New Girl creator Liz Meriwether spoke with Hypable about tonight’s episode “Longest Night Ever,” Coach, Jess and Nick’s relationship, and the adorable Ferguson.

Recently, it was announced that Daman Wayans Jr. would be sticking around on New Girl for the remainder of the season. But it also sounds like Meriwether is more than open to expanding his role to a more permanent situation.

“We are so happy to have him back and he just fit in perfectly, and it’s just been a really fun—it’s been a really fun thing to have him back on the show,” gushes Meriwether. “He’s going to stay with us for the rest of the year. I don’t know beyond that.”

But on tonight’s episode of New Girl, Coach will be shaking things up once again when he takes Cece out on a date. According to Meriwether, she and the writers thought it would be fun to have Coach – someone who wasn’t there for the Cece/Elizabeth debacle – come in and help Cece get back into the dating game.

However, the date may not go as well as Cece would hope. It sounds like Coach may actually bomb the date. “I’m not sure if the Cece/Coach relationship is going to go forward. I think it might have just been this one date that they go on,” teases Meriwether.

The New Girl creator also defended having Nick and Jess in a relationship this season. While some fans have loved seeing the two together, others worry that it happened too soon.

Meriwether backs up the relationship saying, “It’s definitely changed the DNA of the show a little bit, but I think it’s important for a show to keep changing and growing and evolving, so that it feels real and it feels like what would really happen to these people.”

Probably the most important detail that Meriwether shared with us is that Ferguson will be sticking around as well! Winston’s new pet cat has quickly become everyone’s favorite roommate and the creator revealed that they actually have to actively make sure they don’t give him too much camera time.

When asked about whether or not Ferguson would be sticking around, Meriwether replied, “We all just kind of fell in love with him and we actually have to hold ourselves back from writing him into episodes because we don’t want any Ferguson fatigue; but we kind of love him and I personally love Winston’s relationship with him.”

While Nick will accidentally lose Ferguson in tonight’s episode, causing Winston to flip out, Meriwether says the situation isn’t “too dire.”

What do you think about Coach and Ferguson’s expanding roles on ‘New Girl’?

Photo credit: Fox