‘New Girl’ season 3 spoilers: ‘Mad Men’ alum Linda Cardellini to play Jess’ sister

Jessica Day on “New Girl” now has a sister, and despite some pleas out there from fans, it’s not Emily Deschanel.

Instead, the news was confirmed today that it is none other than former “Freaks & Geeks” / “Mad Man” actress Linda Cardellini who will step into the role of Abby, and is described as very much a wild child, and someone with some major differences from her sister. This role is set to be recurring with the first appearance coming at some point during the February sweeps.

It is the word “recurring” that probably made Emily an impossible choice for the part, given that she already has a full-time job on “Bones” that requires an incredible amount of commitment just to keep up with the enormous episode count. But, at the same time, it’s easy to be thrilled for Cardellini joining the show. She’s a great actor who can do both comedy and drama, and the show is lucky to have her for even one episode, let alone a few that will take place at some point over the course of season 3.

This has turned out to be a more-than-impressive past few weeks for the show, mostly in part thanks to the other reveal that none other than Prince is going to be guest-starring on the show for its upcoming and super-ambitious post-Super Bowl episode. This should amount to a very good time being had by all, especially since it’s an event that should help out the show’s ratings. We are certainly down for celebrating just about anything that can pull off this feat, given that Fox has not had a ton of success with getting more people to catch their show during a very difficult Tuesday-night timeslot.

Do you think that Cardellini is the perfect person to play this part? Be sure to share what you think below, and we’ll have more scoop on “New Girl” as we get closer to its return in 2014.

Photo: Fox