Posted in: ABC, TV | Tagged: Scrubs

Scrubs: Zach Braff on Keeping Revival Grounded, Staying True to OG Run

Scrubs star Zach Braff on making the most of the ABC revival with a back-to-basics approach, combined with some new creative directions.

Published Sun, 24 May 2026 09:38:08 -0500

by Tom Chang

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Article Summary

Scrubs revival star Zach Braff says shorter 9-10 episode seasons demand a tighter, more careful creative approach.
Braff wants Scrubs to feel more like its early years, dialing back later-season absurdity for a grounded tone.
He says reviving Scrubs meant balancing fan expectations with ABC, Hulu, Disney, and the cast’s own vision.
The Scrubs return grew from Braff and Donald Faison’s podcast, with Bill Lawrence and Aseem Batra helping lead it.

If there was anything Scrubs benefitted from its original run that the revival doesn't have the luxury of these days, it's 20+ episode seasons. In the show's first six seasons, it regularly averaged 20+ episodes; the strike-shortened season seven had 11 episodes, season eight had 19 (the first on ABC), and season nine (the "Med School" season) had only 13, with the series' cancellation in 2010. With the revival season in 2026 (season 10), the number of episodes was reduced to nine, as is standard in the streaming era. Things haven't changed much, with ABC renewing the series for an even 10 episodes in season 11. Braff spoke to Variety on its Awards Circuit Podcast about how cautiously they have to tread creatively, since they need to achieve what they need in half the episodes without embracing additional opportunities that an extra 10+ episodes would allow.

Scrubs Star Zach Braff on a Back-to-Basics Approach to the Series

"There's an episode where JD and Turk are pushed into a tree by ostriches who are guarding Jason Bateman's house," Braff recalled on how far Scrubs would veer creatively. "He has an ostrich farm, and he makes belts out of their necks. One of the ostriches steals Turk's Kangol hat and puts it on. It all sounds funny — if it were a fantasy. But it was in the reality of the show!" As far as the return, which started with his best friend and co-star Donald Faison and the rewatch podcast they hosted together in Fake Doctors, Real Friends, getting the band back together with creator Bill Lawrence and catching up with their co-stars like Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes, John C. McGinley, Neil Flynn, and more, the seeds were planted to get the ball rolling with series veteran writer Aseem Batra as showrunner.

Scrubs: Zach Braff on Keeping Revival Grounded, Staying True to OG Run — (Disney/Darko Sikman)
DONALD FAISON, ZACH BRAFF

"Launching the show and trying to thread the needle for what the show would be in 2026 was really complicated," Braff said. "If you look at the eight and a half years of 'Scrubs,' it got quite broad, and every year it became more and more silly. We wanted to bring it back and reground it as it was in sort of the first third of its run, if you will. There were a lot of chefs in the kitchen, and we wanted to please Hulu, we wanted to please ABC/Disney, we wanted to please ourselves, we wanted to please the fans. In writing and directing that pilot, there was a lot of consternation in getting the tone right, because the tone of 'Scrubs' is so specific, and the fans love it so much. You cannot believe, if you're not close to it like I am, how important this show is to people. So, there was a lot of pressure to get that tone right in a way that also felt 2026."

For more, including Braff talking about navigating through the Scrubs revival season like JD's relationship with his mentor Cox (McGinley), expanding creatively behind-the-scenes more as a director, and getting to work on Lawrence's Apple TV series Rooster, you can check out the entire interview.

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