Posted in: ABC, Hulu, TV | Tagged: Scrubs

Scrubs: Neil Flynn on Why Series Returning After 25 Years Is "Crazy"

Neil Flynn (Shrinking) talks about what it's like to return to Scrubs and what he loves most about seeing everyone back for the ABC revival.

Published Wed, 25 Feb 2026 07:37:06 -0600

by Tom Chang

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It shouldn't be understated how much of an unsung hero Neil Flynn was to the success of Scrubs, becoming the comedic thorn at JD's (Zach Braff) side during his entire tenure learning at Sacred Heart Hospital during the Bill Lawrence-created series' first eight seasons, which made it that much more heartbreaking when he left in the season nine premiere once his character, Janitor, found out his rival was no longer working at the hospital, leaving his mop behind. While creatively behind the scenes, Braff did return in a limited capacity, but it would be a transitional period for the maligned ninth season, aka Scrubs: Med School. At the LA premiere of the Scrubs revival, Flynn spoke to Deadline about his return to the series as a guest star for season 10, with Christa Miller also returning as Jordan Sullivan in a similar capacity.

Scrubs Original Star Neil Flynn on Return as Janitor

When asked how it felt to return, "It's wonderful. A lot of years have passed, but it doesn't seem like that many. It started 25 years ago," Flynn said. "That's crazy, so that's my favorite part about what we're doing is seeing all the people." Following his departure, Flynn would star in the ABC sitcom The Middle, which ran for a successful nine seasons from 2009-2018. He also had a run on NBC's Abby's, and made appearances on Girls5eva, Lopez vs. Lopez, The Santa Clauses, and has a recurring role on Lawrence's AppleTV series Shrinking as Ray/Raymond.

Flynn appeared in 170 episodes, but it was originally conceived that Janitor would be a figment of JD's imagination before the character's popularity expanded his role to interact with other characters. In addition to being JD's bully, he was also vengeful toward others who did him wrong, the founder of the "Braintrust," a group he recruits at the hospital to cook up schemes on his behalf that includes Robert Maschio's The Todd, Sam Lloyd's Ted Buckland, and a fourth, and writers often let Flynn improvise much of his bits throughout the series. Scrubs airs Wednesdays on ABC and Hulu.