'New Girl' has finally given Schmidt a first name
This might be the show's last season, and they couldn't bow out without naming him
One of the biggest TV mysteries of this or any era has finally been solved: in its sixth season on our screens, New Girl revealed the first name of its lovably anal-retentive lead Schmidt.
Having gone only by his last name since he the show came out in 2011, the character, played by Max Greenfield, is no longer a mononym after last night’s episode (28 March), in which we discovered he had been called Winston all along. If you’re not a fan of the show, the following video might explain why that’s a big deal.
Showrunners Brett Baer and Dave Finkel told the AV Club that the show’s writers had wondered what to name their creation since the show’s first season, and that the subject had come up at least once a season. Their first concepts were apparently “much more Hebraic”.
“We just decided that it was not the right time, and that it was too soon, and that we were shooting ourselves in the foot, comedy-wise,” said Baer.
“We obviously wanted to hold our fire for as long as we possibly could,” he added.
“We also didn’t know if this was the end of the road, so we wanted to finally do it,” said Finkel, in reference to the troublesome fact that the show’s parent network Fox has not yet commissioned a seventh season.
This is the elephant in the room, and the most likely reason why loose ends are being tied, according to Jake Johnson (Nick), another of its stars, who this month admitted New Girl was only “50/50” for renewal.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Johnson said: "Fox won't tell us [whether the show will be renewed]. But we shot a finale where, if this was the end, the core fan base would be OK.
"I think after this season it's done," he added.
He later clarified his words on Twitter, reassuring fans that nothing was settled, and insisting that he had been asked to guess the situation.
Later, he speculated that the news would possibly come in May.
