Season 2 of Doc returned with a surprise cameo from Scott Wolf — but could he come back as a main cast member after his shocking exit?
During the Tuesday, January 6, episode of the hit ABC series, a flashback showed Richard (Wolf) at odds with Amy (Molly Parker), which hinted at the falling out that viewers saw play out in season 1. Parker spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about the chances that Wolf could return in a larger capacity later this season.
“What I can tell you is that Scott Wolf is back in our lives — in all kinds of ways,” she teased. “One is in these flashbacks that we will start to see and another way is that he directs an episode this season.”
Parker continued: “He has directed and we’ve already shot it. He is around and there is more to come.”
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Viewers last saw Richard in the season 1 finale, when Amy realized that her colleague was at fault for a patient’s death. She was about to discuss his mistake to her superiors before she suffered a serious crash that wiped her memory of the last eight years.
Richard confessed in the finale, which ended his career at the hospital — for now.
“He will be back. He will come back in a very surprising way,” executive producer Hank Steinberg shared with Us in September. “And then he will be able to come in with a very different energy than last year, which should be fun.”
Fox confirmed that same month that Wolf will reprise his role for a multi-episode guest arc beginning later this season. Wolf, for his part, previously spoke to Us about how Richard’s secret would drive his story line on the medical series.
“[My character on Doc] is my No. 1 favorite in terms of my enjoyment of the complexity,” Wolf told Us in January 2025. “I’ve gotten to explore these different medical worlds playing doctors. But I’ve never had a more fun, interesting, complicated and sometimes painful character to play. And to be back working with Fox again after I started with Party of Five [in the ’90s], they are two of my favorite experiences by far. It is full circle in some fun ways.”
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Wolf said he loved playing “a flawed human being,” adding, “It wasn’t like I had to figure out how to justify a bad guy doing bad things. This was a very good person who any of us could wind up being. But with his circumstances, he winds up in this terrible situation where a mistake has happened and his reaction to it is to just get protective.”
In addition to the surprise cameo, the midseason premiere also continued to explore Amy’s reconciliation with Jake (Jon Ecker) amid her ongoing love triangle with Michael (Omar Metwally).
“The end of this season is still evolving. We get a lot more of [Amy’s daughter] Katie and we start to learn just how deeply she was damaged by her mother’s breakdown. Amy keeps trying to seize the opportunity to be of service to her now in the best way that she can. That’s quite challenging,” Parker continued. “We have a lot of really good and interesting medical things happening. … As the circle gets bigger, that triangle gets more and more pressure.”
Doc airs on Fox Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
