'New Girl' Cast to Reunite at Chrysalis Butterfly Ball, Receive Rising Phoenix Award

The six core cast members of "New Girl" — Zooey Deschanel, Max Greenfield, Jake Johnson, Lamorne Morris, Hannah Simone and Damon Wayans Jr. — will reunite on October 10 at the Chrysalis Butterfly Ball in Los Angeles, where the ensemble will receive the Rising Phoenix Award. (Variety)
Greenfield, who plays Schmidt on the sitcom, hosts the gala. It is his second consecutive year in the role; he also hosted the 2025 edition at the same venue. (Variety)
The Rising Phoenix Award recognises "New Girl"'s theme of starting over — a fitting match for Chrysalis, the nonprofit behind the event. Chrysalis helps people find meaningful work regardless of their past or present circumstances and has served more than 95,000 individuals at six centres across Southern California since 1984. In 2025 alone, nearly 2,200 clients secured employment and nearly 1,600 worked a transitional job through the organisation's employment social enterprise. (Variety)
The 2026 ball runs from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at The Beehive, located at 961 E. 61st Street in Los Angeles. (Chrysalis; Akerman)
This will not be the first time the "New Girl" cast has come back together since the show ended its seven-season run in 2018. In 2020, several members — including Deschanel, Morris and Johnson — reunited for a public service announcement urging people to vote. (Deadline)
There may be more reunions on the way. During a July 31 appearance on "Today With Jenna & Sheinelle," Greenfield said an official "New Girl" revival is in the works and that he had seen scripts. No further details — a network, a streaming platform, a production timeline — have been confirmed. (Variety)
The Chrysalis Butterfly Ball has a history of drawing major names. Past honourees include Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah, Ryan Murphy, Salma Hayek, LL Cool J, Donna Langley, Seth MacFarlane, Olivia Wilde, Ice Cube, Common, Shawn Levy, Curtis Stone, Scott Stuber, Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Betsy Beers. A past edition attended by Chris Pine and Lea Michele raised $1.4 million. (Variety; The Hollywood Reporter)
This year, the gala will also honour Banc of California chairman and CEO Jared Wolff with the Corporate Trailblazer Award. Law firm Akerman LLP is among the event's sponsors. (Variety; Akerman)
For "New Girl" fans, the October 10 gala is a chance to see the full cast together on a stage — even if the scripts Greenfield mentioned are not yet ready for cameras.


