Justin Long Gearing Up For ‘New Girl’ Return

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‘New Girl’,Justin Long,Jake Johnson,Zooey Deschanel,Michael Strahan,PaleyFest,TV

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Zooey Deschanel and Justin Long on ‘New Girl’ on FOX
Kevin Parry for PaleyFest
Max Greenfield, Hannah Simone, Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson and Lamorne Morris attend the Paley Center for Media’s PaleyFest 2012 event honoring ‘New Girl,’ Los Angeles, March 5, 2012
Kevin Parry for PaleyFest
Zooey Deschanel attends the Paley Center for Media’s PaleyFest 2012 event honoring ‘New Girl,’ Los Angeles, March 5, 2012
Kevin Parry for PaleyFest
Zooey Deschanel and Jake Johnson take part in the Paley Center for Media’s PaleyFest 2012 event honoring ‘New Girl,’ Los Angeles, March 5, 2012

FIRST PUBLISHED: March 6, 2012 7:22 PM EST

LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

Justin Long returns to the set of “New Girl” next week, filming an appearance for the FOX drama, set to air later in the season.

“We just got a text from Justin today saying he’s going [to be] back for next week’s episode, so it’ll be fun,” Jake Johnson, who plays Nick on “New Girl,” told Access Hollywood on Monday night as the show screened a new episode at PaleyFest 2012 in Los Angeles.

“He’s excited,” Lamorne Morris, who plays Winston, told Access. “He’s been sending us text messages all day. [He] said he can’t wait to get back in there.”

Justin appeared earlier in the season as Paul, a fellow instructor at the school Jess (Zooey Deschanel) teaches at, and a short-lived romance kindled between the two characters, one which led to one of the most awkward ever bedroom encounters on television.

But in the run up to Justin’s return, there will be love action for some of the other stars, including Schmidt (Max Greenfield), who carries things on with Cece (Hannah Simone).

“Schmidt’s going for it,” Max told Access of his character’s model hookup. “He’s relentless. He’s gonna stop at nothing.”

And there will be some superstars coming the way of Lamorne’s character Winston, who in the comedy is a former international basketball player.

“I get a new job at a radio station. Phil Hendrie plays my boss,” Lamorne said. “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar comes on the show as a guest on our radio station. Michael Strahan comes on as a guest on our radio station. So my character’s being taken more into a world he’s familiar with.”

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