Here’s how Hill Harper's exit is explained in “The Good Doctor ”season 7 premiere

The actor behind Dr. Marcus Andrews left the show to run for Senate.

Hill Harper has left the building.

The actor, who played Dr. Marcus Andrews, exited The Good Doctor after six full seasons with the series to run for a Senate seat. In the opening minutes of Tuesday’s season premiere, the show  explained Dr. Andrews’ absence from its seventh and final season.

Jeff Weddell via Getty Images Hill Harper on ‘The Good Doctor’

After we see Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) return to work following the birth of his son, Marcus’ romantic interest Nurse Dalisay Villanueva (Elfina Luk) shows Dr. Audrey Lim (Christina Chang) a postcard from the absent doctor, who had resigned as president of the hospital in the season six finale.

“Marcus sends his greetings from Spain,” Dalisay says. “Oh, I thought he was at a meditation retreat in Vietnam,” Audrey responds.

“He was, and now he’s walking the Camino de Santiago,” Dalisay explains. “How nice for him. I’m two surgeons down with no one to approve hiring a new one,” Audrey replies.

Executive producer Liz Friedman explained the character’s absence in an interview with TVLine. “Since he got divorced, Andrews has been juggling a lot [at the hospital] and trying to find a fit for himself,” she said. “He was involved with Salen [Rachel Bay Jones] — that, obviously, was not meant to be — and he had a relationship with Villanueva, but I think the job has been very subsuming for him. To have him take a moment, having stepped down, to go and find himself, seemed like the right thing for the character.”

Harper was one of the only series regulars remaining from The Good Doctor’s first season, along with lead Freddie Highmore and Richard Schiff. He’s now running for the Democratic nomination in the hopes of winning Michigan’s open Senate seat, which incumbent Debbie Stabenow will vacate in 2025 after 24 years. The actor, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1992, is campaigning on a platform supporting universal healthcare, raising the minimum wage, climate justice, and removing the filibuster from the Senate, according to his campaign website.

The Good Doctor’s seventh and final season airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. Watch the full preview clip from Tuesday’s premiere above.

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