Scrubs’ JD & Elliot Relationship Bombshell Explained

The creator and stars of the new Scrubs reboot opened up about one of the revival’s most surprising developments regarding JD (Zach Braff) and Elliot (Sarah Chalke).

In the Scrubs season 8 finale, JD envisioned a future where he and Elliot were married. And, in the controversial ninth season of the flagship show, it was confirmed that the on-again, off-again couple had tied the knot (although many fans wanted to forget that season entirely). However, in the first episode of the revival, which takes place nearly two decades after the original show, it is revealed that the two have since divorced.

In an interview with Deadline, series creator Bill Lawrence stated that the decision to separate the fan favorite couple was because he wanted to showcase the unpredictability of adulthood. While the original Scrubs ended on an optimistic note for JD, giving him a future where his personal and professional lives are finally aligned, the revival takes a more grounded approach. Lawrence explained that he wanted to drive home the fact that, in reality, life is rarely as picture-perfect as the way the previous series ended.

Lawrence added that the decision to have the characters break up was not one that was made lightly. He explained how the creative team was initially hesitant about it. However, at the end of the day, they ultimately decided that revisiting JD and Elliot’s relationship as co-parents instead of a happily married couple would offer more storylines.

Here’s the scoop. The eighth year [of Scrubs] ends with, just once I’d like to believe my dreams came true. We all felt that way, and not to be dark about the world but, even though I’m very grateful about how my life has gone, not everything works out the way you want it to work out.

I’m a huge believer in writing what you know and what you see. Our showrunner [Aseem Batra] — she said I was allowed to talk about this — is someone that, when I left Scrubs, was married and was having a young child, and now is a single parent, co-raising that child with somebody. That doesn’t mean that it’s acrimonious, and that doesn’t mean that it’s his own journey. I’m sure you have the same experience, some people in your lives work out, some don’t.

I was really resistant at first, and the one thing those guys all drove home to me, they’re like, if you watch the 9,000 episodes of Scrubs, you would say, Turk and Carla are going to make it. And then you would go, I don’t think J.D. and Elliot have had more than an episode and a half, they seemed like a functioning couple.

So it’s a good storytelling device. It doesn’t mean that their story is over, but it certainly is something that adults have to navigate all the time.

The actors behind the now-divorced couple themselves also chimed in on how they felt about JD and Elliot’s marriage ending. Chalke said that she wasn’t upset at all by it. The actor even said that she thought it was a great idea. She explained how this would allow the show to have a lot more drama and comedic moments. She added that one of the most entertaining things about the two characters in the original Scrubs was how they were always breaking up and getting back together, which wouldn’t really work if they were married.

I was not disappointed, I thought it was great. I thought it was the best way in because obviously, there’s so much more opportunity for comedy and drama when you have two people that are not just fine and happily married and getting along. I think it opens up more possibilities for their storylines. And also in the original run, we had so much of, they’re together, and then they break up. We had a lot of fun playing that in the original Scrubs, so, to do it in this iteration, I thought it was the best way to create conflict, and we had a good time.

Braff stated that the finale of season 8, the version that most fans who hated Scrubs season 9 believe to be the final chapter, the montage it ended on showed JD’s idea of what his happily ever after looked like. He also echoed Lawrence’s sentiments about how, in real life, things don’t always work out the way people would like them to, and divorces are incredibly common. He also explained how this would shake things up and add more contrast to the show, as Turk (Donald Faison) and Carla (Judy Reyes) from the original series are happily married.

And also to make it real. What J.D. sees projected on the sheet at the end of Season 8 is what he hopes and dreams will happen. But that doesn’t necessarily come true, especially when you’re 50 years old. Things that you didn’t want to happen, happen. Some marriages fail, some don’t.

You have the contrast with Turk and Carla, where they’re as happily married as ever compared to us, who are learning now to co-parent and eventually work together. So I think it was a good way of also showing a wide array of how marriages can turn out in midlife.

Scrubs airs new episodes every Wednesday at 8:00 PM ET and 5:00 PM PT on ABC.