Reboot of Scrubs officially in development at ABC

Series creator Bill Lawrence is attached to the project based on the 2001 to 2010 hospital comedy series. 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.

At this time, no other deals have been made for the reboot, either with the cast or off-camera talent.

Scrubs ran for nine seasons from 2001 to 2010, the first seven on NBC and the last two on ABC. Zach Braff, Donald Faison and Sarah Chalke headed the cast as young doctors learning their trade at Sacred Heart Hospital; Judy Reyes, John C. McGinley, Neil Flynn and Ken Jenkins also starred.

Lawrence has floated several ideas for a Scrubs reboot, including one that would see members of the original cast making their way along with a new crop of trainees. The final season of the original series, subtitled Med School, attempted something similar, 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 headed for a fourth season — and Shrinking and created Bad Monkey, all of which hail from WBTV and stream on Apple TV+. He is also working on an HBO comedy series starring Steve Carell and Scrubs co-star Matt Tarses.