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Goodbye to the loft: New Girl wraps up with a time jump and Zooey Deschanel reveals who almost played Schmidt

Jess and Nick got married, Winston and Aly became parents, the eviction notices all turned out to be one huge prank, and the characters decided to leave the loft for a new life

It has been seven seasons since Zooey Deschanel took up the role of a quirky girl named Jess in New Girl. On May 15, the much-loved sitcom came to end in the US and though it was long overdue, fans couldn't help but feel disappointed that they won't be seeing the friends in the loft again.

The jam-packed two-hour send-off began with a classic sitcom wedding, where plenty of things went wrong but Nick and Jess finally tied the knot. Then Aly and Winston welcomed their child into the world. Even Jess' long season plot on impending eviction hit a classic note as everyone played one last game of True American. This is where the disappointment started, a massive time jump.

There's a future reveal that the gang is playing True American with their kids. Nick and Jess have a little boy and Schmidt and Cece have a couple of children, while Winston and Aly have loads. Then Winston, back in the present reveal that the whole eviction has just been his biggest prank yet.

But Jess, who was initially let-down by the eviction notice decides to move out anyway and the episode finale is concluded with the characters in the moving van, off to start a new life.

The scene was an emotional one for the fans as they knew they would not be seeing their favorite characters again but they were more disappointed as to how the show wrapped up, but maybe there wasn't any better way. 

While fans showed support to the ending, Zooey admitted that the ending could have gone a completely different way.

Speaking to Deadline, the actress said: "I thought there was another version that could've been a little bit more dark — not like dark horrible, but it was always kind of like, 'Do Nick and Jess end up together?'

"I thought there could've been a version where they don't, and it's more bittersweet. But I love this version, too. It's more in the realm of the romantic comedy that I think this show really probably is at its heart" she added.

The actress also revealed some inside scoop on the show to EW, where she mentioned that Max Greenfield's character Schmidt was almost played by TJ Miller, who put his own spin on the "douchebag jar" contributor when he auditioned. Now wouldn't that have been a whole different thing!