‘New Girl’ season 2 spoilers: Why Nick heads back to Chicago

There is an upcoming episode of “New Girl” that is going touch on something extremely different than anything that the show has brought us thus far, and it should make for something rather exciting: a trip to Chicago in order to meet some more of Nick Miller’s family. So what’s the ultimate reasoning for it? Sadly, this trip is not coming under the best of circumstances.

During the show’s season 2 PaleyFest panel earlier this week, it was revealed that the real reason for Nick coming back to the windy city is to attend the funeral of his father, who is someone who showed up earlier this episode and did not exactly have the best experience ever with his son. (The fact that he is a con man is a pretty big reason why.) Now, there is no real closure between the two characters, which is probably going to create an even bigger hole in Nick’s backstory than he had previously.

Director Jake Kasdan lightened the mood a little bit at the panel that despite the sad premise of this episode, there is some great comedy and guest stars coming up for the half-hour that will prove that Nick is actually the smartest person in his entire clan:

“They go back and visit Nick’s family. We have this amazing guest cast with Margo Martindale playing Nick’s mother, and Nick Kroll. It felt like a slightly different show for a minute.”

Also on tap for “New Girl”? Getting deeper into the Nick / Jess relationship, watching what happens with Schmidt and Cece, and further debate as to whether or not we will ever learn Schmidt’s first name. (We’re personally hoping that it doesn’t happen ever, since other shows that have revealed it turned out to be disappointments.)

What do you want to see happen on the rest of “New Girl” this season? If you want to hear what Jake Johnson has to say about possibilities for Nick and Jess moving forward, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: Fox