It’s official, Scrubs is coming back, adding another medical show to the TV slate. On July 10, it was reported that ABC has given a straight-to-series order for a Scrubs reboot featuring original stars Zach Braff, Donald Faison and Sarah Chalke, with the show expected to premiere sometime during the upcoming 2025-2026 TV season.
I’m typically not the biggest fan of reboots. Though there can be exceptions, more often than not they’re uninspired carbon copies of the original series that tend to do more harm to a show’s legacy than good. And considering how much I loved the original series and specifically the official Scrubs series finale, there’s every reason that I should be dreading a new edition of Scrubs, even if most/all of the original cast is back.
And yet, I’m cautiously optimistic about the Scrubs reboot. I’m not counting on it to surpass the original run, but I don’t have a fear that these new episodes run the risk of tarnishing the show for me. The reason for that is Scrubs has already gone through a couple of reinventions and the overall series has proven resilient.
Scrubs follows the professional and personal life of doctors at the fictional hospital of Sacred Heart, with Braff’s John “JD” Dorian serving as our main character and providing us narrative and his internal fantasies, setting the show’s wacky, offbeat comedic tone. The series originally ran for seven seasons on NBC, during which it earned two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series and a Peabody Award for the season 5 episode “My Way Home.”
However, NBC opted late not to renew Scrubs for a seventh season. Because the fate of the show was up in the air, NBC’s ultimate decision led to the awkward episode “My Princess” being the potential final episode of the series. Thankfully, ABC came in and picked up the series for what was billed as its final season.
Scrubs season 8 ended up being one of the best seasons of the show (earning a 100% “Fresh” score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes) and for my money has one of the best series finale of the 21st century (particularly for a comedy). In the finale, JD is working his last shift at Sacred Heart after taking a new job, leading to a number of beautiful moments with his co-stars and a final daydream where he sees many of the memorable characters and guest stars from the series’ run and a vision of what JD hopes his future may hold (stream Scrubs on Hulu or Peacock if you want to see for yourself).
It was a perfect way to end Scrubs. But turns out, that wasn’t the end.
Scrubs had one more season with a pretty big change. While Braff, Faison and John C. McGinley, who played Dr. Cox, all returned, Scrubs season 9 was rebranded as Scrubs: Med School and focused more on a group of new medical students (even JD’s internal monologue/narration was taken over by one of the new students). That decision was not all that well received, from critics or fans as evident by the Rotten Tomatoes score. Admittedly, I only lasted a couple of episodes before bailing on the new direction.
While we can’t just forget that Scrubs: Med School was a thing (I will be curious to see if/how the reboot addresses it), its impact on the legacy of Scrubs was minimal. The Scrubs season 8 finale is still what I think of when I think of how Scrubs ended, and I’d guess that’s similar for a lot of other fans of the show.
I don’t expect that to change no matter what happens with this Scrubs reboot. If it’s great, fantastic, we get to reunite with these beloved characters (while nothing is confirmed, announcement shared that more original cast members are expected to return), hopefully bringing some whimsy and hope back into our lives.
If it’s not that good, oh well, that’s about par for the course with reboots. If we’ve learned anything from Scrubs’ original run, the show knows how to roll with the punches, and so do its fans.
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