With her latest round of “Nancy Drew” still airing, Kennedy McMann could already be on her next series.
After playing detective for four seasons (the last season slated to begin May 31 on The CW), the actress is embracing another of television drama’s most beloved careers. “The Good Lawyer” is a proposed spin-off of “The Good Doctor” which pilots its pilot as a new episode of the latter Monday, March 13 ABC show in which McMann plays a lawyer who is treated by Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) is hired to represent him in a lawsuit.
“I feel like a lucky woman,” says the likeable McMann about her ability to jump straight from one series to the next. “When I heard about this spin-off, it definitely caught my attention. David Shore and Liz Friedman, who wrote the episode and directed ‘The Good Doctor’, asked me to meet in Vancouver; I was still filming ‘Nancy Drew’ and you are filming there too. We met before we knew what was going to happen to ‘Nancy’ just to see if it would fit… and it went extremely well.”
However, McMann adds, “I don’t think anyone really knew if it was going to work. – which is nice, as much as I was very sad to see my time on “Nancy” coming to an end. It was a really complex, emotional experience. I think all the actors are excited to get into something new after playing the same character for such a long time, which I really enjoyed.”
Joining McMann in the pilot of The Good Lawyer is Desperate Housewives alumnus Felicity Huffman as Janet Stewart, who is returning to ABC (and possibly weekly television) as a partner at the law firm McMann’s Joni DeGroot works for . McMann reports that initially these characters “oppose each other”. “I think they’re going to have a tumultuous journey that’s really compelling.”
Another great appeal of The Good Lawyer for McMann is the opportunity to portray Joni’s struggle with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), a condition that McMann himself challenged when he was younger. “It was a big part of my life,” she recalls, “and it made me who I am.”
McMann hopes The Good Lawyer will maintain the tone of its parent show when it goes on the show. “There’s so much you can do that can be so impactful but also welcomes all types of viewers,” she explains. “(‘The Good Doctor’) has excellent morals and teaches interesting lessons, and I think that pairing allows it to have a lot of mass appeal. I’m really excited about what’s cooking.”
