New Girl: The Main Characters, Ranked By Power

The characters on New Girl are what make this comedy show so resonant. So much goes into the characters, as individuals and in terms of their group dynamics. Thus, it’s interesting to consider which of them holds the most power and influence.

Whether this is power through their career, finances, social skills, pull within the group, or their overall influence in society, the characters on the show all have it in some form or another. However, not everyone is equally powerful.

10 Jessica Day

Jessica Day may be positioned as the main character of New Girl, but compared to the likes of Nick, Schmidt, Winston, and Cece, she seriously lacks in the character department, never growing and feeling forced into stories far more than anyone else.

In the finale of the show, Jess is unemployed, but presumably, she will go back to teaching, making a good living, but one that does not wield mass amounts of influence outside of helping children’s lives, with not a high enough wage to make her all-powerful financially.

Socially, Jess pretty much demands people do, as she says a lot of the time and forces herself into situations she has no right to be in. She has pull in the group, but only with Nick, and Cece, with the latter eventually moving towards wanting Schmidt’s input more.

9 Raegan Lucas

Raegan was the last love interest of Nick before he and Jess finally settled down together, and she is also one of the most divisive characters in New Girl. As a wildly successful pharmaceutical salesperson, Raegan makes a good living and is as strong and independent as they come. She also gets to travel around the country, eventually getting promoted and moving to San Diego.

Socially Raegan is distant. It takes a lot for her to get involved even slightly in the goings-on of the gang, which she rarely does. She does not appear to have any non-work friends, and despite how fierce she appears, she does not have much pull with any characters.

8 Sam Sweeney

Sam is one of the most prominent love interests in New Girl, perhaps being Jess’s most serious partner except for Nick. As a pediatrician in California, Sam earns a pretty great wage. Helping children of all people and being as successful at it as he gave him a higher level of career and financial influence and power.

In the sphere of characters in New Girl, though, Sam has absolutely no influence with anybody except for Jess and actually seems to fall victim to the downfalls of his relationships. We also never meet or hear about Sam’s friends or social circle in general, and he rarely has time for the main gang, hurting his standing here.

7 Coach

Coach, real name Ernie Tagliaboo, is brought in and out of New Girl; he leaves after the pilot before becoming a staple of the show in seasons 3 and 4, then leaving again and becoming only a recurring character.

As talented as he was at being a personal trainer and gym teacher, the motivation he brings out in people is about as much power as he holds. Coach earns a good living financially but does not have so much money that it translates to power.

Socially, Coach makes a point of distancing himself and has by far the least amount of pull within the core six friend group. However, he does have other friend groups, and he has a whole life with May in New York, where he presumably leads a good social life.

6 Aly Nelson

Not including the central six, by far the best and most successful romantic partner on the show was Aly Nelson, Winston’s co-worker turned wife. Like Winston, Aly is a detective in the L.A.P.D, a job that not only has decent financial benefits, although not as great as some other characters, but wields a lot of responsibility and power within the community.

Socially Aly seems to get on with the rest of the gang even if she does not have any influence, per se. Fans never really get to see Aly’s social circle outside of the gang, but her closeness with her sister and large family bond does make up for that somewhat.

5 Winston Bishop

Arguably the funniest main character on New Girl is Winston Bishop, who would fall dead last on this list in his pre-police days.

Winston’s status as a detective in the L.A.P.D gives him a fair amount of power. That is a job with quite a lot of social capital and influence and is a career which Winston loves and helps him develop massively as a character.

Winston’s temperament and unique outlook on life may be hilarious and even admirable, but they do nothing to aid his power and influence, and while beloved, he does not have huge amounts of influence in the gang, just enough to put him above Aly.

4 Schmidt

Schmidt went from wanting power to being empowering with his decision to become a stay-at-home Dad to Ruth, a choice that was absolutely the right one to make, though it did bump down his level of financial power.

Being with Cece, being the only homeowner of the show until after the show’s events, and having investments in Nick’s bar as well as a helping hand in Cece’s Boys makes up for that, however. Schmidt made many connections during his years of obsessing over becoming a millionaire, and within the group, he has so much responsibility and such tight bonds with most of them that he has a lot of pull.

3 Nick Miller

Alongside and even perhaps more than Schmidt, Nick Miller is the most beloved character to come out of New Girl. But like Winston, if this were looking at the early seasons, he would be right at the bottom, a testament to Nick’s growth over the show.

By the end of the show, Nick not only owns his bar, but he is a relatively successful author who looks set to continue that trajectory, earning not only a healthy amount of money but also fame which comes with its own level of influence. The social side of things is Nick’s downfall. Though he is a good person, he doesn’t really care to put effort into his social ties.

2 Cece Parekh

That is except for Cece Parekh. Cece stands as an undoubtedly intimidating, influential, and powerful presence.

Cece flounders career-wise for a while before founding Cece’s Boys, which seemed to be a success, putting her back in the modeling world, and giving back a lot of her power and influence as somebody important and successful in that business. As owner and manager of Cece’s Boys, Cece likely takes home a healthy paycheck, especially with the business clearly being a success.

Cece is also a character with so much social pull. Not only is she in the modeling world, mingling with a lot of other successful people for a lot of the show, but her commanding presence draws people to her. Whether it is Jess, Schmidt, or Winston, she has formed close bonds that make her very influential in her social circle.

1 Robby McFerrin

Robby McFerrin, former love interest and distant cousin of Jess, may seem like an odd choice for most powerful, but when fans delve into the character’s mysterious life, it is the right one.

Off the bat, Robby clearly makes a killer living as a factory designer. His home is grand and marvelous and is especially impressive with it being in California.

Robby is down to Earth and a fairly lovely guy, but he also has a lot of social power. He has a PBS documentary, is friends with many celebrities, and worked on a Santana album in his past life as a studio musician. Robby also gets on with everyone, able to easily make friends and form connections, including within the main gang and with other recurring characters in the show.