It sounds like fans will be checking back into Scared Heart Hospital after nearly a decade and a half. Producer, screenwriter, and director Bill Lawrence, the creator of the early 2000s medical comedy Scrubs and co-creator of Spin City and Ted Lasso, has revealed that talks are now happening about a revival of the hospital-set sitcom. After signing a five-year all-encompassing deal with Warner Bros. TV, Lawrence is busier than ever, but he is still trying to make the reboot a reality.
In an interview with Deadline, the Scrubs creator talked about his plans for the revival of the hit series and the obstacles he’s faced along the way. Lawrence said that a lot of the original cast members have agreed to return, with the star of the original series, Zach Braff, having recently worked with Lawrence on the Apple TV+ series Bad Monkey. The creator already has a clear idea of how to combine a revival bringing in old characters with a reboot to add new ones.
“I think it’s getting really close to being figured out, and I think in a good way. Big chunks of the creative team behind the camera, and most of it from in front of the camera, are all super invested and excited, so very close.
We’ve been talking about a lot, and I think the only real reason to do it is a combo. A: people wanting to see what the world of medicine was like for the people they love, which is part of any successful reboot. But B: I think that show always worked because you get to see young people dropped into the world of medicine, knowing young people that go there are super idealistic and are doing it because it’s a calling. There’s no cliché ‘rich doctors playing golf — that’s not what it is anymore. So I think that, no matter what it is, it would be a giant mistake not to do as a combo of those two things.”
The creator also revealed that his biggest obstacle in producing the revival-reboot is his five-year deal with Warner Bros. Television Group. Since Scrubs is produced by Disney’s 20th Television, the deal with Warner Bros. TV is causing difficulties in the planning of the follow-up series. But, with strong support from his creative team, clear ideas for the series, and with “big chunks” of the former cast on board, Lawrence will no doubt find a way to make it work.
Lawrence’s Schedule Is Packed For The Near Future
The television tycoon has seen his career pick up in recent years with the major success of Apple TV’s Ted Lasso in which Jason Sudeikis plays an optimistic soccer coach. With season 4 of Ted Lasso possibly on the horizon and Lawrence’s deal with Warner Bros. TV, his workload doesn’t seem to be getting any lighter.
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Bad Monkey, based on writer Carl Hiaasen’s book of the same name, is rumored to have a second season in the works. Lawrence also told Deadline that if there is to be another season of the crime comedy, it will be based on Hiaasen’s sequel to Bad Monkey titled Razor Girl. He even revealed an Easter egg in the first season that hints towards the second.
“Somebody asked me why I picked Bad
Monkey
. Carl Hiaasen, who is an idol of mine, has like, 20 bestsellers. It’s one of the only books he wrote a sequel to; the sequel’s called
Razor Girl
.
And if you watch the opening credits, the sand thing — no one’s seen it yet — there’s a couple things, like a beach ball, and if people pause it when they go by a beach chair, there’s a copy of that book, like a summer read sitting there. That will tell people what is next.”
