New Girls Schmidt Was Originally A Lot Different (& Worse)

New Girl’s Schmidt Was Originally A Lot Different (& Worse)

New Girl introduced viewers to Schmidt, who went from ladies man to stay-at-home dad, but the original plan for him would have ruined the character.

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New Girls Schmidt Was Originally A Lot Different (& Worse)

One of the most popular characters from New Girl is Schmidt, who started as a ladies-man and ended up becoming a stay-at-home father, but the original plan for the character was a lot different and actually worse, and would have stopped him from winning the audience over. Created by Elizabeth Meriwether, New Girl made its debut on Fox in 2011 and came to an end in 2018 after seven seasons full of jokes and lots of ups and downs in the lives of the main characters. New Girl was very well received through its whole run, with critics mostly praising the performances of its main cast, particularly those of Max Greenfield and Jake Johnson.

New Girl followed Jess Day (Zooey Deschanel), a young, bubbly teacher who after finding out that her boyfriend was cheating on her, moved into a loft with three strangers she quickly found on the internet. Adapting to a new roommate in such a short time wasn’t a smooth process, but after some time, Jess became very close to her roommates Schmidt (Greenfield), Nick Miller (Johnson), and Winston (Lamorne Morris), with her best friend Cece (Hannah Simone) also joining the fun. New Girl made sure that viewers got to know each member of the group quite well, and one who quickly became a fan-favorite was Schmidt.

It was actually thanks to Schmidt that Jess found out about the loft, as he posted the ad for a new roommate. Schmidt was introduced as an overly confident ladies’ man who was sometimes borderline rude with everyone, he was selfish, and cared too much about his physical appearance. With time, viewers (along with Jess) got to know the real Schmidt, who was actually a very sweet guy with some unresolved traumas (both related to his family and to his weight) and who cared a lot about his friends. Schmidt had the best development of all the main characters in New Girl, and by the end of the show, he was married to Cece and they had a daughter, Ruth, with a flash-forward revealing they have a son at some point. This development is in big part thanks to Greenfield, who didn’t follow the original plan the writers had for Schmidt.

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Speaking to EW in 2012, Greenfield revealed the original plan for Schmidt and how he pushed to have it changed. Schmidt was initially a one-joke character who couldn’t stop taking his shirt off, fitting the stereotypical image of a “shallow bro”, but when Greenfield was cast, he approached producer Jake Kasdan about it. According to Greenfield, he suggested making the character “as not-douchey as possible”, to which Kasdan agreed by telling him to “not play him douchey”. Meriwether shared that Greenfield brought “an amazing emotional life” to a character who wanted to be a better person but didn’t know how, and luckily for Schmidt, he eventually figured it out. Greenfield ended up becoming the breakout star of New Girl, and Schmidt continues to be a favorite among fans of the show, as well as an unforgettable character thanks to Greenfield’s improvisation skills.

It’s hard to imagine Schmidt as a two-dimensional character whose only “trait” was taking his shirt off to show off his abs, and luckily for Greenfield and the audience, the creative team behind New Girl was open to feedback and the overall improvement of the characters and the show. Schmidt was not only the breakout character of the show, but he also opened many doors for Max Greenfield and boosted his career.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/new-girl-schmidt-character-max-greenfield-change-better/

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