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Rick and Morty Star Sarah Chalke "Would Love to Do" Scrubs Reunion
While we await word on the fifth season return of Adult Swim's Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland-created Rick and Morty, we've been keeping an eye on what's been going on with the show, the cast, and its creators to make sure viewers have a sense of how thing are going (more on that below) as well as a chance to get to know more about the folks involved in a different light. A perfect example of this would be Sarah Chalke (Firefly Lane), who is known around the world as the voice of Beth (and now Space Beth). But from 2001-2010, she was known on-screen as Elliot Reid, M.D., on the long-running, influential sitcom Scrubs– a role she is just as equally known for as the one she has on the adult-animated series. With streaming services looking for older franchises to possibly reboot or create a sequel series around (Saved by the Bell, Psych and Cobra Kai are some examples), Chalke was asked during an interview with Variety if she would ever return for a Scrubs reunion of some type.
"I would be into it. I would love to do it. We've talked about it. I think everybody's lives are so crazy, but we all talk about how cool it'd be to do something like the 'Psych' cast," Chalke revealed. "I think it'd be so much fun to do something like that." From the way Chalke describes what working on the series was like and how much she learned from the experience, it sounds like scheduling might be the only major hurdle standing in a reunion's way.
What We Know About Rick & Morty Seasons 5 & 6…& 7?!?
During a panel discussion in July of this year, Harmon, Chalke, Chris Parnell, and Spencer Grammer offered fans insights via Twitch into what we can expect from the fifth season- and yes, that included a preview of what's to come. In the preview, Rick is near death so it's up to Morty to save the day- and get back in time for a date with Jessica? Things don't quite go as plan, as the dimension-hoping duo end up facing Rick's previously-unknown nemesis… Mr. Nimbus?!?
Then in October, The Paley Center for Media's 8th annual PaleyFest NY hosted a look behind the scenes of the two-time Emmy Award-winning Adult Swim series Rick and Morty. Chris Parnell, Chalke, Spencer Grammer, and Harmon joined panel moderator Mike Schneider (Senior Editor, Variety) to talk "Space Beth" and how things looked for the fifth and sixth (?!?) seasons.
Still not sure who the real Beth is, the Beth we saw throughout the fourth season or the season finale-returning "Space Beth"? Don't feel so bad: even Chalke doesn't know for sure- and she voices both characters. While still not offering a definitive answer, Harmon offered some background on his purpose for having such a personal twist thrown into the mix- and further teased that viewers might be getting more "Space Beth" in the near future. "You know as much as Rick knows. I don't want to keep secrets with the audience. She's Schrodinger's Beth right now," Harmon explained. "The fact she may or may not be a clone is actually the important thing. It's the profound revelation about Rick's commitment to non-commitment and how abusive that can be as a parent. That is the important thing here. We're adding aunts to the family. We're having fun looking at more options with space Beth."
Harmon was asked what he could offer up about the fifth season– and it was definitely good news. After a brief pause to consider what he could and couldn't discuss (we were this close to getting a cryptic tease), Harmon admitted that he gets confused between the 5th and 6th seasons because of how far along they are with both seasons. He revealed that after the panel, he would be reviewing animatics for late-season 5 episodes while also in the middle of writing late-season 6 episodes (also joking about how he's working with two season finales at the same time).
More specifically, Harmon teased an episode during the fifth season where Morty gets into a relationship with a female character who is not Jessica. Written by Rob Schrab, Harmon says the episode is "a great little story" and even looked ahead to next year's Emmys: "My Emmy's going to that one." Though jokingly not looking to curse the show's two-year run at the top of the Emmy animation mountain, Harmon wanted to clarify that he actually means his "heart Emmy" (so disregard the stuff that came before it, Emmy voters).
In mid-November during Adult Swim Fest's "'Rick and Morty' Global Celebration," Harmon, executive producer Scott Marder, as well as Parnell, Chalke, and Grammer, the session was meant to focus on the recently-wrapped fourth season but also looked ahead to the series' future. Harmon emphasized again that viewers should expect some "pretty groovy things coming." But Marder found a way to throw just the right amount of gasoline on the fanbase's dumpster fires of speculation by teasing that the fifth season will have "epic canon" and that viewers will "get knocked over with the canon." As for who they would like to have as guest stars, Ian McKellan and Jeff Goldblum top the list (with Harmon proposing an alien with McKellan's head and Goldblum's body). As for a musical episode, Harmon says it's "probably going to happen at some point" and there have been "conversations" in the past. Oh, and it looks like work on the seventh season is already underway (yes, you read that right).