Dermot Mulroney Has Enthusiastic Response To New Girl Revival Idea

Exclusive: Dermot Mulroney has an enthusiastic response to the idea of a New Girl revival, praising his time on the show and expressing his hope.

Dermot Mulroney Has Enthusiastic Response To New Girl Revival Idea

With the show having ended with a brief finale, Dermot Mulroney is enthusiastic about the possibility of a New Girl revival. Mulroney starred in the comedy sitcom as Russell Schiller, the divorced father to a student of Zooey Deschanel’s Jess who takes a liking to her after they initially disagree over the artistic way she teaches her students. The two would briefly date in the series, though broke up at the end of season 1 as Jess felt no passion in their relationship and began to have feelings for Jake Johnson’s Nick.

Mulroney would return for a handful of appearances in future New Girl seasons, typically remarking on the status of Nick and Jess’ complicated relationship and revealing his own troubles since Jess broke up with him, having been remarried and divorced twice and having a toddler. After six acclaimed seasons, New Girl came to a close in mid-2018 with an abbreviated season 7, which many fans felt too abrupt for the character’s finale. In the years since its end, the cast and creator of New Girl have shared their thoughts on possibly reviving the show and one star is just as hopeful as fans that it could come back.

While speaking exclusively with Screen Rant for the psychological thriller Gone in the Night, Dermot Mulroney shared his thoughts on a potential New Girl revival. The star was enthusiastic to the idea, expressing his love of working on the show and his amazement at “the saying power” the sitcom has enjoyed in the years since it ended. See what Mulroney said below:

“They couldn’t even finish the show [without Russell], they called him up for season 7, right at that penultimate moment, they put him in. There’d be no keeping Russell out of the next rendition of New Girl. I didn’t know that it was an actual conversation, but if it is a conversation, I’m in. That show, I knew I was on a great job, but gosh, it’s so impossible to tell what things are going to have the kind of staying power that, even in the short amount of time that New Girl’s not been shooting that it has.
It’s impacted people’s whole senses of humor, I’ve seen, in wonderful ways, so I’m thrilled to be a part of it. I just sent in a little voice memo to Zooey and Lamorne and Hannah’s, they have a podcast where they talk about the show, they asked me to say hello, because they’re talking about the “Fancyman” episode and invited me to be to be on their podcast in the future to discuss it even more. But when I talk to them, I’m gonna tell him that it’s time, it’s time. There’s got to be more Russell, explain what happened. [Laughs]”

Star Jake Johnson revealed last year that New Girl‘s cancellation came as a surprise to him and his co-stars, with Fox initially firing them after season 6’s low ratings. Johnson, Deschanel and creator Elizabeth Meriwether wrote to then-20th Century Fox president Dana Walden to ask for the network to greenlight another season of the show to bring closure to the characters, despite season 6’s finale having been filmed to serve as a series finale. Fox ultimately relinquished and ordered New Girl season 7 to close out the show with just eight episodes, a decision many fans have admonished for being too short while much of the cast have continued to express their love of having worked on the sitcom and shared a hope to come back to it.

Given revivals have become a popular trend in Hollywood in recent years, namely in the TV industry with such titles as Psych and Criminal Minds, many are as hopeful as Dermot Mulroney for a New Girl revival. As the star notes, with the show continuing to be one of the most-streamed titles on Netflix and the streaming platform having brought back the likes of Arrested Development and Lucifer and Deschanel hosting a rewatch podcast with co-stars Lamorne Morris and Hannah Simone, one can hope Jess, Russell and the rest of the loft friends come back to the screen in the future. In the meantime, audiences can revisit the entirety of New Girl streaming on Netflix.