New Girl cast: Where are they now?

Jake Johnson movies and shows after New Girl

When New Girl premiered during the 2011 fall season, Jake Johnson was one of the sitcom’s instant breakout stars. Although he had appeared here and there in small roles in movies (most notably Paper Heart, Get Him to the Greek, and No Strings Attached) and other shows, the millennial answer to Friends was his big break. Johnson starred as the endearing hot mess Nick Miller, a full-time bartender and part-time zombie novelist. Nick became a fan-favorite and the obvious choice to end up with Jess, and that was long before The Pepperwood Chronicles.

During New Girl’s run, Johnson kept busy on the big screen in supporting roles. In 2012, he appeared in indie film Safety Not Guaranteed alongside Aubrey Plaza and also the hit reboot of 21 Jump Street. His next film roles included Drinking Buddies, The Lego Movie, Neighbors, and a co-starring role in Let’s Be Cops with fellow New Girl star Damon Wayans Jr. Perhaps one of Johnson’s highest-profile supporting roles was in 2015’s blockbuster Jurassic World.

In 2016, Johnson appeared in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates and in 2017, he turned in his second co-writing credit on the Netflix film Win It All and appeared in the Tom Cruise reboot of The Mummy.  Following his final appearance of Nick Miller in the seventh and final season, Johnson was in the ensemble cast of Tag, a summer comedy also starring Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner. He was next heard as a voice in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and seen in Ride the Eagle, which he also co-wrote.

Johnson will reprise his voice role in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and recently made his small screen return in the main cast of HBO Max’s Minx. The actor first returned to TV in 2019 with ABC’s Stumptown alongside Cobie Smulders and appeared in the short-lived Netflix animated series Hoops in 2020. Next up, he’s in the Netflix series Lost Ollie.