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New Girl character guide

Who is Nick Miller in New Girl?

A grumpy, financially hopeless bartender from Chicago who shares the loft with Jess, Schmidt, and Winston and slowly falls for the new roommate he never wanted.

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Show
New Girl
Debut
2011
Network
FOX
Role
Main
Gender
Male

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Show
New Girl
Played by
Jake Johnson
First episode
“Pilot”Season 1, Episode 1, aired September 20, 2011
Role
Main cast
Network
FOX
Occupation
Bartender, then novelist
Show run
2011 to 2018
Also known as
Nicholas Miller, Julius Pepperwood

Nick Miller is the loft's resident grump: a law school dropout turned bartender who keeps his money in a box and his feelings even more tightly locked away. Played by Jake Johnson, he becomes the other half of New Girl's central romance with Jess Day.

On New Girl, Nick Miller's story runs through Jess Day (Wife), Schmidt (Best Friend), Winston Bishop (Childhood Friend), Cece Parekh (Friend), and Coach (Former Roommate).

Nick Miller from New Girl: Sitcomdle character card

Who is Nick Miller?

Nick grew up in Chicago, where Winston has been his friend since childhood, and he met Schmidt in college. When the series starts he works as a bartender in Los Angeles and is nursing a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, Caroline. He is not thrilled about a female roommate, but he quickly becomes Jess's fiercest defender.

Nick is smart but allergic to responsibility. He dropped out of law school, and season three reveals that he passed the California bar exam anyway, then chose to keep tending bar. He is terrible with money, keeps his cash in a box, avoids doctors, and insists on fixing things around the loft himself, badly.

Personality and comedy

Nick is cranky, messy, and emotionally avoidant, with a talent for long, mumbled rants and physical comedy. He takes life advice from Tran, an elderly man in the park who never says a word, and he dreams up big creative projects that rarely get finished, including a zombie novel in season two.

Jake Johnson's loose, improvisational style shaped the character, and critics singled Johnson out as the breakout star of season two as the Nick and Jess romance took off. Nick's oddball friendship with Schmidt, full of hugs, fights, and business schemes, is one of the show's great comic pairings.

Key storylines

Nick and Jess kiss for the first time in season two, and after a lot of confusion they become a couple at the end of the season. In the same season Nick's con-man father, Walt, visits and later dies, sending the gang to Chicago for the funeral. Nick and Jess break up in season three when they cannot agree on a shared future.

In later seasons Nick buys into the bar with Schmidt, dates Reagan, a pharmaceutical rep who moves into the loft, and finally gets his novel, The Pepperwood Chronicles, into readers' hands after a publisher turns it down. He breaks up with Reagan late in season six and reunites with Jess. In the final season he proposes, they marry, and the series ends with a flash-forward to the two of them raising a son.

Behind the scenes

Jake Johnson plays Nick in all seven seasons. Creator Elizabeth Meriwether based Nick partly on a person she knew in college. The producers enjoyed Johnson's improvisations so much that they handed Nick some of the anger issues originally planned for Coach.

Julius Pepperwood, the detective hero Nick first dreams up for his season two zombie novel, Z Is for Zombie, eventually headlines The Pepperwood Chronicles, which Nick takes on a book tour in Europe.

Key Nick Miller episodes

  1. “A Father's Love”Season 2, Episode 13Nick's con-man father, Walt, comes to town and pulls Jess into a scheme involving a horse.
  2. “Cooler”Season 2, Episode 15Nick and Jess kiss for the first time during a game of True American.
  3. “Chicago”Season 2, Episode 20The gang travels to Chicago with Nick to plan his father's funeral and meets his eccentric family.
  4. “Mars Landing”Season 3, Episode 20Nick and Jess break up after a hung-over fight about their future.
  5. “Mario”Season 7, Episode 6Nick proposes to Jess on the night of a dog adoption home visit.
  6. “Engram Pattersky”Season 7, Episode 8In the series finale, Nick and Jess say goodbye to the loft with one last game of True American.

Season and episode numbers follow the original broadcast order.

Famous sitcom couple

Nick Miller: frequently asked questions

Who plays Nick Miller on New Girl?

Jake Johnson plays Nick Miller in all seven seasons of the show, which ran on FOX from 2011 to 2018.

Do Nick and Jess end up together?

Yes. After breaking up in season three and dating other people, they reunite at the end of season six. Nick proposes in "Mario" and they marry in "The Curse of the Pirate Bride."

What is Nick Miller's job?

Nick is a bartender for most of the series and later becomes co-owner of the bar with Schmidt. He also writes a novel, The Pepperwood Chronicles, which a publisher rejects before it finds its way into bookstores and readers' hands.

Who is Julius Pepperwood?

Julius Pepperwood is the detective hero of Nick's writing. He first appears in Nick's zombie novel in season two and later stars in The Pepperwood Chronicles.

Did Nick go to law school?

Yes, but he dropped out. In season three it comes out that he passed the California bar exam anyway, and in "Fired Up" he uses it to represent Schmidt at a deposition when Schmidt is sued.

Test yourself: Nick Miller quiz

5 questions about Nick Miller. Think of your answer, then open the reveal to check it.

  1. Question 1

    What is the name of the loft's famously chaotic drinking game?

    1. Liberty Lava
    2. Patriot Pong
    3. Freedom Fighter
    4. True American
    Show the answer

    Answer: D. True American

    True American mixes drinking, shouting presidents' names, and a floor that is off-limits. The series finale has the gang play a special packing edition before leaving the loft.

    See question 1 in the full quiz

  2. Question 2

    What does Nick Miller do for a living for most of the series?

    1. Lawyer
    2. Bartender
    3. Personal trainer
    4. Police officer
    Show the answer

    Answer: B. Bartender

    Nick tends bar and later buys into the bar with Schmidt, all while working on his novel.

    See question 4 in the full quiz

  3. Question 3

    Which city did Nick and Winston grow up in together?

    1. Chicago
    2. Portland
    3. Detroit
    4. Milwaukee
    Show the answer

    Answer: A. Chicago

    Nick and Winston are childhood friends from Chicago, and the gang later travels there for the funeral of Nick's father, Walt.

    See question 6 in the full quiz

  4. Question 4

    What is the title of Nick's novel series that finally reaches readers in the later seasons?

    1. The Pepperwood Chronicles
    2. The Miller Files
    3. Tales of the Loft
    4. The Chicago Chronicles
    Show the answer

    Answer: A. The Pepperwood Chronicles

    Nick spends years writing it, and the final season opens with him and Jess back from a book tour promoting the latest Pepperwood Chronicles novel.

    See question 8 in the full quiz

  5. Question 5

    In which episode do Nick and Jess share their first kiss?

    1. Elaine's Big Day
    2. Mars Landing
    3. Clavado En Un Bar
    4. Cooler
    Show the answer

    Answer: D. Cooler

    The kiss happens during a game of True American in "Cooler," and it changes everything in the loft.

    See question 9 in the full quiz

Take the full New Girl quiz (20 questions)

Sources and corrections

Reference pages used for this guide, including character, cast, and episode details.

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