When “Scrubs” creator Bill Lawrence decided last season to kill off Nurse Laverne Roberts — one of the show’s key supporting characters — he made a promise to actress Aloma Wright, reports Variety.
Should “Scrubs” return for a seventh season, he told Wright, she could don a new wig and play Laverne’s twin sister, Shirley.
When Lawrence first plotted Nurse Roberts’ death, he was pretty certain that “Scrubs” was in its final year. Mapping out the final year’s storylines, he decided the death of a series regular would help shake things up.
A seventh season wasn’t assured until the weekend before the upfront presentations last month, when NBC narrowly opted to renew “Scrubs” for one last year. Now, Lawrence is keeping his promise, and Wright has been given the opportunity to play a character who’s the polar opposite of the spiritually minded Laverne: a single, alcoholic woman who shuns religion.
