It’s turtle time for Judy Reyes…

The 54-year-old Dominican American former Scrubs star will appear in New Line’s film adaptation of John Green’s #1 NY Times best seller Turtles All the Way Down for HBO Max.

Turtles All the Way Down tackles anxiety through its 17-year-old protagonist, Aza Holmes (played by Isabela Merced).

Reyes will play Gina, the mother of Aza. Cree Cicchino and Felix Mallard also star. It’s not easy being Aza, but she’s trying… trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, and a good student, all while navigating an endless barrage of invasive, obsessive thoughts that she cannot control. When she reconnects with Davis, her childhood crush, Aza is confronted with fundamental questions about her potential for love, happiness, friendship, and hope in the face of her mental illness.

New Line/HBO Max picked up the project from Fox 2000 when that division closed; the project being ripe for the streamer’s devotion to YA fare, i.e. the new Gossip Girl, The Sex Lives of College Girls, and the upcoming Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.

Green’s Turtles All the Way Down is his follow-up to his hit novel The Fault in Our Stars, which was a big YA movie in 2014 for 20th Century Fox and Temple Hill, making over $307M WW.

Reyes played Carla on the TV series Scrubs, Zoila on Lifetime’s Devious Maids, and Quiet Ann on the hit TNT series Claws.

Upcoming for Reyes is the Paramount Players’ horror film Something’s Wrong Rose.

Recent film credits include Netflix’s All Together Now, The Circle and Gun Hill Road. Recurring roles include Eva on HBO’s smash hit Succession, Lala on FX’s Better Things, Ramona on Netflix’s One Day at a Time, Deb on the TBS series Search Party and Irene Vega on Bravo’s Dirty John.

Reyes has worked extensively in television, theater, and film for the last 20 years and remains a founding member of NYC’s Labyrinth Theater Company.

She is executive-producing the animated video series LaGolda, which tackles a variety of social and environmental issues through the sport of soccer and is sponsored by UnitedHealthcare’s “Do Good. Live Well.” initiative.