It’s been seven years since New Girl ended and fans said goodbye to Jess, Nick and the rest of their beloved (and often dysfunctional) friend group.
The Fox series premiered in September 2011, introducing viewers to quirky teacher Jess (Zooey Deschanel), who goes through a bad breakup and moves into a Los Angeles loft with three single guys: Nick (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.). Over seven seasons, the crew of 30-somethings — along with Cece (Hannah Simone) and Winston (Lamorne Morris) — shared countless unforgettable moments, culminating in a May 2018 series finale that featured a flash-forward into their future.
Despite ending its run, the show has experienced a resurgence, thanks to its availability on multiple streaming platforms. During a November 2024 conversation with PEOPLE, Greenfield credited the series’ lasting popularity to it being the “perfect binge show.”
When asked about whether or not there would ever be an on-screen reunion, Johnson said that he thinks the cast “all would if the right thing came.”
From the characters’ inspirations to the rules of “True American,” here are 15 behind-the-scenes facts you probably didn’t know about New Girl.
The show’s working title was ‘Chicks and Dicks’
Before it was New Girl, the sitcom was originally titled Chicks & Dicks, a name that almost led Deschanel to pass on reading the script, per Glamour.
“I knew [Chicks & Dicks] wouldn’t remain, but there’s so many pilots during any given pilot season that it’s nice to have a title that catches people’s attention,” show creator, writer and director Liz Meriwether told the outlet.
Even when it was changed to New Girl, Meriwether wasn’t completely sold on the idea.
“Looking back, having the word ‘girl’ in the title made it hard,” she said. “A lot of men liked the show, but it definitely made it harder for us to ring in the male audience at first. The show was just as much about guys as about a girl.”
Meriwether added, “It ended up working, I guess!”
Zooey Deschanel wrote the theme song
After watching a few episodes of the sitcom, there’s a good chance one catchy line from the theme song is still playing in your head: “Who’s that girl? It’s Jess!”
As it turns out, the tune was written by the actress herself, who is also a professional singer in the band She & Him.
“Melodically, I wanted it to feel catchy … like a little ear worm,” she told Entertainment Weekly in January 2022. “I grew up watching Nick at Nite, and there was Mary Tyler Moore [and] That Girl, that era of theme songs and a girl making it on her own. That’s what we always thought Jess was thinking when she has this in her head.”
‘New Girl’ was not meant to be “Adorkable”
In the early days of New Girl, the show became almost synonymous with the tagline “Adorkable,” which was used as a selling point.
“The marketing really worked. We really came out of the gate with amazing numbers, but it was never what the show was,” Meriwether told Glamour, adding that she didn’t intend for it to be a “cute” project.
“I honestly think because Jess wore glasses, they needed to make this the marketing campaign,” she said. “It definitely was difficult for me because it wasn’t the show I’d dreamed of. I had always seen the show as just weird people in L.A. living together.”
The writers wanted Schmidt to be reminiscent of a ‘Jersey Shore’ star
Though Schmidt was a beloved character to many, it’s no secret that he could also be a jerk at times. During her conversation with Glamour, Meriwether admitted that she actually wrote the character as a sort of a “Jersey Shore member.”
“He was just this very sleazy, idiot character, and Max came in with this amazing take on it,” she said. “He wanted Schmidt to be a good character, and he played him as someone that was actually insecure. The character got so much deeper and more interesting when he came in to do that audition.”
Writers intentionally kept character names short
Names became a funny mystery in New Girl (read: remember when it took several seasons to find out that Schmidt’s name was actually Winston?). When it came to the character of Jess, there were a few things Meriwether was keeping in mind.
“I wanted the character to be this indefatigable optimist,” the writer told Glamour.
“Also, there’s this writers’ trick where you keep names short because it helps you with the page count,” she continued, adding that she wanted to keep them “short and sweet” while also sounding “different.”
Jess’ character was partially inspired by Diane Keaton
During a February 2013 conversation with The New York Times, Meriwether revealed that Jess’ character drew inspiration from multiple figures, including Oscar winner Diane Keaton.
“She’s so massively, heart-wrenchingly funny, and she is never just playing one thing. Whenever we get criticized that the Jess character is too this or too that, I think about Diane Keaton,” she said. “Funny women aren’t feminist symbols.”
The creator added that she also “fell in love” with Tamsin Greig, the lead character of the British series Green Wing.
The idea for Schmidt’s “rebranding party” came from one of the writer’s friends
In the season 2 premiere, Schmidt throws himself a “rebranding” party to celebrate his penis cast being removed.
Meriwether told The New York Times that the idea of it “came from a true story” she heard from a friend.
Jake Johnson was originally asked to lose 15 lbs. to play Nick Miller
Throughout the series, Johnson’s character’s weight is referenced.
“After the episode where I had to dance naked to Jamaican music, every fourth line was about Nick having bad metabolism or eating too many cookies,” the actor told the Advocate in October 2012.
During an August 2020 episode on the Thirst Aid Kit podcast, Johnson said the network initially asked him to lose 10 to 15 lbs. after landing the role.
The actor said he wasn’t “offended,” but “almost started crying” because he was on his way to a celebratory meal at a Mexican restaurant.
