They can’t do this all on their own, so Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke and Donald Faison have enlisted a brand-new batch of interns to join them and their OG Sacred Heart co-workers for ABC’s “Scrubs” revival.
The series returns on Wednesday, picking up 16 years after the hospital sitcom first went off the air. To celebrate, the trio walked the red carpet at Monday night’s premiere at the Academy Museum in Hollywood alongside original co-stars Judy Reyes, Neil Flynn, Robert Maschio, Phill Lewis and John C. McGinley, where they revealed why 2026 is the right time to reunite.
“The desire from fans and from the audience seemed to keep growing,” Braff told TheWrap. “Donald and I did this podcast that we just thought no one would listen to besides our moms and maybe some mega-fans, but that really blew up. Then we started doing those T-Mobile ads; we thought it was one and it became five years. Every time Bill Lawrence does a panel anywhere, people always ask — louder and louder and louder until ABC said, ‘Let’s do this.’”
“You know what did it? Feedback from the fans and hearing back from the people who were listening to the podcast, they were very informative and it was clear that something’s there,” Faison added. “And the T-Mobile commercials, people really responded to it. Doing all that, we kind of knew this was a good time.”
“The most fun thing to do is the fantasy sequences, and some of my favorite ones we’ve ever done are in this iteration,” Chalke shared. “My favorite thing about the first round of ‘Scrubs’ and all of Bill’s shows is that magical recipe of comedy, heart and pathos — I hope that we were able to recapture it.”
The revival also stars Vanessa Bayer, Joel Kim Booster, Ava Bunn, Jacob Dudman, David Gridley, Layla Mohammadi, Amanda Morrow, Andy Ridings, Lisa Gilroy, Rachel Bilson, Michael James Scott and X Mayo. Series creator Bill Lawrence was unable to attend the premiere due to the Northeast blizzard.
“I trust Bill Lawrence so much. We had talked about it for a couple of years leading up to this thing, and I talked to Zach. The way the show came together, I totally bought into it. I’m so happy to do it,” Maschio said. “[Bill] is a blessing, he’s been my guardian angel on this planet. My first play I ever did, 1992 in L.A., he wrote it and cast me; my first role on a TV show, ‘Spin City,’ he cast me; my first part on a TV show, ‘Scrubs,’ The Todd, 2001, he cast me. My girlfriend is here somewhere, we met on set in Season 6, so ‘Scrubs’ has been a blessing for me in many ways.”
“It was an active rumor for two and a half years. When it was realized in fruition, all of us just thought, ‘Finally’ — and not out of arrogance, but out of gratitude and inclusion and appreciation and love,” McGinley echoed. “You’ve got to remember, back when we were shooting in Valley Village, we were together 14 hours a day, which is great because we were employed, but that’s more time than you are with your family. So, what happens is people either collide and separate or they integrate, and the OGs integrated.”
“The conditions for everybody was: same team, same creators, same actors — if it wasn’t Bill Lawrence, we weren’t going to do it,” Reyes revealed. “Everybody was down, everybody was available, including the writers. They were able to give our scripts those last punches that they need, and you feel safe in that environment because that environment created the show that everybody wants to see again.”
After an introduction from ABC’s Simran Sethi and 20th Television’s Karey Burke, executive producer Braff further praised Lawrence in absentia for helping staff nearly 4,000 people as they recreated the original hospital setting in Vancouver.
“Bill Lawrence is not here, he was going to do a lot of this chat and he’s very good at it. Bill got snowed in. Those of us who know him know he probably didn’t get snowed in; he’s very uncomfortable around affection and kind words and hugs, so he may be hiding out in New York City,” he joked ahead of the screening.
“It’s actually good that he’s not here, so I can be fully affectionate and say what I really want to say: he created this show and changed all of our lives, but he continues to be our greatest champion. For me, in particular, there’s no one else I’ve ever met who has been more of a cheerleader as a creative person,” Braff concluded. “‘Scrubs’ works because of those 3,700 people, but ‘Scrubs’ is magical because of the mind of Bill Lawrence.”
Sounds like there may be a super man over there after all.
“Scrubs” premieres with two episodes Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT and streams the next day on Hulu.
