Deschanel: New Girl Cast Had to 'Fight' for Lamorne Morris
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- Zooey Deschanel said on the Zach Sang Show that she and her fellow New Girl castmates had to "fight" to get Lamorne Morris hired as Winston Bishop on the Fox comedy, telling executives, "I can't see anyone else playing this part."
- Lamorne Morris had originally auditioned for the role of Coach (ultimately played by Damon Wayans Jr.), but left the process to take a job on another pilot that failed, making him available only after the Winston character was created as Nick's childhood friend.
- Deschanel said she and co-stars Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, and Hannah Simone each wrote separately to heads of the studio and the network, with Deschanel noting Johnson and Greenfield already knew Morris from the original audition process.
- New Girl aired from 2011 to 2018 on Fox, was created by Elizabeth Meriwether, and starred Deschanel, Morris, Johnson, Greenfield, and Simone.
- Lamorne Morris won an Emmy in 2024 for playing Deputy Witt Farr on FX's Fargo, vindicating the cast's early conviction that he was the best choice.
Why it matters: The revelation shows how close Morris came to not being on New Girl at all — his departure for a doomed pilot and the cast's last-minute letter campaign were both necessary for him to land the role. His 2024 Emmy for Fargo makes that behind-the-scenes advocacy look like one of the better casting instincts in recent sitcom history.
