‘New Girl’ Sneak Peek: See Dermot Mulroney Return in Final Season Premiere

The seventh and final season of New Girl finally starts on Tuesday, and the preview for the episode includes the first of many returns from fan-favorite supporting characters.

In a clip shared by Entertainment Weekly, Dermot Mulroney stops by Cece’s (Hannah Simone) house. Mulroney plays Russell, better known as Fancyman, who Jess dated in earlier seasons. He now has about 50 children from different relationships.

New Girl‘s final season picks up three years after the end of season six, which ended with Nick (Jake Johnson) and Jess (Zooey Deschanel) realizing they belonged together. They went on a trip to Europe and Jess has returned with a nose ring and a misspelled neck tattoo that reads “JSES.”

Although Nick and Jess are still together, the clip reveals that they did not get engaged during their trip abroad.

“The challenge for us was finding fun conflicts that didn’t question, ‘Will they or won’t they?’” executive producer Dave Finkel told EW. “They will and they are, but what does that take?”

Finkel said that the final season will have avoid being repetitive, since the writers did just about everything they could do with Nick and Jess in the first six seasons. The time jump should help them in that challenge.

“We wanted to make sure we were moving into fresh territory. For us, what we wanted to do was show the changes and growth in their characters, in a couple-hood that’s functional and supportive and loving,” Finkel said.

The show’s other characters are also adjusting to new life outside the loft. Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Cece are now parents, and Winston (Lamorne Morris) is still in his relationship with Aly (Nasim Pedrad).

The final eight episodes will include plenty of cameos from past guest stars, including Jamie Lee Curtis and Rob Reiner, who played Jess’ parents. Damon Wayans Jr., who played Coach, will also stop by. There will also be one last game of True American.

“The one thing that I can promise is, in typical New Girl fashion, nothing ever comes without some sort of a curveball,” Finkel told EW about the finale. “We obviously love these characters and we want to send them off the right way, and I think we’ve done a fair job of that, but you know nothing ever goes down easy here.”

The last episodes of New Girl will air on Fox Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. ET, beginning this week.

Photo credit: YouTube/ Fox