What Happened To The Cast Of Scrubs?

The success of any TV show rarely ever comes down to just one aspect, and the same certainly can be said for Scrubs. However, the characters, and the actors who portrayed them, were the backbone of a well-oiled machine that ran for nine seasons, eight of them good.

What Bill Lawrence managed to create with his second series, after the success of Spin City, was a world not too dissimilar to The Simpsons, in which there was something of a hierarchy of characters. You had the core seven, supported by the secondary lot headed by the likes of Ted the Lawyer (Sam Lloyd), Jordan Sullivan (Christa Miller), and The Todd (Robert Maschio), before coming down to the next level, the interns, the guest stars, the background staff with funny nicknames, all of which resulted in something more than the sum of their parts.

Of course, there was impeccable writing for Scrubs, something that earned it plaudits as being one of the most accurate medical TV shows ever, but without the actors behind the characters, things just wouldn't have been the same.

It has been 15 years since the last episode of Scrubs, and 16 years since the last good one, but with news recently confirming a return to Sacred Heart, what better time to take a look at not only what has happened to the cast in the last decade-and-a-half, but also where these beloved characters were the last time they were seen, and what might be on the horizon when and if they ultimately return.

More time has elapsed between the end of the series and today, than did throughout its entire run from 2001 to 2010. Think how much happened in those nine years, then how much could have happened in the 15 since.

Things have to start with the man at the center of it all, Dr. John Dorian (Zach Braff). It was J.D.'s inner monologue that narrated the vast majority of stories, with him stepping away and letting someone else do the talking for only a small amount of episodes, and he was the heart of the show in many respects. Was he perfect? Far from it, he was a flawed and often infuriating character, which is arguably what made him all the more accessible.

Since his first day at Sacred Heart, where the entire series began, J.D. rose through the ranks under the reluctant wing of Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley), before leaving for a job at a different hospital where he could be closer to his young son, Sam. By the end of the ninth season, J.D. had returned to teach a few classes at the new Sacred Heart, but was far from the permanent fixture he had been for eight years. Now married to Elliot (Sarah Chalke), and with a child on the way, you'd be forgiven for thinking he had grown into a real adult, but he was still the same loveable man-child as ever.

The same will likely not be said about the character in the upcoming season ten, as both Bill Lawrence and Zach Braff have hinted that audiences will see a J.D. who has been beaten down somewhat by the medical system. Don't expect Dr. Cox 2.0 or anything, but you won't be seeing any more World's Most Giant Doctor.

As for Braff himself, since the days of Scrubs he has taken more of a step behind the camera, directing the likes of Going in Style, as well as episodes of Bill Lawrence's other creations, Ted Lasso, and Shrinking. On-screen appearances have still been a part of his career, though, with the ill-fated Alex Inc., appearances on BoJack Horseman and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and leading the remake of Cheaper by the Dozen opposite Gabrielle Union.

It's the return of both Zach Braff and J.D. that is arguably the biggest draw for Scrubs' tenth season, as his absence from season nine was one of the major factors in its failure, but as the very theme song says, he can't do it all on his own. Two of the most important people in his life are, and likely always will be, Turk (Donald Faison) and Elliot.

Both Donald Faison and Sarah Chalke have had differing levels of success when it comes to their careers post-Scrubs. Faison starred in his own show, Emergence, that was unfortunately cancelled after just one season, his stint as Professor Utonium in the would-be Powerpuff Girls reboot was killed before it even got off the ground, and he appeared as superhero Booster Gold in Legends of Tomorrow just as the ArrowVerse was winding down and coming to a close.

Arguably, the best thing the actor has been involved in since leaving Sacred Heart was playing Hype Fazon, a character named after himself in Star Wars: Resistance.

Sarah Chalke, on the other hand, played Stella in How I Met Your Mother, led the critically acclaimed Firefly Lane for two seasons on Netflix alongside Katherine Heigl, and has been voicing Beth Smith on Rick and Morty for over a decade.

