Fox’s sitcom New Girl has landed its fair share of big name guest stars, from Jamie Lee Curtis to Dermot Mulroney to Taylor Swift. Heck, considering how Damon Wayans Jr.'s Coach keeps popping in and out of regular status, he’s practically a guest star in his own right. The latest big name guest star will be Megan Fox, coming on board New Girl in Season 5 to play Cece’s ex-girlfriend. Say what?
Megan Fox will play a straight-shooting pharmaceutical sales representative named Reagan who shows up in Los Angeles to shake things up for the crew living in the loft. TVLine reveals that news of Cece’s past romance with Reagan will not exactly thrill Schmidt, whose insecurities regarding his relationship with Cece have not altogether vanished since their engagement at the end of Season 4.
Fortunately for Schmidt, it looks like Reagan will have her eye on Nick rather than Cece. Still, there’s nothing in Schmidt’s high-strung history to indicate he’ll have an easy time with the gorgeous Reagan as a reminder of Cece’s past relationships in their lives.
Relationship hijinks are hardly new for New Girl, which has shaken up the dynamic of the group of friends with romantic entanglements in the past. Schmidt and Cece have been on-again-off-again since the first season, and the relationship between Jess and Nick that had fans on the edges of their seats for years fell apart surprisingly quickly in Season 3.
Of course, it comes as no surprise that the romantic spotlight might be directed at Cece, Schmidt, and a big name guest star for the time being. Jess may be the main character of New Girl, but the fifth season has been shuffled around lead actress Zooey Deschanel’s real-life pregnancy. As it’s a huge relief that New Girl has chosen to go for switching the schedule rather than writing the pregnancy into the show, we can forgive any extra romantic shenanigans for any of the characters.
The scheduling shuffle is far from the first time that New Girl has mixed things up for the best. The show was originally much more centered around Deschanel’s new girl Jess with the boys in the background. The more ensemble feel that developed after Nick, Schmidt, and Winston starting getting storylines of their own back in Season 1 made the show much more entertaining. It’s hard to imagine that the show as originally developed would have made it past a season or two; with Season 5 carrying New Girl past the 100-episode mark, it’s clear that the show’s willingness to change things up definitely works.
Megan Fox’s Reagan changing things up for Cece and Schmidt may be exactly what the relationship needs to stay funny as well as sincere, and there can be no doubt that Jake Johnson’s Nick should be downright hilarious trying to deal with the attention of Cece’s ex.
New Girl returns to Fox at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, January 5.
