ABC’s Scrubs has locked in its Season 2 cast, and the clearest change is Ava Bunn’s rise from recurring player to series regular. At the same time, Joel Kim Booster will not return as Dr. Park and X Mayo will not come back as Charge Nurse Raymond.
The move gives Season 2 a sharper shape just as the revival is settling into its next run. Zach Braff, Donald Faison and Sarah Chalke are back as series regulars, while Neil Flynn and Rachel Bilson are getting more screen time after both played limited roles in the first season of the revival.
Flynn was only in the Season 1 finale for a couple of scenes, but he will recur in Season 2 alongside Bilson, whose character Charlie will have a multi-episode arc. That arc also fits the show’s broader plan to keep pushing the personal side of the ensemble; in April, Aseem Batra said the show wanted to show more of the interns’ family life and home life, and said Bilson’s return would help explore what feelings that stirs up for Elliot and J.D.
Not every returning face is getting the same treatment. Jacob Dudman, David Gridley, Layla Mohammadi and Amanda Morrow will continue to recur, John C. McGinley and Judy Reyes are back in recurring roles, and Robert Maschio, Vanessa Bayer and Michael James Scott are also set to recur. But Andy Ridings is not listed as a recurring or guest star, even though sources have said a Wes return is possible.
That leaves Season 2 with a cast that is fuller in some places and thinner in others. The promotion for Bunn signals the revival’s confidence in its newer players, while the exits of Park and Charge Nurse Raymond show that the ensemble is still being trimmed to fit what the show wants to do next. The remaining question is not whether Season 2 has a cast — it does — but how much room it can make for the characters who are still hanging in the balance.