He attempted to restrict his diet throughout the first season, but had a moment where he said to himself, “F— it. I’m done.”
“Once I was in the show and it got established, they can’t fire me for being chubby,” he said. “Once Liz made a joke about it and Max Greenfield hit the joke and everybody laughed, I think everybody at the network could exhale and say, ‘Great, Nick Miller can be the chubby guy. God bless.’ ”
Lamorne Morris went through 15 auditions before being cast as Winston — but he originally wanted to play Coach
It’s hard to imagine any other actor playing Winston other than Morris, but as he told Backstage in June 2020, he actually auditioned for the role of Coach.
“I went in so weird,” he said. “In the scene, he was wearing jeggings and a halter top, they were at a Halloween party or something, and I came to the audition dressed that way. I put a bunch of Vaseline on my legs or something stupid, which is a no-no, don’t do that.”
Though he was turned down for the role, he was asked to come back in, with a particular note. “Don’t wear what you wore before, it was too distracting,” Morris recalled.
Per iHeart Radio, Morris went through 15 auditions. While Wayans Jr. was cast as Coach, Morris later landed the role of Winston.
Writers thought Zooey Deschanel and Jake Johnson had too much chemistry at first
If you thought Jess and Nick’s chemistry throughout the show was sometimes palpable, you’re not alone.
During a February 2022 episode of the Welcome to Our Show podcast, Morris asked Deschanel about her relationship with Johnson in the early days of the show, saying, “Is it true that there was so much chemistry between you and Jake in the beginning that you guys couldn’t be in the same shot together?”
While their romance had its ups and downs throughout the show, Deschanel confirmed that writers didn’t want them too close in the beginning.
“I remember them saying that,” she recalled. “They were like, ‘Listen, you guys have such great chemistry. This is a series, we have to play this out over time, and we don’t want to put you guys in the same storylines together.’ “
There aren’t any official rules to “True American”
Sorry, New Girl fans! It might not be so easy to recreate the infamous “True American” game, as there are no official rules.
“We were all reading the script and it said, ‘Now they all play a drinking game,’ ” Johnson told E! News in April 2012. “And I think it was Lamorne who finally said, ‘What are the rules to True American’? And [the writers] go, ‘To be perfectly honest, we’re not sure.’ ”
He continued, “There’s a lot of flaws in the logic of the game. So in terms of the rules of playing it, you just have to get drunk and yell presidents and throw beer in corners. That’s it.”
Prince was a fan of ‘New Girl’ and asked to be a guest star
New Girl has had plenty of notable guests, from Taylor Swift and Quinta Brunson to Prince and Olivia Rodrigo (before she rose to fame!).
In January 2014, executive producer Brett Baer told E! News that the “Purple Rain” singer actually asked to appear on the show because he was a “huge fan.”
“He knows everything about the show. He contacted Zooey [Deschanel] and Hannah [Simone] directly and asked to do the show,” Baer explained, while executive producer Dave Finkel added that the musician had specific requests for his role.
“He said, ‘I want to be involved in the show in a real way and I want to help Nick and Jess with their relationship,’ ” Finkel recounted. “His thing was all about getting to Jess and trying to bring out this inner part of her that hadn’t been brought to the forefront.”
He added, “The word hip tips was sort of the thing. He put it, ‘I think I can give her some hip tips!’ “
Lamorne Morris was allergic to Winston’s cat Ferguson
A central aspect of Winston’s character was his relationship with his Exotic Shorthair cat, Ferguson. But as it turns out, the actor was allergic to cats.
“It was beyond just taking meds I’ll tell you that much,” Morris told E! News in February 2022. “There were a lot of things we had to go through in order for me to work with Ferguson.”
As he explained, writers didn’t know about Morris’ allergies when they wrote Ferguson in — but they couldn’t turn back once they saw fans’ reactions.
“Right out the gate, fans immediately loved Ferguson,” he said. “So it was like, I can’t switch to a cat that I’m not allergic to. I think we tried in some episodes, like we played with the idea of other animals, [but] Ferguson is king.”
The show’s final season almost didn’t happen
A lot of story lines came together in the final season of New Girl — but it almost didn’t happen. During his appearance on the Thirst Aid Kit podcast, Johnson said that the network nearly axed a seventh season.
“Fox was being pretty cool and saying like, ‘We don’t want to cancel you, but nobody’s watching,’ ” Johnson said, adding that he and Deschanel “wrote an email to the heads [of Fox and 20th Century TV] asking for more, for the few OG fans who stayed with us.”
The actor continued, “You can’t end the way season six ended where it was rushed. I was like, ‘Give Liz Meriwether the time to finish this right!’ ”
Jake Johnson came up with the character Tran
As much as people shipped Nick’s relationship with Jess, fans also adored his friendship with Tran (Ralph Ahn). Though he rarely spoke throughout his few appearances on the show, Tran humorously provided a listening ear to Nick in the park on several occasions, mostly using facial expressions and body language.
During a November 2014 conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Meriwether revealed that it was not an “easy” decision to bring Ahn on as a recurring character and noted that it was actually Johnson who came up with the idea.
“He texted me about it,” she explained. “Going into this year, I think one of the writers in the retreat pitched his granddaughter being a love interest. But Jake also wanted to do something like that.”
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