Judy Reyes, who has played Nurse Carla Espinosa on all seven season of Scrubs, announced that she will be leaving the series after next season. She joins lead Zach Braff, who has also said the upcoming eighth season will be his last. Scrubs spent its first seven seasons of existence on NBC, but will make the move to ABC this season, a rare move, but a welcome one for Scrubs fans – the show was supposed to be finished after its seventh season. Of course, there are no guarantees that there will be a ninth season, though Scrubs creator and show runner Bill Lawrence has expressed his desire to keep the show alive past the eighth season, despite possibly losing a number of characters. Reyes is looking to check out some film roles or head to Broadway in her post-Scrubs career.
In addition to Braff, Reyes said in an interview that Bill Lawrence will be leaving the series as well after season eight. Scrubs will be introducing a slew of new characters this season, mainly interns, who ABC hopes will be able to continue on and be integral parts of future seasons. With Reyes’ intention to leave the series, it also puts a question mark over the future of Donald Faison, who plays Christopher Turk, Carla’s husband. Can Turk continue on Scrubs without Carla? Probably not, unless Scrubs kills Carla off (I doubt they’d have the two divorce).
With Braff leaving, a ninth season will have to also find a new narrator and main character. It could be one of the interns, it could be Sarah Chalke’s Elliot Reid, or it could be Turk. There has been no word yet on Faison’s or John C. McGinley’s plans for the future. Scrubs, if there is to be a ninth season, will have to begin planning for it at some point in the upcoming eighth season. To endure wholesale cast changes, a show has to plant the seeds for the future main characters and give the audience a reason to come back after their favorite characters have gone.
Scrubs’ eighth season will likely premiere in December or January.
-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: Bloomberg.com
(Image Courtesy of NBC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
