The Scrubs reboot is about to drop, and while one beloved character isn’t returning, a fan theory suggests they might yet make an appearance.
Scrubs is a Bill Lawrence sitcom that centered on medical students at a fictional hospital, and ran for a whopping 182 episodes over nine seasons.
The series ended in 2010, but a reboot is launching on ABC next week, with stars Zach Braff (JD), Sarah Chalke (Elliot), Donald Faison (Turk), Judy Reyes (Carla) and John C. McGinley (Cox) all returning.
But one character is conspicuous by his absence, though Reddit has an intriguing theory on that front…
Why ‘The Janitor’ isn’t in the Scrubs reboot
As far as we know, neither Dr. Kelso (Ken Jenkins), nor The Janitor (Neil Flynn), are appearing in the reboot, and Zach Braff explained why during an interview with Esquire:
“For season 1 is we’re not fully sure yet,” Braff says of their participation. “Episodes 8 and 9 of the nine-episode order are still being written. They both are interested in doing it. But do we have the bandwidth in the first nine to get to it all and service a story that would be worthy of Ken and Neil? That might come true.
“At this point, I can’t tell you the answer, but most definitely, if we are lucky enough to get a Season 2, that’s something we want to do.”
The Janitor might be hiding in plain sight
A long-running gag – dating back to Episode 1 of Season 1 – is that the Janitor hates JD, and it wouldn’t feel like Scrubs if there wasn’t some of that anger and resentment in the reboot.
And a trailer for the new show has fans speculating that the Janitor can be seen in a painting on the walls of Sacred Heart Hospital, to the right of Dr. Kelso’s picture.
The picture isn’t clear in screen-grabs, but it does look like Janitor actor Neil Flynn, and one Redditor reckons it “makes sense for the portraits to be the only two regular cast members not returning.”
Another suggests he’s in a suit because: “Plot twist is the janitor has always been the hospital director or something and has been doing an ‘undercover boss’ thing.”
While the suit has another fan speculating: “It would be an epic twist, if it were to be revealed that Janitor was an eccentric billionaire who owned the hospital, and that’s why he was always there, doing relatively nothing actually practical cleaning wise, instead getting up to mischief.”
But if the painting is of the Janitor, the majority of responses claim it’s his fake medical guise of “Dr. Jan Itor.”
One Redditor says “Best I can do it Dr. Jan Itor.” Another claims “It looks like Jan Itor to me.” While a third reckons “Dr Jan Itor is just the new hospital president.”
The original gag was supposed to be that the Janitor is a figment of JD’s imagination, but that was quickly binned in favor of the hate being real.
But maybe the Janitor makes JD’s life a misery throughout the reboot, but just off-camera, and seemingly in his head, only for the big reveal to happen in those unwritten final episodes that Zach Braff alluded to.
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