to take a new job. That left the door open for a possible return, and fortunately, fans didn’t have to wait too long for it to happen.
But we do still have to wonder what initially brings Claire back and why she’s around for more than one episode. Is it a patient who needs help that can only be given at St. Bonaventure, and that’s why she’s at the hospital? Is Claire back for Shaun and Lea’s (Paige Spara) wedding and then helps out at her former workplace?
Whatever it is, because her visit is limited, we know that she’ll be either returning to Guatemala after or moving on to somewhere else. Either way, chances are that it will keep with the goal showrunner David Shore said they had for her character when writing her out in the Season 4 finale. “The important thing to me was I wanted to give Antonia and Claire the ending they deserved, which to me meant it was important that she not be running away from anything, that she’d be running to something,” he told TV Insider at the time. “She’s home, in some ways.”
The Good Doctor, Mondays, 10/9c, ABC
