Sumith Prasad
In ABC’s medical series ‘The Good Doctor,’ Freddie Highmore’s Dr. Shaun Murphy faces several challenges and obstacles to remain a commendable surgeon in San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. In the series’ second season, Shaun’s career at the hospital gets threatened by Dr. Jackson Han, who transfers the former to pathology from surgery. When Shaun insists on returning to surgery, Han fires him for insubordination, infuriating Dr. Marcus Andrews. As the president of the hospital, Andrews fires Han and rehires Shaun back to surgery, paving the way for Daniel Dae Kim’s exit from the series. Since Han has succeeded in leaving an impression on the viewers, one must be wondering why Kim left the series. Well, here’s what we know about the same! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Departure of Dr. Jackson Han from The Good Doctor
Daniel Dae Kim left ‘The Good Doctor’ since the arc of his character Dr. Jackson Han gets concluded in the second season finale. In the wake of Kim’s exit from the series, developer David Shore confirmed that the character was conceived with a four-episode arc that gets completed with Andrews firing him from St. Bonaventure Hospital. When asked about Kim’s final appearance after the broadcast of the second season finale, Shore confirmed that there weren’t any immediate plans to bring him back on-screen but added that he is open to the idea sometime in the future.
“I liked the character [Han] and had fun with it, and I thought Daniel did a great job. The arc that we were dealing with is now complete, but that doesn’t mean the character can’t come back, and I very much would be open to that,” Shore told EW. As the developer indicated, Kim’s return as Han is indeed possible, especially since the actor is still a part of the series as one of the executive producers. Kim is also the one who bought the remake rights of the Korean series ‘Good Doctor,’ which serves as the source series of the show. If the narrative of the series demands Han’s return, we can expect Kim back in the show.
Daniel Dae Kim Continues to Thrive as an Actor
After leaving ‘The Good Doctor,’ Daniel Dae Kim has been a part of several films and television shows as an actor. He plays Major Ben Daimio in ‘Hellboy,’ Brandon in ‘Always Be My Maybe,’ Dr. Michael Onitsuka in ‘Blast Beat,’ David Kim in ‘Stowaway,’ etc. Kim also lends his voice to Micah in ‘She-Ra and the Princesses of Power,’ Benja in ‘Raya and the Last Dragon,’ Mr. Hong in ‘The Casagrandes,’ and David in ‘Pantheon.’ In the podcast series ‘The Prophecy,’ the actor lends his voice to Jonah Wang. His other television credits include ‘Roar,’ ‘The Hot Zone,’ ‘The Premise,’ ‘Dramaworld,’ ‘Flack,’ etc.
After his departure from ‘The Good Doctor’ as an actor, Kim joined the cast of another medical drama titled ‘New Amsterdam’ to play Dr. Cassian Shin, who serves as the head trauma surgeon of the titular hospital briefly. In 2022, Kim executive produced a documentary titled ‘Bad Axe,’ which explores the immigrant experience in the United States. In January 2023, he signed a multi-project development and first-look deal with Amazon’s audio-streaming platform Audible. As part of the deal, Kim’s production company 3AD joined hands with Audible Studios to adapt David Henry Hwang’s play ‘Yellow Face’ to audio.
In February 2023, Kim joined Amazon Prime’s series adaptation of the graphic novel ‘Butterfly’ as an actor and executive producer. The actor will play David Jung, an incomparable US intelligence operative living in South Korea. His other upcoming project as an actor is ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender,’ in which he plays Fire Lord Ozai. Besides his works as an actor and producer, Kim is a renowned advocate of Asian American and Pacific Islander rights and a founding member of the Asian American Foundation.
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