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Another star is coming to the Fox sitcom 鈥淣ew Girl鈥� when star Zooey Deschanel takes her maternity leave.聽

鈥淕irl鈥� returns for a new season in January and Deschanel gave birth this summer. While she鈥檚 on her break from the show, actress Megan Fox of 鈥淭MNT鈥� will appear on the show as a pharmaceutical representative who lives in Deschanel鈥檚 character Jess鈥檚 room temporarily. On the show, Jess will be absent because she has jury duty.

The show also stars Max Greenfield, Jake Johnson, and Lamorne Morris as Jess鈥檚 roommates and Hannah Simone as Jess鈥檚 best friend.聽

鈥淕irl鈥� is returning for its fifth season next year. It鈥檚 having a midseason debut rather than returning in the fall like some other Fox shows, but the network said in a that having the show come back in January will allow it to have an 鈥渦ninterrupted run.鈥�

Deschanel and Greenfield have previously been nominated for Emmy Awards and Golden Globes for their work on the sitcom.

Fox is obviously a temporary player on the show 鈥撀爏he鈥檒l reportedly appear in five episodes 鈥� though she could come back for future installments. The show is no stranger to welcoming back former cast members. Damon Wayans Jr. appeared in the show鈥檚 pilot but then departed when his ABC sitcom 鈥淗appy Endings鈥� was renewed. He returned for the show鈥檚 fourth season as the same character.

Simply replacing an actor on a TV show is more common than someone stepping in to take the lead for a few episodes. When their stars depart, some programs bring in new characters that are somewhat similar, as when actor Topher Grace departed the Fox sitcom 鈥淭hat 鈥�70s Show鈥� and a new character named Randy (Josh Meyers) was introduced who was both friends with 鈥溾��70s鈥� character Hyde (Danny Masterson) and dated Donna (Laura Prepon) like Grace鈥檚 character Eric.

When actor Charlie Sheen left the CBS sitcom 鈥淭wo and a Half Men,鈥� the show added another roommate, Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher), to live with the other characters as Sheen鈥檚 character Charlie had done. Procedural shows like 鈥淣YPD Blue鈥� or 鈥淟aw & Order: SVU鈥� lend themselves naturally to replacing actors because a new one can be brought on as a new partner for another character. 鈥淣YPD鈥� actor Dennis Franz鈥檚 character had multiple partners on the show, including characters played by David Caruso and Jimmy Smits.聽

Other shows wait some time before bringing in a new character that fills the void left by one that departed. On 鈥淒ownton Abbey,鈥� main characters Matthew (Dan Stevens) and Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) both died during the same season. The program showed all of the other characters mourning their deaths and neither Matthew鈥檚 widow Mary (Michelle Dockery) nor Isabel鈥檚 widower Tom (Allen Leech) have married again yet, though there have been romances for Mary particularly.聽

[Editor's note: The original version of this article misidentified a "Downton Abbey" character.]

As for 鈥淕irl,鈥� the first several episodes of the season will reportedly include Deschanel before she temporarily departs. Fox will first appear in the sixth episode of the season.