New Girl Reunion Gets Brutal Reality Check From Show’s Creator

For New Girl fans who thought Schmidt had accidentally revealed a secret reunion, creator Liz Meriwether has some disappointing news.

There is no secret reunion.

There are not even scripts.

Meriwether has directly contradicted the excitement created by Max Greenfield, who previously claimed he had seen “amazing” scripts for a potential return of the beloved Fox comedy.

Asked about the revival speculation, Meriwether gave Variety an answer that leaves very little room for interpretation:

There are no scripts.

Max Greenfield Started This

The confusion began in July when Greenfield appeared on Today with Jenna & Sheinelle.

Greenfield, who played Schmidt throughout the sitcom’s seven-season run, spoke as though a reunion was much further along than fans realized.

He said that, as far as he knew, it was happening.

Even more explosively, he said he had seen scripts and thought they were excellent.

That was enough.

Fans immediately began imagining Jess, Nick, Schmidt, Cece and Winston back together.

There was only one problem.

The woman who created the show apparently had not written those scripts.

Liz Meriwether Has Been Enjoying the Confusion

Meriwether initially responded with humor.

She posted a tongue-in-cheek video pretending the cast had all begun giving her endless notes about imaginary reunion scripts.

Now she has clarified the situation directly.

There are no actual scripts.

She joked that the ongoing social-media back-and-forth between herself and the cast might itself be the reunion.

That may not be what fans were hoping to hear.

But it is difficult to accuse her of being unclear.

There Is a Real Cast Reunion Coming

Greenfield was not completely inventing the idea of everyone getting back together.

Several major New Girl cast members are expected to reunite publicly at the Chrysalis Butterfly Ball in Los Angeles on Oct. 10.

Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Lamorne Morris, Hannah Simone, Damon Wayans Jr. and Greenfield are among those expected to participate as the show receives the Rising Phoenix Award.

That event appears to have contributed to some of Greenfield’s joking confusion about exactly what kind of reunion was happening.

But an awards-event reunion is very different from a television revival.

Never Say Never—Just Not Yet

New Girl ran from 2011 until 2018 and has enjoyed a long second life through streaming.

That makes it exactly the kind of series Hollywood eventually tends to revisit.

The cast also appears to remain unusually fond of one another and of the show.

So this is not necessarily a permanent no.

It is a not now.

And for fans already imagining new episodes because Schmidt said he had read the scripts, Liz Meriwether has delivered the reality check:

Before New Girl can come back, somebody might want to actually write it.