New Girl star Jake Johnson helped push for the final season

New Girl is coming back from the dead for a seventh and final season, thanks, in part, to Jake Johnson. The actor revealed how he joined some other cast members in pleading their case to Fox to green light more episodes after the initial planned finale.

“I was one of [the cast members] that wrote them and asked for more,” Johnson told TVLine of his efforts towards Dana Walden and Gary Newman, co-chairmen of the network. “I said, ‘I don’t think you gave us enough time to finish the show the right way. And I would really appreciate — and I think the fans would appreciate — a final goodbye to these characters.'”

Executive producers Dave Finkel and Brett Baer didn’t know what the fate of New Girl would be when EW interviewed them for the season 6 finale.

“Dave and I have been down this road before with a show called The United States of Tara… so we had to do the same thing, which is come up with a season finale that could serve as an adequate and satisfying, perfectly legitimate series finale should it be, but also leave the door open for coming back to do more,” Baer said. “It’s a tricky tightrope to walk and a hard one, but we did our best.”

“I’ve done a lot of projects — and some of the projects have fans and some don’t,” Johnson said “And to be on a television show that actually has a group of people who care [is special].”

The cap on season 6 saw Jess (Zooey Deschanel) and Nick (Johnson) reigniting their relationship, Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Cece (Hannah Simone) expecting, and Winston (Lamorne Morris) calling his father. The new season will consist of eight episodes and pick up four years in the future.

“I think it’s cool to do a time jump,” Johnson added. “I think we we were running in circles a little bit, so I think jumping forward [is smart]. Everyone is a little further along [with their lives].”

New Girl will return sometime in 2018.