The upcoming Scrubs revival on ABC may not feature Neil Flynn's Janitor or Ken Jenkins' Dr. Bob Kelso in its first season, according to star Zach Braff. The series also plans tributes to the late Sam Lloyd, who played Ted Buckland. The reboot premieres February 25 with returning cast members.
The Scrubs revival, marking the show's 10th season, is set to premiere on Wednesday, February 25, at 8/7c on ABC with back-to-back episodes. The official logline describes how J.D. and Turk "scrub in together for the first time in a long time," noting that "medicine has changed, interns have changed, but their bromance has stood the test of time."
Zach Braff, Donald Faison, and Sarah Chalke return as series regulars, while Judy Reyes and John C. McGinley are slated to recur. In an interview with Esquire, Braff provided an update on fan-favorites Neil Flynn as The Janitor and Ken Jenkins as Dr. Bob Kelso. "The true answer is, if we're blessed to have a second season, absolutely," Braff said. "The real answer for Season 1 is that we're not fully sure yet. Episodes 8 and 9 of the nine-episode order are still being written."
He emphasized the team's desire for worthy storylines: "They're both interested in doing it. But do we have the bandwidth in the first nine episodes to get to it all and service a story that would be worthy of Ken and Neil?" Braff added, "At this point, I can't tell you the answer, but most definitely, if we're lucky enough to get a Season 2, that's something we want to do."
Series creator Bill Lawrence previously told TVLine of his hope to "establish where everybody from [the original show] is, whether they're still with us at the hospital or not." This includes Kelso, who retired as chief of medicine in Season 7, and The Janitor, who quit Sacred Heart early in Season 9.
The revival also honors the late Sam Lloyd, who died in 2020 at age 56 from lung cancer complications after appearing in 95 episodes as the sad-sack lawyer Ted Buckland. Braff revealed, "There's a new bar that we all go to, and we named it Lloyd's Tavern. That was the production designer's idea, which I thought was beautiful." He continued, "We love Sam; we miss him. It's hard to do this show without him. And our plan is to most definitely have an episode that is a tribute to him," though the timing remains undecided between the first season and a potential second.