New Girl followed Jessica Day’s life from the day she moved into the loft with Nick Miller until they left together to build their own family – but how old is Jess in New Girl? New Girl focused on Jess Day (Zooey Deschanel), a young teacher who moved into a loft with three men — Nick (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield), and Coach (Damon Wayans Jr) who was later replaced by Winston (Lamorne Morris) — after finding out that her boyfriend was cheating on her. New Girl also introduced Jess’ best friend Cece (Hannah Simone), as well as a memorable cast of one-off and recurring characters. Viewers witnessed the many ups and downs in Jess’ life, from failed relationships and career moves to new romances and (eventually) settling down.
New Girl was a refreshing sitcom with an incredibly relatable roster, as the main characters had very different personalities and backstories, and they all came across all types of obstacles in their professional and personal lives. In addition to that, and unlike many sitcoms at the time, New Girl wasn’t focused on teenagers but on young early-Millennials, helping it resonate with a different audience without losing its humor. Across its 7 seasons audiences saw Jess, alongside Nick, Cece, and the rest of the loft, traverse dozens of milestones most face as they transition from young to fully-fledged adulthood. With that in mind, a big question arises: how old is Jess in New Girl at the beginning and the end of the series?
The Age Of Jess In New Girl Seasons 1 To 7
At most points in the show working out how old is Jess in New Girl is surprisingly easy. Jessica Day is 29 years old when first moving into the loft. Jess turned 30 in season 1, as her birthday is listed as February 13, 1982. Each season was set on the year it was released. However, season 7 had a time jump of three years after the finale of season 6, meaning that the events of the final season were set in 2020. With that in mind, and taking into account that season 6’s finale was set in 2017, Jess Day was 38 years old by the end of New Girl. Jess and Zooey Deschanel were almost the same age throughout the series, as Deschanel was born in 1980, something that definitely helped her performance.
Though the character of Jess Day the teacher was well received, earlier seasons received critique both for her girlishness and how the male characters perceived her, prompting people to wonder how old is Jess in New Girl. However, as Jess matured so did the writing. As the series progressed and the age of Jess in New Girl increased, her portrayal changed for the better. New Girl gave proper closure to her story, assuring viewers that she and Nick formed their family while staying close to the rest of the group. When the New Girl credits rolled for the final time Jessica Day was entering her 40s in a much better place than she started her 30s.
New Girl Is A Perfect Coming Of Age Story
Not all coming-of-age stories are about teenagers. The only essential theme of a good coming-of-age-tale is self-discovery and growth — and New Girl nails it. Every New Girl character is on an arc that involves maturing over the show's seven seasons. Schmidt is trying desperately to figure out his love life, Winston has a variety of ever-changing careers and dreams, bartender Nick Miller finally writes a novel, and Jess starts out fresh out of a relationship where she was cheated on.
While Nick and Jess age throughout the series, and while romance always seems at the forefront, New Girl is a coming-of-age story at its core. Each character grows in the series in their own specific ways, but it all comes back to figuring out who they are as individuals and what they truly want out of life. Moving from one's 20s to one's 30s is a major life transition, but one not explored nearly as much as adolescence by sitcoms and coming-of-age comedies. New Girl perfectly covers what it's like to leave early adulthood, along with all the glorious ups and downs that come with the tail-end of youth.
How Old Was Nick Compared To Jess In New Girl?
While it's easy to answer how old is Jessica Day in New Girl, Nick Miller's age in New Girl is an entirely different subject — one that has created a couple of plot holes. In New Girl season 1, Nick tells Jess' ex Paul (Justin Long) that he's 30 years old, matching his birthday, which is listed as September 29, 1981. However, a few episodes later, Schmidt turns 29, and in New Girl season 2, Nick claims he is six months younger than Schmidt.
Schmidt's birthday is listed as July 17th, 1982, meaning he's a year younger than Nick, so Nick's season 2 comment can definitely be taken as a plot hole. If audiences are supposed to go by Nick's established birthday, then he, like Jess, was 38 by the time New Girl ended. Nick's age plot holes don't really affect New Girl in the long run, which sees his arc perfected in the end anyway.
Jess Day’s Age Isn’t The Most Interesting Thing About Her
Even though fans might be interested in knowing that Jessica Day is 29 at the start of New Girl and matures to nearly 40 at the series end, her age isn’t the most interesting thing about her. Throughout the series, Jess Day drops a lot of interesting facts about herself for the audience, like her middle name being Christopher because her father had been hoping for a son. Fans also can learn interesting information about her from promotional materials outside the show.
One thing that fans might not know is that when the series first aired, rental applications for each of the roommates were used as a promotional tool by FOX for New Girl. While Jess Day’s application mostly focused on the fact that her boyfriend just cheated on her, in the section for “other pertinent information,” Jess revealed she used to write Nancy Drew fanfiction, but she rewrote Nancy Drew’s mysteries from the point of view of the criminals in the stories instead of the young detective herself. If New Girl had aired during the same years as the CW’s Nancy Drew series, perhaps Jessica Day would have been getting the guys to watch the series.