Daniel Dae Kim recalls trying to make The Good Doctor with an Asian lead

Just Jared

“I wanted an Asian lead,” Kim said in an interview with Vulture. “The first time we developed it, it was with an Asian lead. And the second time, when (David) Shore came aboard, we had a conversation about it.” Kim explained that “when you start working with a showrunner, it has to be a proper meeting of the minds because he’s the one that’ll be running the show every day. And so he had to have a level of comfort with it. I’m not going to say he was the one that wanted a white lead, but I will say that it became less clear to him how an Asian lead would work. And then the studio came in with Freddie Highmore, whom we both absolutely loved. And so it shifted the focus to creating a diverse ensemble."