Scott Wolf Exits ‘Doc’ After 2 Seasons — Will He Be Back?

Doc said goodbye to a major character with the Season 3 premiere — but could he be back? TV Insider spoke with executive producer Hank Steinberg to find out. Warning: Spoilers for the Doc Season 3 premiere ahead!

The Fox medical drama left the future of Scott Wolf‘s Richard up in the air with the Season 2 finale. He was among those infected in the two-parter, and Amy (Molly Parker) was, too, after an accident needle stick treating Richard. The doctors were able to use his blood to find a treatment, though there were limited doses. And after the crisis was over, he told Amy that he thought it best he move on. She argued that everyone deserved a second (or third) chance.

Now, in the Season 3 premiere, we find out that Richard “needed a fresh start” but he’s “just over at Eastside.”

So, why did Doc write out Scott Wolf’s character? And could he return?

FOX

“We love Scott. We love the character of Richard. We felt that that story had come to a really natural conclusion with his redemption at the end of last season and with Amy kind of indirectly forgiving him. And while we adore him and love the character, we felt that the dramatic possibilities had kind of exhausted themselves at that point without taking a bit of a break,” executive producer Hank Steinberg tells TV Insider. “So, you’ll notice that we sent him to Eastside, which is just across town and we didn’t send him to California. So that leaves us lots of possibilities to revisit it.”

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He continues, “But we felt Ben [Blair Underwood] coming in, all these interns coming in, Amy and Sonya [Anya Banerjee] in new roles and lots of other things happening … and we thought about it long and hard because we love Scott personally, we love the character. There was a lot of time spent wrestling with, if we did bring him back, what would be the new role? And it felt like we’d be either have to go backwards into trying to find a way to make him an antagonist again, which didn’t feel right. And if he was just sort of in a, they’ve forgiven each other and he’s an ally [situation], it didn’t feel like there was a lot of dramatic possibility without taking a break and finding some new circumstances to shift things. And that can happen. You see people on series — they come, they go, and then they come back again, and it can be very exciting.”

Do you want to see Scott Wolf’s Richard again? Let us know in the comments section below.

Doc, Tuesdays, 9/8c, Fox