Despite rejection from some Scrubs Fans, Bill Lawrence is ready to return to Sacred Heart Hospital for a long-running reboot.
After Deadline reported that the project is in development at ABC with 20th Television, the creator and executive producer explained why he's “always hesitant” to revisit the medical sitcom but is confident about the upcoming reboot.
“If I thought it was a bad idea, I wouldn't do it. I'm not chasing a trade, and without inflating myself, I don't need to.” Los Angeles Times. “Creatively, if someone says, 'Do you want to choose?' Scrubs In the same hospital with the same people on a normal day, everything back to normal? No, that would be disingenuous to the story. Am I curious and can I think of a bunch of stories about where some of these characters are years later, not being kid apprentices anymore, and having new guys around them, with the way the medical world has changed – yes, without a shadow of a doubt. That creative answer was easy. The complicated thing, and the reason I'm always hesitant, is that I no longer work for Disney. I work here [Warner Bros.]which is not, commercially speaking, a show I was allowed to go on. It doesn't hurt to have Warner Brothers say, “We're not hiring you to go to a Disney show.”
“The thing that has changed is that the cast are all close together in real life, and as many of us do, at this point in our lives, we want that experience. So [there’s] The amount of friends that [say]“Man, it would be fun to have that experience again because we all really liked each other.” And you connect that directly to a time in Hollywood where not only are we making a lot of stuff, but people that I really care about and love, in front of the camera and behind it, are scrambling and scrambling to find work. The best thing about the show is the sad situation it has great writers in. It won't be like grabbing cash in the mail. There will be a collection of the original Scrubs The book is on display. There will also be a host of new writers. “I hope this doesn't happen,” someone was saying. This made me unbelievable. Like, why the f- would you care if that happened? “I love the show so much, this would tarnish it,” he says. I don't think this is true. Shows I care about have been rebooted. That's my attitude: If it's a show I like, I'll watch it. If it's great, I'll be very happy. If it was good, whatever it was, at least it didn't offend me. And if it's bad, I'll be very happy to talk bad about how bad it is to my friends. Not on the internet. But that's how I watch TV. For me, this is a no-win. What's the big deal? ”
Lawrence added: “Not to get too deep into it, I have my own stuff to work on. I've hinted at it before and I'll probably say, without telling anyone why: 'I'm only doing this because it's something that's important to me for my own stuff. I'll live with the consequences.'” “
Sarah Chalke as Dr. Elliot Reed, Zach Braff as Dr. John “J.D.” Dorian, and Donald Faison as Dr. Christopher Turk in “Scrubs.”
Chris Haston/NBCU Image Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
The 2x Emmy winner expects to begin writing the reboot in the new year, noting that a deal with one of the showrunners is being finalized “as we speak, but as soon as that's done, we'll get started.”
Although he didn't name the nominee, Lawrence noted, “We've already done photo shoots because we're old friends, but we'll start throwing around the idea of where the world begins and who does what. They said it was very strange to go back and watch each episode.” My ultimate goal with the whole thing is to bring back the music to the old episodes.
With Lawrence on board, 20th Television moves to secure the main stream Scrubs Original Cast – Zach Braff, who plays John “J.D.” Dorian, Sarah Chalke (Elliot Reed), Donald Faison (Christopher Turk), and John C. McGinley (Perry Cox). It's unclear if Judy Reyes will return to play honest nurse Carla Espinoza, who left the medical comedy before its final season. According to sources, her character was taken into consideration in early plans for the reboot.
“Big portions of the creative team behind the camera, and most of them in front of the camera, are all very invested and excited,” Lawrence told Deadline in October, noting that he would bring back some of his creative collaborators for the film. Scrubs The follow-up, which he described at the time as “very close to working on”.
