Freddie Highmore

OF “THE GOOD DOCTOR” ON ABC

Since your title character in “The Good Doctor” is autistic, what are you finding to be the standout challenge in playing him?

Much of what we’re trying to do when depicting Dr. Shaun Murphy is trying to understand him, trying to understand in what ways he thinks differently, how he sees the world and experiences it differently. One of the techniques that we’ve used in order to try and accomplish that is the visual depictions of what he is going through inside his mind as he is trying to diagnose certain conditions, or act upon them later on in surgery.

How does the series treat the subject of autism overall?

(It’s) moving away from, perhaps, the stereotypical versions of people with autism that have been shown on television and in certain movies in the past – the No. 1 thing being that they’re somehow emotionless, devoid of emotion, that they don’t experience as broad an emotional range as neurotypical people do. And, of course, that’s complete nonsense. Whilst we won’t negate or seek to sort of move away from the very real struggles that Dr. Shaun Murphy will experience by dint of his condition, there will also be moments of joy ... and that’s what was attractive to me in the pilot. There’s a humor to it. You understand what makes him tick. You will find out how and why, and who he’ll fall in love with, and understand him as a fully formed individual. I know it seems sort of almost silly having to say it, but I think it hasn’t necessarily always been done in the past.

Is it particularly refreshing for you to be doing this series after exploring a darker side of humanity for several seasons on “Bates Motel”?

Yeah. It’s nice to save people after years of killing them.