Zach Braff Boards ‘Scrubs’ Reboot at ABC

Dr. John Dorian is back on call: Zach Braff has signed on for the Scrubs update that’s in development at ABC.

Braff will reprise his role from the 2001-10 series as John, aka J.D., the narrator and central character for most of the show’s first run. ABC confirmed it was developing a Scrubs reboot in December, after creator Bill Lawrence, Braff and other members of the cast had for years said they’d like to reunite.

ABC and 20th Television, which is producing the reboot, declined comment.

“We’re gonna do it, you guys know,” Lawrence said during a Scrubs reunion panel at the ATX TV Festival in 2022. “If you ever have an excuse to work with people you want to spend time with anyway, run to it.”

Despite the willingness of those involved, the path to the ABC project wasn’t a straightforward one. Lawrence currently has a rich overall deal at Warner Bros. TV and is juggling four series — Shrinking, Bad Monkey and the return of Ted Lasso at Apple TV+ and an HBO comedy starring Steve Carell — for the studio. WBTV agreed to a carve-out in his deal that allows him to work on Scrubs at 20th (whose predecessor Touchstone TV produced the original), though he won’t be the showrunner should it go to series.

Braff is the first member of the show’s original cast to join the ABC update. Scrubs also starred Donald Faison, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes, John C. McGinley, Neil Flynn and Ken Jenkins.