This ‘Scrubs’ Character Perfectly Foreshadowed Another Bill Lawrence Show 18 Years Before It Released

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Now that Scrubs is back, people are exploring other shows created by Bill Lawrence, and they’re noticing a cool connection between the popular medical comedy and his other work. Since the Scrubs revival premiered a few weeks ago, fans have been talking about which characters from the original series didn’t return. Bill Lawrence often uses the same actors in different shows, and it’s a pattern viewers are picking up on.

A great example of this interconnectedness is Crista Milla, who plays Jordan Sullivan in Scrubs and Liz Bishop in Shrinking. Creator Bill Lawrence has a history of fun crossovers – like the character Ted Buckland appearing in both Cougar Town and Scrubs – and even introduced a bizarre multiverse storyline in Scrubs. Now that Shrinking is airing, fans revisiting older episodes of Scrubs are noticing hints and foreshadowing of the new show within the original series.

Are the Janitor in ‘Scrubs’ and Raymond in ‘Shrinking’ the Same Person?

Neil Flynn, a well-known comedic actor, has appeared in multiple shows with Jason Segel. He’s famous for playing the Janitor in Scrubs and now stars as Raymond, a former patient and friend of Paul’s, in Shrinking. Fans are thrilled he’ll reprise his role as the Janitor in the upcoming Scrubs revival, as the character is a beloved part of the show. The Janitor is particularly remembered for his outrageous lies and the many different personalities he’d adopt while wandering the halls of Sacred Heart Hospital. During the original run of Scrubs, he pretended to be everything from a British man named Nigel and a German man named Klaus, to the Chief of Medicine and even his own twin brother, Dr. Jan Itor.

There’s a curious detail in a Scrubs episode that hints the Janitor might be connected to the character Ray from Shrinking. During a conversation with J.D., the Janitor casually offers the number of a therapist, specifically mentioning he knows the therapist and thinks he’s “good” – suggesting the Janitor himself has been in therapy. Shrinking reveals Ray has been seeing Paul, his therapist, for years, and they’ve even become friends. This connection raises the possibility that the Janitor and Ray are the same person.

It’s probably no coincidence that the creator of Scrubs, Bill Lawrence, might have already been envisioning Shrinking back in 2007 when the episode “My Own Worst Enemy” first aired. This raises the interesting possibility that Neil Flynn’s characters, Ray and the Janitor, are actually the same person. The Janitor is known for his exaggerated and diverse personas, but what if those are all just different sides of his personality? Ray seems more reserved, which could simply be his true self.

As a huge fan, I’ve been thinking a lot about Ray and why he’d even need Paul. Could it be something deeper, like Ray having a compulsion to constantly pretend to be someone else? Or maybe, just maybe, the writers could explore the idea of dissociative identity disorder. But then I remembered the Season 8 finale and that little scene with the Janitor in Season 9 – if we’re taking that as canon – and it hit me: what if Ray never really got over J.D. leaving? Maybe he’s still seeing Paul all these years because he’s secretly heartbroken about losing his best friend. It would be a really interesting angle to explore!

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Bill Lawrence, the creator of shows like Scrubs, Shrinking, and the upcoming season of Ted Lasso, has been very productive. Now would be a great time for him to reveal that all of his shows exist within the same universe. Some fans believe a later storyline in Scrubs changes the meaning of a Cougar Town cameo, and the absence of a certain actor due to his passing means that character won’t return. This could open the door for Lawrence to connect his shows again, potentially using Neil Flynn’s character, who appears in both Shrinking and Scrubs.

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2026-03-07 21:34