Zooey Deschanel had 'so much chemistry' with Jake Johnson they couldn't be in the same 'New Girl' scenes at first

• On her "New Girl" rewatch podcast, Zooey Deschanel said her and Jake Johnson had too much chemistry.
• Jess and Nick had a will-they-won't-they arc, so the instant magnetism caused problems at first.

Jess and Nick are one of the most beloved TV couples, but the actors' chemistry was almost too good on season one of "New Girl."

On the second episode of iHeartRadio's "Welcome to Our Show," a "New Girl" rewatch podcast hosted by stars Zooey Deschanel (Jess), Hannah Simone (Cece), and Lamorne Morris (Winston), Deschanel explained how the writers had to physically keep her and Jake Johnson apart at first.

Deschanel said she and Johnson couldn't be in the same storylines at the start of season 1

Jess and Nick ultimately become the long-running, will-they-won't-they couple on the series, so the writers had to work around the actors' instant natural chemistry.

On the podcast, Morris asked Deschanel, "Is it true that there was so much chemistry between you and Jake in the beginning that you guys couldn't be in the same shot together ... ?"

Deschanel responded, "I remember them saying that. That they were like, 'Listen, you guys have such great chemistry. This is a series, we have to play this out over time, and we don't want to put you guys in the same like storylines together ... '"

She added, "I was like ... Isn't that a good thing?"

The writers may have wanted to slow the storyline down, but fans have always been eager to get Nick and Jess together

During a 2012 panel with the Paley Center, Deschanel and Johnson also joked that the production team would yell "too much chemistry" during their early scenes.

"It would be like a normal scene, and they'd be like, 'That is, we do not want to develop that ... Keep them away,'" Deschanel said.

Nick and Jess' relationship doesn't really kick off until season two, and even then, the writers made it a slow burn.

During the same 2012 panel, "New Girl" creator Elizabeth Meriwether fielded questions about why the characters weren't together yet at the time.

"We love Nick and Jess together ..." she said. "I think that where they are as characters it just feels like they've got a lot of kind of like growing and learning ..."