Jake Johnson Hints at ‘New Girl’ Series Finale

Jake Johnson is spilling the beans on the final season of New Girl.

The comedy, which is set to come back for its seventh and final season in April, will see a three-year time jump for the characters, with Jess (Zooey Deschanel) and Nick (Johnson) returning from a European book tour; Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Cece (Hannah Simone) raising their daughter, Ruth; and Winston (Lamorne Morris) and Aly (Nasim Pedrad) married with a child on the way.

It will also see the return of guest stars Damon Wayans, Jr., Dermot Mulroney, David Walton, Nelson Franklin, Sam Richardson, Jamie Lee Curtis and Rob Reiner. Curb Your Enthusiasm’s JB Smoove and One Mississippi’s Tig Notaro will make their series debuts in guest-starring roles.

“It was to say goodbye to Zooey, to Max, to Lamorne and everybody, to Hannah. There are people I really like and care about, and the characters I care about, so it was a really weird feeling to not be able to not act with those people as these characters that we all created and we all kind of know,” Johnson said in a video interview with PEOPLE.

“I think the fans are really going to like season seven,” he continued. “We end the show, so it doesn’t in a kind-of grey area world. The show ends. The characters’ stories come together and so I think Liz Meriweather, the creator of the show, knows what the fans really like and I think she gave it to them.”

Johnson also told PEOPLE that all loose ends will be tied up during the final season, and that Nick and Jess’ relationship will definitely take center stage at the loft.

“The fans of that relationship, which I’m one of them, the questions get answered,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot that happens between them.”

The final season almost didn’t happen, reports said the show was close to being cancelled after the sixth season finale when Johnson, along with other cast and crew members sent a letter to Fox execs asking for the chance to give New Girl fans a proper ending for the series.

The 8-episode final season is set to premiere on April 10 at 9:30 p.m. ET on Fox, with a one-hour series finale airing May 15.