The original cast of New Girl have reunited for a special occasion, with Zooey Deschanel, Max Greenfield, Jake Johnson, Lamorne Morris, Hannah Simone and Damon Wayans Jr. coming together in Los Angeles on Saturday.
The six actors were honoured with the Rising Phoenix Award at the Chrysalis Butterfly Ball, with Greenfield hosting the event.
Max Greenfield. Photo credit: MLM IMAGES, Shutterstock
The annual event supports Chrysalis, a Southern California nonprofit that helps people overcome barriers to finding meaningful employment.
The reunion comes amid renewed speculation about a possible New Girl revival after Greenfield sparked excitement by claiming that creator Liz Meriwether had written “amazing” scripts for a new series.
The actor made the comments during an appearance on Today, prompting a series of jokes between Meriwether and the cast. However, it was later confirmed that there are no actual plans for a reunion at this time.
Max Greenfield, Hannah Simone, Zooey Deschanel, Lamorne Morris at the New Girl 100th Episode Party in 2016. Photo credit: Kathy Hutchins, Shutterstock
Greenfield's comments became a talking point at Saturday's event, with Deschanel taking the opportunity to tease her co-star as the group accepted their award.
“We especially would like to thank Max, who while organizing this announced that an actual New Girl reunion was happening and he made our lives so very annoying.”
Greenfield then apologised for the confusion, admitting that his comments had been misleading.
“Now is probably not the most appropriate time to apologize for this but yes, that’s something that happened and I am sorry. It did, however, bring a lot of attention to Chrysalis and what we are doing here tonight, accidentally,” Greenfield responded.
@hollywoodreporter #MaxGreenfield addresses his viral #NewGirl ♬ original sound - The Hollywood Reporter
He went on to joke about the attention the cast receives whenever they get together.
“When the six of us reunite — six actors, none of whom graduated college except apparently Hannah, which does make a lot of sense; Jake says he did graduate college, which no one believes — but when we come together, remarkably people pay attention and people show up, and we are so grateful that you showed up tonight.”
@hollywoodreporter Jake Johnson, Zooey Deschanel, Hannah Simone, Lamorne Morris, Max Greenfield and Damon Wayans Jr. have a #NewGirl ♬ original sound - The Hollywood Reporter
Greenfield revealed he organised the gathering through the cast's group chat.
Johnson also revealed that he and Morris regularly joke about each other in interviews, but Greenfield had missed the usual back-and-forth.
@kkirstylouise Fav interview ever #fyp #foryoupage #newgirl #nickmiller #schmidt #nickandschmidt #jakejohnson #maxgreenfield #interview #funny #clip ♬ original sound - Kirsty
The Butterfly Ball was held at The Beehive in Los Angeles. Alongside the New Girl cast, Jared Wolff, chairman and CEO of Banc of California, received the Corporate Trailblazer Award.
Guadalupe Rios, a former Chrysalis participant who now works for Caltrans, was also honoured with the John Dillon Award.
