Yahoo News ‘Never Have I Ever’ Stars on What They Kept From Set and How Series Will End: “No Matter What Team You’re On, You’re Going to Love It”
Never Have I Ever celebrated its fourth and final season premiere on Thursday, but with two key pieces missing — co-creators Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher, who skipped the event amid the writers strike.
“I love what I get to do, and I understand how lucky I am to be able to work in Hollywood at all,” Kaling wrote on her Instagram account just hours before the red carpet in Los Angeles, explaining her decision to stand with the WGA. “I hope the strike ends soon. It sucks to miss all these fun and meaningful milestones, but it’s a great example of what we are willing to sacrifice to be treated fairly.”
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The show still went on, though, as stars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Darren Barnet, Jaren Lewison, Richa Moorjani, Poorna Jagannathan, Lee Rodriguez and Ramona Young walked the press line and spoke about the Netflix show’s final 10 episodes.
“I always trust our writers, so it really wasn’t a surprise that it ended up being an amazing finale. I’m just so happy and proud to be part of such an amazing, impactful show,” Barnet said of reading the final scripts, while Lewison added, “The time, the effort, the care, the authenticity, the honesty, the creativity that they put into this last season, it is nothing short of brilliance.”
The stars also weighed in on how they think the finale will be received by the show’s devoted fans, with Ramakrishnan teasing, “They’re going to be shocked — a lot of fans are going to be upset, a lot of fans are going to be happy. But I think what really grounds the show is Devi’s journey, and that part is amazing. I think no matter what team you’re on, you’re going to love it, just for the fact that Devi’s hero journey comes to a really nice end.”
Lewison agreed, saying, “I think that half of them are probably going to be really excited and half are probably going to be in absolute despair. Hopefully they’ll recognize why it had to happen and trust in the writers.”
Barnet joked about the frequent Team Ben or Team Paxton dynamic, “There’s just division all over this show, but at the end of the day, Devi ends up happy, so I think that’s all that should matter. I hope everyone’s happy with that result.”
The cast also revealed with items they took from set, with Rodriguez taking a science fair trophy, Moorjani securing a lamp from the Vishwakumar household, Barnet (accidentally) wearing home a number of socks (“I just didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to keep them until the end of the season”) and Lewison having all of the crew sign his series finale script.
And as for how he hopes the series is remembered, Barnet said, “Diverse, inclusive, organic storytelling that really went the extra mile to tell it authentically and I hope we did due diligence playing the characters, I know the writers did. I just hope it’s a show where everyone out there can see themselves in some way, shape or form.”
Never Have I Ever season four starts streaming June 8.
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