However, both will play incredibly important roles in the upcoming Scrubs revival. Bill Lawrence has already spoken of how the story will center on J.D. and Turk's relationship, and would fans, or the real-life best friends themselves, have it any other way? They will both be considerably older, with children in their teens, and if J.D.'s vision at the end of season eight is right, Sam and Izzy may be well on their way to getting engaged.

Elliot was, of course, J.D.'s wife, and unless the writers do the unthinkable and break them up yet again, she will be there by her husband's side, too. Dr. Reid is an interesting case when it comes to returning, as it feels likely that she won't actually be working in the medical profession anymore. In season eight, she and Turk had a conversation about what it was like to be a doctor. While she said it was obvious to see that it was what Turk would always do, she wasn't so sure about herself. The little victories gained weren't enough to outweigh the bad parts of the job.

Pair that with the fact that the woman Bill Lawrence based the character off, Dr. Dolly Klock, is no longer a practicing doctor, and you can come to the conclusion that Elliot may not be working with J.D. anymore.

Another character that is currently hard to pin down is Turk's wife, Carla (Judy Reyes). Her passion for being a nurse was a key driving force behind her character, though the fact that she was the only one of the main seven not to make a single appearance in season nine at the new version of Sacred Heart may be telling. She was still married to Turk, but in terms of work, it's hard to gauge where she is at.

Reyes herself, though completely absent from season nine, has expressed interest in returning to the character in the past, excited to explore whether Carla is still married, what her kids are like, and if she has even more. Could we really see a version of Scrubs where Carla and Turk aren't together? They had their rough patches through season three, but for the last time they weren't actually together, you'd have to go all the way back to the very beginning.

In terms of Reyes herself, since leaving Sacred Heart, she has bounced around, making a handful of appearances on numerous TV shows including the likes of Batwoman, Succession, and Dirty John, while having far more substantial roles in Devious Maids, Jane the Virgin, Claws, and most recently, High Potential.

It's not just the actor who should be excited about Carla's return, but the audience, too. The character was the grown-up of the group for a long time, she was the backbone of the entire hospital as the chief nurse, and she made the show a lot richer with her appearances. She was connected to everyone. She was married to Turk, Elliot was her best friend, she protected J.D. like a mother hen when he first started, and of course, she was the closest person out of the whole place to Dr. Cox, another character who the revival would feel empty without.

When the cast of Scrubs first came together, John C. McGinley was something of a coup. Made up of largely unknown actors, though Donald Faison was known for his role in 1995's Clueless and was fresh off Remember the Titans, the man to play Dr. Cox stood out as a bona fide movie star. With the likes of Seven, Point Break, Wall Street, The Rock, and Platoon to his name, McGinley's CV far outweighed anyone else's at the time.

And yet, with the rant-giving, disrespectful, grumpy, but ultimately reluctant mentor with the heart of gold, John C. McGinley found the role of his life. It's impossible to imagine anyone else playing Dr. Cox, and as much as Neil Flynn became a beloved member of the Scrubs family, had his audition for the role been successful, you can't help but feel that Scrubs would have been much poorer for it.

By the end of season nine, Cox was Chief of Medicine and was essentially running the show with Turk as his Chief of Surgery. The two weren't quite friends, but they were respected colleagues and went to a few football games together. He had become friends with Bob Kelso towards the end of the run as well, but despite his admittance to being J.D.'s friend at the end of season eight, don't expect much of a different dynamic between the two.

J.D. will still be looking to Cox as a mentor and a best friend, and Cox will be doing anything he can to ignore it. Yes, certain things have to change in order to make the show feel fresh, but it has to be careful not to lose what made it so great in the first place.

Since the end of Scrubs, McGinley has veered more towards TV than going back to the big screen, leading Stan Against Evil, enjoying a small recurring spot as an antagonist in the final season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and is currently working on a show with Steve Carell that just so happens to also be created by Bill Lawrence.

