Staff Writer
New Girl fans were treated with a bit of nostalgia this week as Coach (played by Damon Wayans Jr.) made a reappearance during this week’s episode, kicking off what was originally planned as a four-episode arc. As we all know, he was first seen in the show’s hilarious pilot episode two years ago, after which the character mysteriously vanished from the loft without any reasonable explanation. As it turns out, Wayans had already committed to the now-cancelled Happy Endings show; as goes with the entertainment business, you never know exactly how new shows will pan out.
Regardless, his brief run gave us one of the most adorable scenes ever — see his attempt to get Jess, played by the talented Zooey Deschanel, to “stop” crying over her ex below.
According to TV Line, the Happy Endings actor has signed on for the rest of season three. He won’t be returning to the credits in a “starring” role, but will be billed as a “special guest.”
Upon Wayans exit, New Girl creator Liz Meriwether was faced with the daunting task of either recasting the role or sojourning on in a new direction. “We had seen everyone for Coach,” she recently told The New York Times. “Damon came in at the last second, and it was 100 percent clear that he was the person for the part. The thought of reshooting the pilot with someone else, after we felt like we exhausted everybody in town, was so daunting. It was like: What are we going to do?”
“It felt crazy to me,” she continued. “How do we introduce a new character in Episode 2 without seeming really cheesy and hacky?”
She added, “There was no good option.”
Upon furthering consideration, she concluded that “people in that age group are transient. It makes sense to have people coming and going.”
As we all witnessed, Wayans also discovered how exactly his exit was handled. “I thought it was awesome, because I could still potentially come back,” he said.
The show’s writers weighed in on the Coach’s return and what it means for the loft. “Coach coming gives Nick [Jake Johnson] and Schmidt [Max Greenfield] kind of a nice opportunity to step back in time together and be their pre-Jess [Zooey Deschanel] selves,” executive producer Brett Baer tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It was important for us to demonstrate that Nick going back in time was going to have a ramification with his relationship. Nick is literally between Coach and Jess and trying to play cool single guy.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR2w_8EIrT4&w=560&h=315]
Everyone’s favorite 30-minute sitcom airs on Tuesdays on FOX at 9 p.m. EST.
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