Who does Shawn end up with in The Good Doctor? Explained

Since the show kicked off, the first romantic interest for Dr. Shaun Murphy in The Good Doctor was presumed to be his neighbor/best friend, Lea Dilallo. By the end of Season 3, much to the surprise and delight of fans, their wishes were acknowledged. Lea finally got to see Shaun as more than a friend and ultimately professed her true feelings to him, a moment that the latter yearned for quite some time.

The journey for the pair to evolve into a couple was indeed a challenging one, marked by numerous emotional hardships and heartbreaks they had to endure. However, as Season 5 concluded, their blossoming love story took a significant turn as both Shaun and Lea decided to take a big step and got married.

Disclaimer: This article contains significant spoilers from The Good Doctor series. Reader’s discretion is advised.

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Why didn't Lea want to date Shaun before in The Good Doctor, and what changed her

Since the beginning of the series, Lea's character has been portrayed as a selfish, superficial, and needy person, which she even admits in front of Shaun a couple of times. Moreover, she also affirmed that she struggled with Shaun needing things in a certain way, which made it apparent that although she loves Shaun as a friend, is autism was the sole reason for rejecting his proposal.

It was really hard for Shaun to muster up the courage and confess his true feelings to Lea, as he anticipated things could go sideways and ruin their friendship. However, it was not just the rejection but Lea’s silence that admitted that Shaun’s autism was the barrier preventing her from reciprocating his romantic feelings.

Shaun even tried to go the extra mile for Lea, professing he could fix anything broken between them. To which the latter bluntly refused by stating that he was autistic and couldn’t fix that. This broke Shaun’s heart to pieces, as she was deeply hurt by realizing that she had been pitying him all this time and didn’t respect who he actually was.

After facing Shaun’s outburst and being criticized for being flaky and selfish, Lea eventually realizes her mistakes. At the end of The Good Doctor Season 3, titled “I Love You,” she proposes to him by sealing her affection with a kiss. Over the course of time, Lea tries to understand Shaun truly, and they end up being a happy couple.

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Do Lea and Shaun have a baby in The Good Doctor

The couple becomes pregnant with their first child in The Good Doctor Season 4, who turns out to be a girl. However, after Lea suffers from a miscarriage due to medical complications, they lose the baby.

This incident leaves a significant emotional scar on the couple, but they manage to get through it, and eventually, they get married by the end of Season 5. Shaun and Lea became pregnant with their second child in Season 6, and fortunately, this time, there were no complications as they gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Shaun names the baby Steven in the memories of his deceased older brother. Paige Spara, the actress who plays the role of Lea Dilallo, became an overnight sensation after posting the baby bump on her official Instagram handle.

This raised speculations on whether the actress was really pregnant. However, it eventually became apparent to the audience that it was just her character after Paige congratulated the fictional couples through a unique post.

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Why do Carly and Shaun break up?

Although Carly and Shaun were the perfect match, given the former accepted the latter without letting his autism become a hindrance, their relationship didn’t last long. It was heartbreaking for Carly to see her efforts to sustain and preserve her relationship go in vain after she noticed Shaun being drawn towards Lea and even keeping secrets from her.

Over time, Carly’s love for Shaun became one-sided, and she had no other option but to call off their relationship. Regardless of her frustration and anger, Carly remained compassionate towards Shaun and helped him to listen to his heart after telling him that he loved Lea and could not take her out of his mind.

The Good Doctor eventually had to write off Jasika Nicole's Carly Leaver so that the series would focus on the relationship between Lea and Shaun. The third season marked the exit of Jasika, and her character wasn’t recast.

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All six seasons of The Good Doctor are available to stream on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and many other OTT platforms. Stay tuned for more news and updates on the show as 2024 progresses.