During Scrubs' original run on television, the show developed an impressive fan following that grew to passionately love the sitcom and its characters. For that reason, there has been an incredible amount of interest in the Scrubs revivals' cast and storylines that will soon air on ABC.
Fortunately for anyone who can't get enough of Scrubs, there are a lot of reasons to be extremely excited about the plans for the show's upcoming revival series. On the other hand, there definitely are reasons to be worried about how good the Scrubs revival will be, including some recent worrisome comments from John C. McGinley about the revival. Another example is the fact that there is a really compelling reason to believe that a Scrubs supporting character who should be brought back for the revival won't appear.
Why Doug from Scrubs should return, but probably won't
Throughout Scrubs' nine seasons, the show tracked the lives and careers of three doctors who went from being newbies to veterans, John "J.D." Dorian, Elliot Reid, and Christopher Turk. While that trio were Scrubs' main characters, the show also portrayed another young doctor whose career went from uncertainty and failure to finding his place in medicine
After being introduced in the second episode of Scrubs, Doug spent many seasons being portrayed as a hapless lost cause whose incompetence caused many patients to die. Then, as if in a moment of divine providence, it became clear that Doug would be a perfect coroner since he could instantly figure out how patients died after seeing so many people pass away. It was remarkable to see how Doug grew as a sitcom character, since that can be so rare. On top of that, Doug's earnestness often made his scenes hilarious to watch.
Considering the growth that Doug had undergone, it would be amazing if his character could be a notable part of the Scrubs revival. After seeing him figure out how he could help the world, it would be fascinating to see how his career and attitude have progressed in the intervening years. Just as importantly, Doug's unique character certainly could lead to a lot of solid laughs in the revival series.
Sadly, however, it seems extremely likely that Doug will not be part of the Scrubs revival for a simple reason. After portraying Doug in 49 Scrubs episodes and landing a handful of other roles, the actor behind the character, Johnny Kastl, gave up acting. Last credited on IMDb with a role in 2009, an Us Weekly article from October 2025 about the upcoming revival states that Kastl has been working as a lawyer for years.
While it is possible that Kastl could make an acting comeback for the Scrubs revival, it seems unlikely given his current career.