For Donald Faison, stepping again into the sneakers of Turk — the lovable surgeon who for about a decade was one half of the zaniest bromance on tv — was like driving a bike.
“By the time I got to the end of the block, I’m already doing wheelies and all of that stuff again,” Faison stated.
Faison is again — alongside with Zach Braff as J.D. and Sarah Chalke as Elliot — for a revival season of “Scrubs,” proper when a lot of viewers may use a good snicker.
Premiering Wednesday on ABC, the new season options extra acquainted faces, together with John C. McGinley as Dr. Cox and Judy Reyes as Carla. Even creator Bill Lawrence, whose latest hits embrace “Shrinking” and “Ted Lasso,” is again as government producer.
Like the unique “Scrubs,” which premiered in 2001 and started by chronicling J.D.’s journey as a medical intern, the revival serves up a wholesome dose of comedic and heartfelt moments interspersed with J.D.’s signature wacky daydream sequences and voiceovers.
But not every thing’s the identical. The characters have grown and medication has modified since “Scrubs” went off the air in 2010 (Lawrence and revival showrunner Aseem Batra confirmed the new sequence ignores the ninth season, successfully a spinoff that featured little of the unique forged).
“I was just trying to figure out what the 50-year-old father, excellent teacher version of J.D. is and have it be real, while still being a guy who’s sort of goofy and silly like I think I am in real life,” Braff stated.
The celebrated bromance between Turk and J.D. stays a key half of the present. Braff and Faison are famously good mates offscreen, and have appeared collectively in T-Mobile commercials and likewise collaborated on the podcast, “Fake Doctors, Real Friends.”
“I think that’s one of the reasons ‘Scrubs’ worked is that Donald and I just instantly clicked. And then obviously with Sarah as well, we loved each other,” stated Braff.
“Scrubs” is way from the primary present to be revived in latest years, however bringing it again felt proper to a lot of the forged and crew, who stated there’s at all times room for a tribute to medical professionals. Plus, the forged nonetheless has chemistry.
“Now more than ever, we need to laugh,” stated Faison.
The new “Scrubs” Season 1 works laborious to carry the present into 2026, whereas additionally capturing the essence of traditional “Scrubs” episodes that balanced comedy with coronary heart, Batra stated. To assist accomplish this, Lawrence wrote the revival’s first episode, and weighed in on the remainder of the season the place he may. The enchantment of Lawrence’s exhibits, Chalke famous, is that he “always writes with a real element of hope.” It’s a massive half of why Lawrence is glad to see the story revisited right this moment.
“A lot of TV I do right now has an undercurrent of hopefulness and optimism in humanity,” Lawrence stated. “If anyone’s working in a teaching hospital, they’re doing it because they want to be of service, and they’re doing it because they think there’s a greater good out there. And stories like that mean more to me right now than ever.”
‘Oldies’ and newbies
For the youthful forged members, being the new “newbies” may have been intimidating — some of them admitted to being round a 12 months outdated when “Scrubs” first premiered. But sequence veterans made a level of welcoming everybody into the fold. Braff, for instance, hosted Saturday night time dinners for the forged each week.
“We’d go to set, do our work and every Saturday, we’d bond and have a drink and laugh, and the director of the episode normally would come and join us,” stated Layla Mohammadi, who performs surgical intern Amara.
“I felt like I was in college all over again,” stated Ava Bunn, who performs the perpetually on-line medical intern Sam Tosh — or “TikTok Doc,” as Dr. Cox calls her. “It was very, very fun.”
The new class of characters additionally consists of Jacob Dudman and David Gridley as medical interns Asher and Blake, in addition to Amanda Morrow as surgical intern Dashana.
“They bring in that new vibe of what the changes in the medical industry have been, but also they bring in a complete transparency and lack of apology in approaching their work,” stated Morrow.
Meanwhile, some of the present’s legacy characters current a extra cynical level of view. “It’s the same group of mediocrity,” stated McGinley of surly Cox’s emotions about instructing one more batch of interns.
While returning characters are nonetheless enthusiastic about taking care of folks, indicators that the job has taken its toll present. “So, you see how much Cox and Carla have changed and have been affected in the world of these Bambis, who are just excited for life and the opportunity to do what we’ve been doing for years,” Reyes stated, utilizing her character’s early nickname for then-intern J.D.
The mixing of outdated and new storylines and views serves as a pure entry level for potential new viewers.
“If you knew about Turk, J.D. and Elliot from before or if you didn’t, this is a story that everyone can relate to,” Faison stated.
That applies to completely different generations, too.
Braff stated followers anticipating the revival have written to him through Instagram concerning the present’s connection to their personal houses and lives — individuals who watched it with their dad and mom and now have youngsters of their personal.
“I think there’s a lot of people that grew up with the show, and it meant a lot to them,” he stated. “I think that if we do it right, they’ll be happy to watch it again and also share it with their kids.”
Season 1 of the “Scrubs” revival will premiere at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Wednesday, Feb. 25 on ABC. Episodes will stream on Hulu the day after they air.