New Girl Is Coming Back, But There's A Catch

Fox's longest-running current comedy is coming back for more, but New Girl's return isn't a straightforward renewal.

After six seasons, the show's about to sing its swan song, and fans are going to have to settle for less than they're used to. Entertainment Weekly reports that the show's final season will be shorter than previous ones: way shorter.

The news came via Jake Johnson, one of the show's stars. He announced that the show did, indeed, get picked up for a final season and that it would consist of only eight episodes (past seasons have had 22). He also wished all the ladies out there a happy Mother's Day, but the salient information was definitely there.

It was an unexpected tidbit, to say the least. Many fans had already bid adieu to Jess (Zooey Deschanel) and Co. after the show's sixth season. The fact that the season finale could have also have acted as a series finale was by design, since the show's cast and crew didn't know whether or not they'd be coming back this fall. Entertainment Weekly adds that while the show isn't the ratings powerhouse that it used to be, Fox has struggled to find new comedies for its lineup.

"Obviously, Jess and Nick ended where they ended and we want to look at that and figure out how to make that play in some more interesting way. I think there’s still stuff that has to be done with all the characters," executive producer David Finkel told EW. "In a world where Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Cece (Hannah Simone) and Winston (Lamorne Morris) and Jess have all sort of found the thing that they've been looking for, at least in their work lives, that Nick’s still on his road is interesting. I think there's a lot of fun to be had there."

Johnson didn't reveal when the show would return. It could come back with other fall premieres or act as a midseason stand-in for the network.