Felicity Huffman is ready for her TV comeback. The Emmy winner will star in The Good Doctor spinoff, The Good Lawyer, according to Variety. The show, currently only a backdoor pilot, will mark Felicity’s first leading role since she served prison time for her involvement in the college admissions scandal.
Felicity will play Janet Stewart, who is a “highly regarded attorney and partner at the law firm with a fierce intellect and dry wit. A seasoned veteran, Janet has represented Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) in several legal matters over the years, so he turns to her to represent his beloved protégé. But when Shaun declares that he wants Joni to represent him, Janet is forced to let Joni take lead on the case.”
The Desperate Housewives alum will star alongside Kennedy McMann, best known for her starring role in the Nancy Drew series. Kennedy is set to play Joni DeGroot, a “brilliant, funny and self-aware lawyer who is relatively new to her prestigious law firm when she takes Shaun’s case. Living with OCD, Joni has never wanted to be treated differently. While her symptoms take a toll on her personal and professional life, her attention to detail allows her to see cases through a different lens.”
The Good Lawyer premise will be introduced in an upcoming episode of The Good Doctor season 6. In the episode, Shaun will seek “legal representation to help him win a case and puts his faith in a promising, young lawyer who has obsessive-compulsive disorder.” The Good Lawyer has not been ordered to series by ABC yet. However, The Good Doctor remains one of the network’s most popular and beloved shows.
This role in The Good Doctor spinoff is the start of a new chapter for Felicity. The actress was arrested in March 2019 for her involvement in the infamous college admissions scandal. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud for paying $15,000 to have wrong answers corrected on her daughter’s SAT test. She was sentenced to 14 days in prison but was released after 11 days. She also had to pay a $300,000 fine, participated in 250 hours of community service, and had one year of supervised release.