Following that, the actor has confirmed that there has been no official call just yet, but he fully expects to be back in the white lab coat when the time comes. The same, however, can't be said about Ken Jenkins, who played Dr. Bob Kelso, who of all of the core cast, may be the least likely to return.

Bill Lawrence did single Jenkins out as someone he would like to bring back, though in fairness, he has said that he wants the entire core cast to return, though with Jenkins it seems more of a long shot than anyone else.

Quite simply, the reason is because the man is now 84 years of age and has retired. He worked only sporadically following the conclusion of Scrubs, and has not worked on screen since appearing in Girls Weekend in 2019.

There also just may not be much of Dr. Bob Kelso left to explore. In terms of character development, no one went through more from season one to season nine. Kelso started out as the villainous and evil Chief of Medicine, and ended as the beloved, retired old man who enjoyed free muffins and hookers. Though he came back to do some part-time teaching at the new Sacred Heart after his wife, Enid, passed, and though he missed out on a true finale since he wasn't featured in the final episode of season nine, there just isn't much left to do with the character.

This writer may be completely wrong, and Scrubs may well return with Kelso back to wind up Dr. Cox in the funniest ways possible, but if he doesn't, you can be sure that he will at least be referenced. Even if certain actors don't end up coming back, their characters will have an update, and audiences will have something close to closure on their stories.

This was an area that season nine didn't exactly shine with. Carla was barely even referenced aside from spying on Turk, and the Janitor (Neil Flynn) appeared for a single scene in the first episode, only to quit on the spot at the point of realising J.D. wouldn't be coming back to Sacred Heart.

The two shared a quiet moment together just before he left, and to have the Janitor act like he didn't know what was coming was a strange decision, and not exactly the best way to write the character out of the show. Hopefully, should Neil Flynn return, things will be handled in a better way.

However, this could prove difficult. The Janitor didn't step in the same circles as the medical staff of the hospital, he quit his job by simply throwing his mop at Turk and walking away, and he wasn't exactly involved in anyone else's personal lives. So, 15 years later, what are the odds that he still sees any of them?

Unless something has drastically changed with his career, it will prove harder to write the Janitor into the show. It is, though, essential, as Flynn's character was a fan favourite from the very beginning, and brought to the table much of the goofiness and silliness that Scrubs became famous for.

Flynn himself has arguably had the most success following on from Scrubs. Just six months after the season eight finale released, the man who played the Janitor for 170 episodes began playing Mike Heck as the lead in his own sitcom, The Middle. He would go on to play Mike for 215 episodes over another nine years, surpassing his time as the Janitor. There aren't many actors who get to enjoy a run of back-to-back, consistent jobs like this.

As is the theme with many of the cast of Scrubs, Flynn has also worked with Bill Lawrence again, recently starring in four episodes opposite Harrison Ford and Jason Segal in Shrinking.

The show's creator clearly has a lot of love and respect for his cast, and hopefully he will be able to do what he is aiming to do in bringing back every member of the core cast for more. The leads of season nine, however, may be a different story. Yes, John C. McGinley and Donald Faison appeared in all 13 episodes, but they were not the leads of the show. With a new hospital came a largely new cast supported by the old guard of Cox and Turk.

There were multiple new characters, who all had their fair share of the screen time, but it was Kerry Bishé's Lucy Bennett who took over monologue duties from J.D., revealing the inner workings of her mind as she tried to navigate the academic, social, and psychological aspects of being a shiny new med student. Small appearances across multiple TV shows, as well as a chunkier role as Donna in Halt and Catch Fire, have taken most of Bishé's time since, though most recently she appeared in the universally panned Madame Web, before going back to the theatre in 2023.

However, with J.D.'s return, it stands to reason that there may not be any room for his season nine replacement moving forward.

