Scrubs – Sneak Peak, New Characters, and the Confusion Over J.D.'s Return

Last night I saw my very first promo commercial for the upcoming ninth season of Scrubs (now reimagined). The hilarious comedy that we all know and love will be coming back to us on December 1.  But with a new format, and only the occasional guest appearance from J.D. (Zach Braff), will it even be the same show?

After watching the promo last night during V, my first thought was "Wow, it looks like Zach Braff is going to be an integral part of the story". Is this just wishful thinking on my part? Perhaps my need to see more of J.D.'s crazy imagination is twisting my view of the promo. So I headed over to ABC to take a look at their official show description for the upcoming season.

The series follows the unique point of view of Dr. John "J.D." Dorian (Zach Braff). After leaving for a job at another hospital, J.D. returns to Sacred Heart to teach at its medical school alongside Chris Turk (Donald Faison), Perry Cox (John C. McGinley), Denise (Eliza Coupe) and Bob Kelso (guest star Ken Jenkins). Together they serve as professors (and inspiration) to a brand new class of med students, including the impressionable Lucy (Kerry Bishé), former med school drop out Drew (Michael Mosley), and cocky, entitled Cole (Dave Franco). As for his personal life, J.D. is now married to longtime sweetheart Dr. Elliot Reid (guest star Sarah Chalke), and the happy couple are expecting their first child.

So there seems to be some confusion, at least for me. The news articles seemed quite clear last season that J.D. would not be returning to the show in any full capacity, and that we'd only see him here and there. Even Variety reported just last week that we'd only see Zach Braff "…in several episodes." However, thanks to the Scrubs Facebook fan page (which you should join) I was able to get a few more details that I wanted to share, to hopefully curb down the speculation and confusion.

• Zach Braff will be in at least 6 episodes, and will still be an integral part of it.
• Sarah Chalke will be guest starring on the show in a few episodes and her real life pregnancy has been written into the show.
• The internal monologues WILL remain, and in fact new character Lucy will have some hilarious fantasy-esque sequences.
• Bill Lawrence, the creator and showrunner of the first 8 season wrote the first episode.

In addition, and also thanks to the Scrubs Facebook fan page, check out the sneak peak video from the first episode.

Besides Dr. Cox and Turk leading the show, we now have a few new med students to get to know a little better. Check out the image gallery below for an introduction to some of the new faces and learn who their characters are, as well as some familiar faces who will be returning.

John "J.D." Dorian

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 7 of 7

J.D. returns this season in a smaller but still integral role. He'll be in at least 6 episodes.