Scrubs just introduced a new development in J.D. and Elliot’s relationship after an offscreen split — and a surprise shakeup.
“I don’t know what the writers have planned at all,” Sarah Chalke, who plays Elliot, exclusively told Us. “I genuinely don’t. I’m not just not spoiling. I actually don’t know the answer to that question, but I definitely hope that we get to do more episodes to find out.”
During the Wednesday, November 4, episode of the ABC show, J.D. (Zach Braff) invited Elliot out to dinner, which turned into them discussing a reconciliation. They returned home to their son — and the scene was ultimately revealed to be a fantasy sequence in J.D.’s mind.
“[If J.D. had asked Elliot out], I think she would have said yes. I don’t know that she would have thought that’s what he had meant going into it. We’re just starting to see them as they’ve repaired [things] and they’ve figured it out,” the actress, 50, told Us. “They’re crushing it in the coparenting world and working together and really care about each other and are supportive of each other and have figured out a way to make it work.”
However, Chalke is keeping an open mind about what comes next, adding, “With J.D. having returned to the hospital, he’s getting his old spark back and is his old self. That’s who she fell in love with. So it definitely leaves room for them to start to question.”
She continued: “But I thought the way in this episode was so smart. I thought it was brilliant of having J.D.’s patient struggling with dementia and him going up onto the ceiling to join her and to comfort her. Then we get to go into his mind for a much longer fantasy sequence than you ever get on the show.”
Scrubs, which originally aired from 2001 to 2010, followed the lives of employees at the fictional teaching hospital Sacred Heart. The original series ended with J.D. and Elliot as a married couple, but the revival shook up their relationship.
“I was really excited about the jumping-off point. It was so smart to not have them starting off in a marriage raising their kids,” Chalke recalled. “There’s so much more room for comedy and for drama if they’re divorced and then having to work in the same hospital. Then I assumed, with it being Scrubs, that there would be some different twists and turns with their relationship.”
Looking ahead, Chalke is keeping an open mind when it comes to Elliot’s love life — especially now that Sean (Scott Foley) isn’t an open after he started dating J.D.’s girlfriend, Charlie (Rachel Bilson).
“[She needs] somebody like Scott, who can bring out the excitement in Elliot, which turns into physical comedy; [it] would definitely be my favorite because that is personally my favorite thing to do,” she shared. “It was so fun to get to do all of that again.”
Scrubs airs on ABC Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET and streams on Hulu the next day.
