John C McGinley says he’s confident about bigger roll in next season of Scrubs

One of the biggest surprises of 2026 so far is just how good the new series of Scrubs is, given that we live in a time of reboots and relaunchses were studios and writers either don’t know or don’t care what fans really want from a legacy show.

But Scrubs, to sound cliched, kinda feels like a warm hug for fans, giving us everything we loved about the original series and giving us actual character development as well as the laughter and tears, often at the same time, that made the original just so damned good.

However, one of my only complaints about the new series is the little screen time given to my (and many others’) favourite character, Dr Cox, played by the always brilliant John C McGinley.

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“There’s been a big outcry, that’s very flattering,” McGinley says of the fans wondering where he is in the new series.

From here on, there be spoilers…

At the start of the new series, Cox brought back JD, played by Zach Braff, to become the new Chief of Medicine and then he pretty much disappeared, leaving JD in the role he had filled for so many years. However, in the most recent episode, Cox is back and this time he’s not a doctor, but a patient suffering from an autoimmune disorder called microscopic polyangiitis.

McGinley, for the first time, gets to play Perry Cox not at the always-in-control Dr Cox, but as a scared patient turning to his doctor for help.

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“Every once in a blue moon, he opens up and that sternum cracks, and we see that heart beating underneath,” McGinley says of his character,“And the scene with Zachy [Braff] in the third act when I say, ‘Yeah, I want you to be my doctor, I was trying to protect you from this but yes, you’re what I wrought. Now it’s time.’

“I got very upset between ‘action’ and ‘cut,’ organically as the character. It didn’t catch me off guard, but it felt like, okay, I must have been carrying this stuff for a long time.”

Ok, but will we see more for Perry in the almost certainly happening next season? “I think that Cox will come back a lot more in Season 2,” the actor says.

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He goes on about the hero’s journey, in this case, the hero being JD, and what it means for Cox moving forward: “I don’t know if you remember Joe Campbell and his exploration of myth and the structure of myth. I think Zach’s character as the hero in this three-act tale, as it pertains to Joe Campbell, the hero needs consequences and a threat and jeopardy, and […] that jeopardy is Cox, however [showrunner] Billy [Lawrence] writes it, I think Cox will be more thickly woven into the tapestry of Season 2.”

I loved Scubs back in the day and now, as a grown man with a family and responsibilities and the looming uncertainty of middle-age knocking at the door, I love the new series almost as much and with the new role for McGinley’s Perry Cox in the show, I can’t wait to see how it pans out and how Scrubs continues to bring us joy and sorrow in a way that all-too-often hits a little too close to home.

Long live Dr Cox, and I can’t wait to see more of him next season.

Thoughts, I know you have them, and I wanna hear ’em all.

See you Wednesday, fam pic.twitter.com/yTmKblQzjD

— Scrubs (@scrubsabc) April 12, 2026

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Source: Dexerto