New Girl Casts Jess’s Sister, but She’s Linda, not Emily

Confused? Don’t be. Emily and Zooey Deschanel are real life sisters and actors. Emily

plays Dr. Temperance Brennan on the Fox crime drama-comedy Bones. Zooey played the cousin of Temperance Brennan in a guest role. Emily is a fan of Zooey’s show, New Girl, and she would like to play a guest role. Bones and New Girl are both Fox Network shows and shoot on the same lot. The sisters have talked about a guest appearance by Emily, but, so far, Bones has kept her too busy.

Next season, though, New Girl introduces the recurring character of Abby, the wild sister of Zooey’s character, Jess. Linda Cardellinni plays Abby. Most recently, Cardellinni appeared on Mad Men as the neighbor and eventual mistress of Dan Draper. She received an Emmy nomination for that role. Prior to that, she played Samantha Taggart on ER. Cardinelli does have prior comedy experience, however. She appeared in Scooby-Doo: the Movie as Velma Dinkley. On television, she appeared in the coming-of-age cult favorite Freaks and Geeks playing Lindsay Weir, possibly her best-known role.

New Girl is currently on hiatus but will return in January. Cardellinni’s first appearance as Abby will be in February.