When "New Girl" returns for its fifth season, Nick (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Jess (Zooey Deschanel) will be getting rid of some of their juvenile ways as they grow up and take on new responsibilities and commitments.

In the season 4 finale, Schmidt broke up with Fawn when he realized that he is still in love with Cece (Hannah Simone). He packed his belongings to follow CeCe, and when he opened the door, Cece is standing there. Right there, he asked her to marry him, and she said yes.

Meanwhile, Nick is now taking on more responsibility running the bar while Winston (Lamorne Morris) is settling in on his job as a police officer. In the upcoming season, even the quirky Jess will be asked to take on a very important task as she has been called for jury duty.

Speaking with TVGuide, show creator Liz Meriwether said that while there has been "a lot of really funny stuff" over the years with the characters being very immature, it felt like the right time to let them take steps forward into adulthood.
"We've been having an amazing time this season growing the characters, and it's resulted in more comedy, not less comedy," said Meriwether.

The show has also dealt with some challenges offscreen, such as the departure of Damon Wayans Jr. back in season 4, a recent copyright lawsuit that was rejected by a judge, and Deschanel's pregnancy which made her absent from the show's new season for six episodes. Despite all these, Meriwether said that the cast rose to the occasion, adding that she was glad that Deschanel took the time off that she needed and that it was a "great challenge" to do the show without the titular character.

TVGuide reports that there will be two episodes that will feature Schmidt, Cece, Nick, and Winston, and the other four episodes will feature the four characters with Megan Fox as Reagan, a pharmaceutical rep who rents Jess' room while she is away on jury duty. Deschanel will return after Fox's storyline ends.

"New Girl" returns on Jan. 5 at 8/7c on Fox.