donald faison’s Scrubs revival is planning a Johnny Kastl return in Season 2, with Aseem Batra saying Dr. Doug Murphy is slotted for one of the last two episodes. Kastl would be back in acting for the first time since 2009, after leaving with an eight-episode arc and moving into law and business.
Season 2 and Episode 8
Aseem Batra said, "That that is my plan" when asked about Kastl reprising Dr. Doug Murphy. She added, "We’ll see how it all shakes up but we’re writing two more [episodes], and we have him planned in one of those last two." That puts the return inside a 10-episode second season that is already moving toward an Episode 8 table read this week, with filming set to follow.
Johnny Kastl since 2009
Johnny Kastl quit acting in 2009 after wrapping his eight-episode arc on Scrubs to go to law school, and he has since worked as an attorney and business executive. He was most recently VP of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships for Acorn Finance. For a revival built around old dynamics, that makes his planned return more than nostalgia: it is a cast move that reaches back to the original series and forward to a much tighter season format.
Neil Flynn, Scott Foley
In April, Batra said, "Well, we’ve got Johnny Kastl, we’ve got Scott Foley, we would love to have him back, and, of course, Ken Jenkins" and also said, "We want to see more of Neil Flynn." Neil Flynn’s return as The Janitor for multiple episodes was later in July after his Season 1 finale appearance, and in August Deadline reported that Scott Foley will reprise Sean Kelly next season.
Batra said, "We wanted the fun of those dynamics again, he and J.D. have such a fun dynamic of not liking each other, but it’s like, have they grown a little? What’s going on there?" She also said, "We look for chemistry in our cast, and they’ve always had great chemistry with Scott Foley," while Sarah Chalke said, "The writers were like, ‘How do we bring back Elliot’s neuroses?’"
The short version is that Season 2 is not trying to rebuild the whole original run; it is choosing a few specific relationships and compressing them into 10 episodes. Kastl is in the plan, not yet in the cut, and that is the part to watch as filming moves ahead after the Episode 8 read.
