New Girl star Lamorne Morris reveals Winston's last words to Furguson

Winston Bishop (Lamorne Morris) may have joined the New Girl loft an episode late, but over the Fox comedy’s seven-season run, the character found his own groove as a prank-happy, cat-friendly, and puzzle-crazy roommate.

Ahead of the series finale airing Tuesday, Morris, who directed for the first time this season, looked back on Winston’s (and Prank Sinatra’s) greatest hits below. And for those itching for a sneak peek at New Girl‘s final two episodes, EW has this exclusive clip featuring Winston and Schmidt (Max Greenfield) delivering their own spin on a wedding toast to Jess (Zooey Deschanel) and Nick (Jake Johnson):

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: One of Winston’s favorite things to do is to pull pranks that either too big or too small. Which one was your favorite?
LAMORNE MORRIS: Ooh let’s see, one of my favorite pranks was something that was so small, and it just made me laugh because it was so stupid. There was so much momentum at Cece’s wedding with, “What is Winston going to do?” And then he puts a feather in Cece’s mom’s shoe. And when I read that [in the script], I just died laughing, because we really blew this whole thing up just for that? [Laughs] Stuff like that really gets me. Like, that one moved me. [Laughs] That one’s still my favorite.

Now, what about his shirts, which are known for being colorful and usually covered in animal patterns, especially birds? Got a favorite out of those?
Let’s see… [pauses] You know what, all of them! All of them were strange.

In a recent episode, we saw that Furguson the cat had passed away. What do you think were Winston’s final words to Furguson? We never find that out.
[Laughs] He probably said, “My son, go in peace. And when you get reincarnated, please come back as LeBron James.” [Laughs] Something like that. “My son, go in peace. Your mother will be devastated.”

That’s beautiful. And now looking further back, when did you realize you and the cast would be friends and not just coworkers? When did you feel you all had clicked?
We had an episode in season 1, a Thanksgiving episode, where it was taking so long to shoot. The episode was taking like 17 hours to shoot or something in one day, and we were just like, “What is going on here?” But we all had this moment where we were like, “We all love being here, and it’s fantastic.” The only reason we got through 17 hours without arguing is because we genuinely like each other. We learned more that day about ourselves [than ever], and I think it was that episode where we were just friends. Also, there was the episode when I came in, and I think I made them better as people, so I think they will be forever grateful for that. [Laughs] They will never be able to repay me for that. [Laughs]

Did you take anything home from set after you wrapped the finale?
I took a few things. I took a basketball hoop, I took Furguson’s tombstone [laughs], and I took the mural of an alien war happening, or whatever it is that was painted on [Winston’s] wall. I definitely took that.

And how would you describe the finale?
The finale is very touching. I think they did it the right way. Had we ended after season 6, it would have felt uneven… And when you see [the series finale], it’s gonna sound cliché, but I think you will get a warm feeling. We were in a weird place while shooting it because it was like, “We just cannot believe right now that this is happening.” I think the end of the episode will remind you of what New Girl is and what it was… I think it’s going to be something, I really do. I don’t believe that it’s one of those finales people will be disappointed by. I think they’ll be excited and happy about it. I’ve seen pieces of it, and it’s great.

New Girl ends Tuesday, May 15, with back-to-back episodes at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.