John Higgins Joins Scrubs Revival Season 2 as New Chief Resident Grant
John Higgins, who left NBC's Saturday Night Live in summer 2025 to focus on acting, has landed a major recurring role on the second season of ABC's Scrubs revival. He will play Grant, the new Chief Resident — a character designed to get under J.D. Dorian's skin the same way J.D. once needled his mentor, Dr. Cox. Deadline
The casting news surfaced at D23's "Scrubs: Scrubbing Back" panel, moderated by Scott Foley, where series star Donald Faison alluded to Higgins joining the show. The panel featured original cast members Zach Braff (J.D. Dorian), Faison (Christopher Turk) and Sarah Chalke (Elliot Reid), along with showrunner and executive producer Aseem Batra.
Foley himself is returning to the revival for season 2, reprising his role as Sean Kelly. The cast changes do not stop there. Ava Bunn, who plays intern Tosh, has been promoted from recurring to series regular, putting her alongside Braff, Faison and Chalke. Keyla Monterroso Mejia joins as recurring surgical nurse Mimi. Two season-one cast members will not be back: X Mayo (nurse Raymond) and Joel Kim Booster (Dr. Kevin Park) did not return for the second season.
For Higgins, the Scrubs role sits inside a fast-moving post-SNL career. He co-wrote, starred in and executive produced the 2023 film "Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain," directed by Paul Briganti and produced by Judd Apatow. He has a recurring role on season 2 of Apple TV+'s comedy "Stick," starring and executive produced by Owen Wilson, and an upcoming part in the Netflix film "Bad Day," directed by Jake Szymanski and starring Cameron Diaz. Higgins is represented by WME, Mosaic and Ziffren Brittenham.
The Scrubs revival is produced by 20th Television, part of Disney Television Studios. Original series creator Bill Lawrence serves as executive producer through his Doozer Productions banner alongside Jeff Ingold, Liza Katzer, Batra and the three original leads. Season 2 returns to ABC on Wednesday, 30 September, with episodes streaming on Hulu the next day.
