Am I The Only One Who Hopes Lamorne Morris’ Garfield Show Includes A Specific New Girl Callback?

This year marks the 15th anniversary of New Girl premiering on Fox, and the quirky sitcom still remains a fan-favorite. The show ended in 2018 after seven seasons, and when I finally watched for the first time a few years later, Lamorne Morris’ Winston became one of my favorite New Girl characters. Morris’ career has thrived since New Girl, from winning an Emmy for his performance in Fargo to co-starring with Nicholas Cage in Spider-Noir this May on the 2026 TV schedule. It was also announced last week that Morris will voice Garfield in an upcoming Paramount+ subscription-exclusive series, and I hope other New Girl fans will join me in hoping for a specific callback.

“Winston And Ferguson About To Split Some Pasta”

Winston adopted his cat Ferguson early into New Girl Season 3. The adorable lil’ guy originally belonged to his girlfriend Daisy, but when Winston discovered she was cheating on him, he thought about various ways he could kill the cat as revenge (like, it’s actually terrifying how much he contemplated it). However, he ultimately decided to keep Ferguson for himself, and he quickly grew to love the cat, albeit often showing that adoration in awkward ways.

My favorite example of this is in “Double Date,” when Winston is carrying Ferguson in the apartment, sings about the two of them splitting some pasta later, then sets the cat down and says he’ll make coffee for him. It becomes awkward when Winston realizes that Jess, Nick, Schmidt and Cece all saw this. It becomes even more so when Winston not only invites himself as a fifth wheel on their double date, but also brings up the prospect of bringing Ferguson along to dinner.

Lamorne Morris’ Garfield Should Sing A Similar Song

If you’re familiar with Garfield, be it from reading the comic strip or watching any of his movies and TV shows, you know the self-absorbed orange tabby loves lasagna just as much as he hates Mondays. Lasagna is a pasta, so here’s what I’m thinking: there should be a moment where Lamorne Morris’ Garfield is singing a similar song to the one Winston did on New Girl about eating lasagna.

It’s a small thing, but I have no doubt that New Girl fans will immediately notice this callback if they’re watching Paramount+’s Garfield show, and anyone else will just hear it as a fun ditty. The only problem is that Garfield is usually not one to share food, so the lyric may need to be changed to reflect how the cat is going to gorge on some lasanga on his own. Or, if Morris’ Garfield is to split the dish, it doesn’t have to be with a character named Ferguson. It could be any fellow animal with a two-syllable name, like Odie or Nermal… ok, maybe not those two given how he usually detests them.

As originally shared by Deadline, Dave H. Johnson and John Trabbic III are executive producing Paramount+’s Garfield, and it will be the cat’s first animated TV series since 2009’s The Garfield Show. There’s no timetable yet on when it will arrive to the streaming platform. New Girl fans, however, can keep themselves entertained with Winston and Ferguson moments by streaming the series with a Hulu subscription.