New Girl’s Nick Miller was best known for being the laziest resident of the loft and for dropping out of law school – but there’s one detail in the series that hints at him finally graduating law school at some point. Created by Elizabeth Meriwether, New Girl debuted on Fox in 2011 and came to an end in 2018 after seven seasons and a lot of changes in the lives of the main characters. New Girl was very well-received from the beginning, with critics praising its tone and sense humor, as well as the main cast’s performances, mostly those of Max Greenfield in season 1 and Jake Johnson in season 2.

New Girl follows bubbly teacher Jess Day (Zooey Deschanel), who after discovering that her boyfriend is cheating on her, moves into a loft with three strangers she found on the internet. After a period of adjustment, Jess ends up being very close to her roommates, who become part of her family, especially Nick Miller (Johnson), who she ends up marrying. Nick’s journey in New Girl is one-of-a-kind, as he begins as a bartender who dropped out of law school and had zero goals, and ends up being a best-selling author ready to start a family. However, a big question remains: did he ever become a lawyer?

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Although he did his best to put what little or much he learned in law school to good use a couple of times through the series, Nick was never shown going back to it and finally graduating, though he seemed to be followed by it one way or another, such as when he dated a lawyer (Julia, played by Lizzy Caplan). Nick eventually found his path as an author with the book The Pepperwood Chronicles, which followed the story of detective Julius Pepperwood, and the book actually has a secret hint that Nick graduated law school at some point in the series – or, at least, that’s what Nick wanted everyone to believe.

Side by side of Nick Miller and Pepperwood Chronicles bookstore flyer in New Girl

On the back of the book, in the “about the author” part, the first line reads “Nick Miller is a law school graduate, a professional bartender, and a small business owner”. Nick is a bartender and small business owner, as he bought the bar he worked at for years, but the part about graduating law school is probably a lie. During one of the readings of the book, the “meet the author” sign at the bookstore says he “was almost a lawyer, but now owns a bar instead”. Perhaps the marketing team in charge of The Pepperwood Chronicles decided that “almost being a lawyer” or “law school drop out” were not ideal for Nick’s author page, and chaose to lie a little bit and say he graduated.

Surely, Nick wouldn’t have minded it saying he graduated law school, as it makes a good story to go from law school, to bartending and owning a small business, to becoming a successful author. Ultimately, and while he was pressured to graduate and “do something with his life”, Nick didn’t need that – what he did need, however, was a little push to finally write the book he talked so much about (which was initially a zombie novel), and graduating law school wasn’t important anymore.

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