New Girl is a comedy sitcom focusing on Jess living with three to four men at a time all of whom she had originally met on the internet. The show eventually evolved into a will-they, won’t-they romance between Jess and her roommate Nick as well as her roommate Schmidt and her best friend Cece.
Both of these couples ended up together, and are implied to be in lasting relationships. However, there were a lot of potential pairings between characters leading up to the final union of these couples that went unexplored. Here is a look at ten of these pairings, which would have made a lot of sense but unfortunately didn’t happen.
Coach And Jess
Of the main cast, Coach definitely got the least amount of screen time. He was in the pilot episode and then was not seen again until season three. When he came back during that season, Jess remembered who he was but he did not remember her and expressed disinterest in being friends with her. From that point, Jess was determined to get Coach to like her.
The two eventually became very close with Jess helping Coach getting a job at her school. Coach even became fond of Jess’s quirkiness and antics, even though he would pretend to be embarrassed by her.
Schmidt And Gina
Gina was Schmidt’s boss at Associated Strategies. Even though Schmidt generally thought of her as unpleasant, he also wanted to be included in aspects of her personal life, as shown when he begged her to be invited to her baby shower, which she reluctantly did. He ended up being the life of the party and Gina was happy that he came.
Based on Schmidt’s track record, he is attracted to conventionally beautiful women who are strong and successful in their fields. Even though it is unclear what Gina’s type would be, she and Schmidt would make a good power couple.
Nick And Russell
Russell was Jess’s boyfriend early on in the series. He was the father of one of Jess’s students at the time and, being wealthy, he was a major donor to the city and, by extension, Jess’s school. Nick at first was wary of Russell until he learned of how wealthy and generous Russell truly was.
From that point on, Nick was enamored with Russell. Russell was kind enough to Nick that he gave him an old sweater and let him sit at his expensive desk. The two clearly got along and likely would have had a comfortable relationship dynamic similar to what Russell had with Jess.
Jess And Bearclaw
When Jess and Bearclaw first met, they were mistakenly set up by Nick, who thought Jess was interested in Bearclaw. At first, Jess found Bearclaw to be strange and was not interested in him, but rather was interested in hooking up with his friend. However, later on in season four when Bearclaw makes yet another appearance, the pair bond and even write a musical about a gay wolf after getting drunk at a party.
Jess’s whole character is centered around how quirky she is. She and Bearclaw are two different types of weird that seem to complement each other, as shown by the fact that they can write and put on a musical together and enjoy doing it. Furthermore, their relationship, whether it is platonic or romantic is not inherently sexual, in spite of the fact that Bearclaw is attracted to Jess. Their dynamic is a nice change of pace from the other relationship dynamics in the show.
Cece And Sam
Cece is Jess’s best friend and Sam is one of Jess’s on-and-off love interests throughout the show’s run. Even though their storylines don’t entirely match, both Cece and Sam had issues with commitment early on in the series with both of them looking for purely sexual relationships with their respective partners, Schmidt and Jess.
While Cece and Sam may not have worked as a romantically paired couple, the two would have worked well together in a “friends with benefits” sort of situation toward the beginning of both of their storylines.
Reagan And Schmidt
Even though Reagan was introduced right after Cece and Schmidt got engaged, if Reagan had been introduced earlier in the series, she and Schmidt would have made a good couple. As previously mentioned, Schmidt is attracted to women who are conventionally attractive and who are independent and successful. Reagan definitely fits that bill.
Schmidt and Reagan, like Cece and Sam, also individually struggled with committing to romantic relationships toward the beginning of their respective story arcs, meaning that they would have made yet another good “friends with benefits” type of couple.
Schmidt And Winston
Like the rest of the loft-mates, Schmidt and Winston are longtime friends. They lived with each other on and off for the better part of a decade. Because they were friends and roommates for so long, they developed a close bond, which was depicted in the show as being akin to a married couple.
Schmidt and Winston are supportive of each other as shown when Winston was looking for a job he was passionate about. But they also weren’t afraid to call each other out when needed like when Schmidt was being a neat freak or when Winston wanted to try a puzzle, something at which Schmidt knew he would be unsuccessful.
Jess And Winston
Similar to a relationship between Bearclaw and Jess, Jess and Winston are two different types of weird. Jess is artistic and expressive in ways that usually comes across as weird or quirky to those around her. Winston is just generally weird. He is super committed to his cat Furguson and his roommates to the point of making cat food bowls for each of his roommates.
Since Winston and Jess are two different types of weird, they would likely complement each other and maybe even feed off of each other’s energies in a positive way. Their loft-mates probably would not appreciate the pairing but audiences would have fun watching their dynamic, at least for a little bit.
Jess And Cece
Jess and Cece are childhood best friends who went through pretty much everything together. They saw each other through career changes, breakups, and parents divorcing. Even though they were complete opposites and had their arguments, they ultimately stuck by each other.
The fact that they were such close friends for so long in spite of normal life difficulties shows that they would have made a great couple, especially since they eventually learned to effectively communicate with each other, even though it took them about twenty years to learn to do so.
Nick And Schmidt
Nick and Schmit were roommates in college and continued to be roommates for over a decade. Even though through most of the series, Nick was not incredibly sentimental about anyone, he still would celebrate his roommate anniversary with Schmidt, even ten years later.
Furthermore, some of the running gags of the series included Schmidt wanting to see Nick’s genitals, a request Nick constantly refused, because everyone else had seen them and when Schmidt was especially happy with Nick, he would kiss Nick right on the mouth. Even though these were used as part of the humor for the show, it clearly shows how comfortable Schmidt was with Nick and implies that Schmidt may be interested in Nick, even subconsciously.
