Rub creator Bill Lawrence confirms the revival will not return for season 9. After years of speculation, it was recently confirmed that a Rub the revival is moving forward at ABC and 20th Television. While it's still early in the process, original cast members like Zach Braff, Donald Faison, John C. McGinley, and potentially others are expected to reprise their roles in some capacity.
In the latest update, Lawrence tells TV Line what revival will not reconfigure and erase the events of Rub season 9 – which focused on a largely new group of characters. In the quote below, the series praised the last season and mentions that they would like to see some of the actors from that season reprise their roles. He also teased that upcoming episodes will introduce new interns:
I thought some of these actors and actresses were really starting to come into their own. Kerry Bishé, [Michael] Mosley, Dave Franco… they’re all still working for a reason. They are all very good. I'm not against seeing these people [again]and I think it would be fun to have one of them go through, but this spinoff, if you remember, was supposed to be a medical school, and the people who were going through it would go out into the world and land as doctors in places here, there, everywhere. the places. I think we will really focus on a place where some of our main regular customers still work as doctors. And who are the new interns or residents at that hospital?
Scrubs Season 9 Explained and What It Means for the Revival
It has significant implications
Rub Season 9 is a bit controversial, in part because of the circumstances that brought it about. The medical comedy had a complicated change at the end of its run, moving from NBC to ABC and nullifying the planned Rub end. The ninth edition of the series presented a different focus and location. Faison and McGinley were the only ones who remained series regulars, although most of the originals made guest appearances.
As Lawrence mentions, the focus was on a new group of young hopefuls, played by Dave Franco, Eliza Coupe, Michael Mosley and Kerry Bishé, who took on the lead role. Attempts to divert the spotlight from the series did not work and Rub Season 9 ended up being the show's last.
Lawrence, who is currently promoting the second season of his Apple TV+ comedy Shrinkingpromises that the new series will focus more on the original characters without ignoring the events of that last season. This means, among other things, that the revival will honor the fact that the Central Hospital of the Sacred Heart was demolished. It also leaves the door open for possible cameos from Franco and others.
Our Take on Scrubs Revival Avoiding a Retcon
Other programs have tried
Roseane and Will and Grace are both among the relatively recent revivals that have chosen to scrap the original series ending in one way or another. Whether or not the opposite approach works for Rub It largely depends on how much audiences still want to keep up with JD, Turk, and the rest of the show's familiar faces all these years later. Since a lot of time has passed since Season 9, it might be interesting for the reboot to revisit some of these later characters.
Source: TV Line