‘Scrubs’ Reboot Officially in the Works at ABC

Paging Dr. Acula: A much-discussed Scrubs reboot is officially in development.

ABC is in the early stages of developing the project from 20th Television (whose predecessors Touchstone TV and ABC Studios produced the original series) and series creator Bill Lawrence. A reboot or revival of Scrubs has been a frequent topic of discussion among Lawrence and the show’s cast: At a 2022 ATX Festival panel, Lawrence said, “We’re gonna do it, you guys know. If you ever have an excuse to work with people you want to spend time with anyway, run to it.”

One sticking point: Lawrence, who was based at Touchstone/ABC Studios during the original show’s run, now has a rich overall deal at Warner Bros. TV. WB has allowed for a carve-out in his deal to work on the Scrubs reboot, although he won’t serve as showrunner should the project get a series order.

No other deals for the reboot, with either cast or off-camera talent, are in place as of now.

Scrubs ran for nine seasons from 2001-10, the first seven on NBC and the final two at ABC. Zach Braff, Donald Faison and Sarah Chalke headed the cast as young doctors learning on the job at Sacred Heart Hospital; Judy Reyes, John C. McGinley, Neil Flynn and Ken Jenkins also starred. Braff and Faison also host a recap podcast about the series called Fake Doctors, Real Friends.

Lawrence has tossed around several ideas for an update of Scrubs, including one that would feature members of the original cast along with a new crop of interns finding their way (the final season of the original run, subtitled Med School, attempted something like that, with Faison’s Chris Turk and McGinley’s Perry Cox teaching at a medical school).

Lawrence is also the co-creator of Ted Lasso — which is inching toward a fourth season — and Shrinking and created Bad Monkey, all of which come from WBTV and stream on Apple TV+. He’s also working on an HBO comedy starring Steve Carell with fellow Scrubs alum Matt Tarses. Lawrence is repped by CAA and Yorn Levine.