Zooey Deschanel and her castmates on New Girl were often forced to drive home from set in the middle of the night due to long working hours, with some days lasting 13 hours or more. Deschanel recalled calling her mom for help when she couldn't stay awake to drive home, while co-star Jake Johnson remembered feeling "weird" and doing silly things just to make his fellow actors laugh because they were all so overtired. The New Girl cast has continued to speak fondly of the show, with some even hinting at a possible revival. The show ran for seven seasons before concluding.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-06,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Zooey Deschanel, star of the TV show New Girl, recently shared that she and her castmates were often forced to drive home from set late at night because none of them had rides to work. The hours on set were reportedly insane, with Deschanel saying she would often fall asleep while driving home. She even resorted to calling her mom for help, who would stay up all night just to talk to her and keep her awake.
Written for “Zooey Deschanel Set Drama” on 2026-09-07,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
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No political leaning scored for article 5320 · logged 2026-09-06
There were plenty of late nights on the set of New Girl — and sometimes the hardest part of the day was simply getting home.
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part → be → day
Zooey Deschanel recently recalled that she and her castmates were “forced to drive home” from set because “none of us had rides to work.”
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none → recall → work
“The hours were insane,” she said while chatting with fellow New Girl star Jake Johnson on Wednesday’s episode of his podcast, We’re Here to Help.
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We → say → podcast
“I would drive home from work and be almost like falling asleep.”
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I → drive → work
It got bad enough that Deschanel would sometimes call her mom for help.
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Deschanel → get → help
“My mom would wake up in the middle of the night because I’d be like, ‘I’m so tired.
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I → wake → night
I can’t drive home,’” she added.
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she → drive → ?
“And she would wake up to talk to me so I’d stay awake.
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I → wake → me
Johnson agreed.
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Johnson → agree → ?
The actor said the schedule was “too much,” and a recent shoot with New Girl alum Damon Wayans Jr. apparently brought some of those memories back.
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shoot → say → memories
Johnson and Wayans recently spent a long day filming their upcoming comedy series inspired by The Cable Guy, and Johnson said he was reminded of what happens when a shoot stretches well past a normal workday.
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shoot → spend → workday
“You get so weird because you’re so overtired,” he said.
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he → get → ?
“So all of a sudden, we’d be in takes again and I was doing stuff really just to make Damon laugh and he’s doing stuff to make me laugh.
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me → do → stuff
And I’m like, you only get here after hour 13 when you’re like, ‘I have to go home now.’”
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I → ’m → hour
Of course, the long days don’t seem to have left the New Girl cast with too many bad memories.
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days → seem → memories
The stars have continued to speak fondly about the sitcom, which ran for seven seasons, and there’s even been some recent talk of bringing it back.
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which → continue → it
Max Greenfield added fuel to those revival rumors in July when he said that creator Elizabeth Meriwether had written new scripts.
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Meriwether → add → scripts
“I’m not gonna play the game,” Greenfield said on the Today show.
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Greenfield → go → show
“As far as I know, it’s happening.”
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it → know → ?
So, if the New Girl gang really does return, here’s hoping they get a little more sleep this time around.
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they → return → sleep
Check out the full episode of We’re Here to Help with Zooey Deschanel above.
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We → check → Deschanel
