When The Mindy Project returns from the winter hiatus, they’ll be bringing along a new (and very welcome) face to the madness: Lee Pace! And now, thanks to the folks over at Entertainment Weekly, we’ve got our first sneak peek at his time on the show and what, exactly, his relationship to Mindy is and was.

Pace will guest star on the January 13th episode of the FOX comedy, playing Alex, the very man to whom Mindy lost her virginity. And it shows that — minus the bangs — not much has really changed at all for Dr. Lahiri. Pace’s Alex is, of course, a total dreamboat of the nerdiest order. And apparently a chivalrous, kindly prince given his ability to keep it cool/not keel over in disgust at there being a Big Gulp in his very tiny dorm room bed.

But don’t just take our word for it, peep the pictures yourselves, ya goonies:

Oh jeez just look at him. Mr. long-hair, don’t care over here.

And in a twist that is shocking to absolutely no one, Pace’s Alex in his modern iteration is a total fox:

Could Alex tear Mindy away from Danny now that — spoiler alert! — she’s accepted into a teaching certificate program at Stanford? Will their dreamy collegiate times and nostalgia for the past reunite them in a torrid, San Francisco-area-based affair? Or will everything work out happily ever for the dream team relationship already at the center of the show?

Only time will tell! Leave your theories in the comments, if you’re into that sort of thing.