Lucy's closest relationship at Sacred Heart was with Cole, one of the most annoying characters in the history of the show, and portrayed perfectly by Dave Franco. By far the biggest name to come out of season nine of Scrubs, the man who at the time was best known for being James' little brother has since forged a career first in the likes of 21 Jump Street and Now You See Me, before moving behind the camera. He is a frequent collaborator with his wife, Alison Brie, and it feels as though out of everyone, he is the least likely to return, even if he has the best potential story to tell.

Everyone loves a redemption arc, and Cole went from being a ridiculous tool to being a ridiculous tool who had a view to actually do something with his life, taking his place as Turk's surgical student. It may be unlikely for Cole to return, but Lawrence has spoken about season ten embracing what happened in season nine rather than ignoring it, and realistically, for that to happen, there has to be at least one character return. The best bet, though, would likely be either Drew, Denise, or both.

Drew, played by Michael Mosley, who has made substantial appearances in the likes of Sirens, Fear the Walking Dead: Passage, Criminal Minds, and Ozark since, was much older than the rest of his class, and was picked out by Dr. Cox to be his number one student. He was easily the best of the bunch, and if any of the aspiring doctors were to remain in the medical profession after 15 years, he would be at the top of the list. However, as Lawrence also explained, the point of the new Sacred Heart was to teach young students to be doctors before sending them off into the profession "here, there, and everywhere".

Outside of a cameo, this leaves Drew's on-screen partner Denise (Eliza Coupe) as the most likely to return in a recurring capacity, as she was the only one of the new core four in season nine to have already gone through medical school, and to have had a real job at Sacred Heart.

Denise, or Jo as J.D. liked to call her, came into Scrubs as one of the interns in season eight and was one of the only ones from that class to transition over to season nine. This time, she was no longer an intern, but was a resident and student advisor. Her abrasive personality made her a good fit with Dr. Cox, she became something of a new work buddy for Turk after J.D. left, as well as working closely with both Dr. Dorian and Dr. Reid while she was still an intern. As for Eliza Coupe, the actress went on to have more TV success following on from Scrubs, with the likes of Happy Endings and Future Man, but nothing quite reached the heights of her time as Denise.

So, there's room for plenty of major characters to return with Scrubs, but what about the supporting cast? There were dozens of hilarious characters that stalked the halls of Sacred Heart Hospital, but there were three that were arguably bigger presences than the rest.

Firstly there is the beloved Ted the Lawyer, played by the equally beloved Sam Lloyd, who sadly passed away in 2020. Don't be surprised if there is some sort of tribute to both the character and the actor, in a similar way to how the bar in the Frasier reboot was named after the late John Mahoney, who played Fraiser's dad for so long.

Then there is Jordan, a hospital board member and partner of Dr. Cox. Whenever she came around, Jordan and her ridiculously blunt personality were always a highlight. Christa Miller only made one appearance in season nine, before leading Cougar Town opposite Courteney Cox and appearing in every episode of Shrinking so far. It's unsurprising that these have been her most prominent roles since Scrubs, given that she is the wife of Bill Lawrence, and the smart money says they will work together yet again.

The Todd (Robert Maschio) joined as an intern at the same time as J.D., Turk, and Elliot, and became known for his high fives and sexual innuendos. Maschio even made an appearance as The Todd in Bill Lawrence's Cougar Town in 2012, but without an acting credit to his name since 2015, it feels unlikely that he will return. That, and the fact that his schtick just wouldn't work on a man pushing 60 years old.

Even having said that, there is no guarantee as to what could happen moving forward with Scrubs. The revival could end up rekindling the magic that made the show so popular, or it could become even worse than season nine. It could bring back almost all of its core characters from past series, as well as introduce a handful of new ones, or it could revolve around a mere fraction of the beloved characters from years past.

There is simply no way to tell the future for sure, but looking at the past, it feels fair to say that with the possible exception of Neil Flynn and Dave Franco, Scrubs was the biggest thing in the career of any of the main cast.