J.D.’s personal life has gotten a little more complicated in the “Scrubs” revival, but according to showrunner Aseem Batra, the answer to how many kids he has is actually pretty simple.
During the original run of “Scrubs,” J.D. and Kim Briggs (played by Elizabeth Banks) welcomed a son, Sam, in Season 7, Episode 2 (originally airing November 1, 2007). Sam very much still exists in the revival timeline.
What’s new is the introduction of another son. In the Season 10 premiere, J.D. revealed that, since we’d last seen him, he had taken a job as a concierge doctor so he could spend more time with his “kids,” plural, suggesting that he and Elliot had a child together sometime after the original series ended.
That child is finally named in Season 10, Episode 4, when J.D. mentions that he has Ollie “next weekend,” adding that he recently built his son a bunk bed.
For longtime fans, the moment raises a few questions — particularly because the much-maligned ninth season of “Scrubs,” which the revival has largely ignored, previously established that J.D. and Elliot were expecting their first child together.
According to Batra, however, the current canon is straightforward: J.D. has two sons — Sam (with Kim) and Ollie (with Elliot). And because the revival disregards Season 9 — not to mention J.D. recently built Ollie a bunk bed — it’s safe to assume he was born well after that med school year.
Why We Haven’t Met J.D.’s Kids Yet
If you were hoping the revival would introduce Sam and Ollie on screen, you may need to wait a little longer.
According to Batra, the writers did explore including moments with J.D.’s kids during the revival’s first season, but those beats ultimately didn’t make it into the final version of the story.
“In these nine, we had put some in and then ended up cutting for time,” she tells TVLine.
Part of that decision came down to the creative focus of the revival. With only nine episodes to reestablish the world of “Scrubs,” the writers wanted to prioritize life inside Sacred Heart.
“Being able to bring people back into this world of the hospital was extremely important to [original series creator] Bill [Lawrence],” Batra explains. The goal, she adds, was to avoid making the show feel “somehow split between like a family show and a medical show. It’s kind of like ‘Everybody Loves Raymond.’ It’s not about the kids.”
That may have been “an over-correction,” Batra admits, but it was a deliberate one.
If and when Sam is introduced, however, the showrunner says she’d also love to bring back Elizabeth Banks’ Kim and Scott Foley’s Sean, J.D. and Elliot’s respective exes who were in a committed relationship the last time we saw them in Season 8.
“Both Elizabeth and Scott, we would love, love, love,” Batra says. “That’s on our wish list of stuff to do [in future seasons].”
