Why New Girl's Cast Thinks Their Characters Would Thrive During A Pandemic
It's been five long years since the loft was cleared out, and that "New Girl" Jess (Zooey Deschanel), along with the rest of her roommates, left it and some incredible episodes behind. It's ironic then, that after looking back on the show, the creator and cast of the hit sitcom believe their legendary spot and the group's roommate situation would've made living through a pandemic no problem at all.
Speaking on a reunion hosted by Variety, "New Girl" creator Elizabeth Meriwether explained that a lockdown would've been manageable for Jessica Day and her pals, given that most of their antics took place within the loft. "Our show was essentially about five people who never left their house and all hung out together, so I think our characters would actually be pretty happy just hanging out," theorized Meriwether. However, there was one exception to the group that she thinks might not have made it all the way to the other side — intermittent star and roommate Coach, played by Damon Wayans Jr. "But then somebody would die, maybe. Probably Damon would die."
Of course, having spent seven years in their respective roles, Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, Hannah Simone, and Lamorne Morris all had solid predictions as to where their "New Girl" counterparts would be when the world was forced to stay indoors. Surprisingly none of them involved recurring games of "True American" or watching a bizarre puppet show, "Poppycock Palace," on a loop.
The pandemic was Winston's biggest prank ever, according to the New Girl cast
The first thought from Elizabeth Meriwether was that Schmidt (Max Greenfield) would have things under control all day — until he didn't. Since he had already locked down the loft once before in Season 5, Episode 13, putting Cece (Hannah Simone) and Nick (Jake Johnson) together when they got a bug, the pandemic would be nothing new for him. "He would become like the leader of like cleaning the whole place and like, you know, just really bossing everybody around about what to do," she explained. "And that Nick would be like really afraid of getting it, and then ultimately, Schmidt would get it."
From there, the conversation broke down what the gang would be doing to pass the time, with the attention turning to a high commodity at the time — toilet paper. Lamorne Morris suggested that his character, Winston, would naturally use the situation as an opportunity for pranks, which would predictably escalate beyond control, as is typical for him. Morris said, "He's been selling toilet paper that gives people COVID. That's his biggest prank."
As for Cece, who in Meriwether's eyes was always the smartest of the bunch, Simone confirmed "I [Cece] knew I was immune, I was fine," but would still get involved in lewd and outrageous acts with her douchebag jar-filling husband. "I would imagine there's some weird Schmidt/Cece sex thing with various N95 masks, but then we would end up cutting it." A sex thing to outdo "The Captain"? Unthinkable.