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[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 2 finale of Never Have I Ever, “...been a perfect girl.”]
Co-created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher, who’s also the showrunner, the Netflix original coming of age comedy series Never Have I Ever follows Indian American teenager Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), as she continues to deal with all of the drama at home and in high school. Juggling new romantic relationships with new friends and still trying to channel her rage in a healthier way, Devi definitely makes mistakes but she also learns from them while, at the same time, pushing those around her to want more for themselves.
During this virtual interview with Collider, which you can both watch and read, co-stars Darren Barnet (who plays Paxton Hall-Yoshida) and Jaren Lewison (who plays Ben Gross) talked about trying to grasp the reality of how popular the show is, why they connect with the story, Team Paxton versus Team Ben, new relationships, how Barnet got into the mood for that shirtless scene, how the end of the season could affect things going forward, and what they’d like to see, if there’s a Season 3.
Collider: Because this show was not based on source material and no one knew who these characters would be or what to expect from them, the audience went into this first season with no expectations. When did you guys realize how much of a success the show had become and that it was actually connecting with people globally?
JAREN LEWISON: I don’t know if I’ll really ever understand the gravity of how popular it is. When you talk about 50 million viewers for the first season, I don’t know if I’ll ever really, truly understand that number. But at least when we were filming, it just felt special. You have a show that’s written by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher, and you pair that with an incredible cast and crew who are so brilliant and talented, you feel this electricity in the air. It’s like this unspoken magic that’s intangible, but you can feel it. We knew it was gonna be something special. The characters are so relatable. Our show is so diverse. I think that that’s why so many people around the world connected with it.
DARREN BARNET: Yeah, I agree. You always have that fear. The amount of times you feel like you’re making something special on a certain set, and then you just don’t know how it turns out in the end and sometimes it’s not what you think, this was exactly the opposite of that. It turned out way better than I even could have imagined. I think the moment I really understood that it was playing was when it was number one on Netflix, and not just in the U.S., but so many other countries. That was huge. That’s all you can hope for, at that moment, especially when it’s so new and fresh. So, yeah, I agree with Jaren in the sense that we felt that on set, but I’m still trying to understand it all and it’s a wonderful experience.
There is something for everyone in this show and it’s easy to find something to connect to. What do you most connect to with this? Is it something directly related to your character, or is it something that’s related to another one of the characters on the show?
LEWISON: For me, it’s the messiness of it all. High school is messy and sometimes things don’t go the way that you planned them. People mess up and make mistakes and it’s painful, or you grow from it, and that shapes your identity. For me, that’s what this show is about. It’s about growing and learning and creating an identity and finding yourself in whatever world that you may live in. That’s what high school was for me. The comfort factor is learning about your character and learning about the relationships that the other characters have with each other and seeing all of that play out in a really funny, interesting heartwarming, witty, heartbreaking way. That’s the reason why I love this show. There is something for everyone. No matter what community you come from, identity that you share, there’s something for everybody, and I think that’s super special.
BARNET: Yeah, messy is the key word. It is so messy and all over the place. Looking back on high school in general, it’s insane how mean kids can be and how one little whisper can turn into the biggest rumor that can really, really hurt someone. I think it really sheds light. There’s so much growth among characters, but it takes them going through an absolute mess and some serious hardship to experience that growth, so I definitely relate to that. I think anyone in high school can relate to that. Pertaining to Paxton, and I think every other character as well, it’s very easy to judge a book by its cover, which I feel like almost every character in this show is, at first glance, judged by their cover. And then, you start to see the layers behind it. I think it’s really important to take from it that you should take time with everyone you meet to look a little bit deeper.
Jaren, while there’s this Devi-Paxton-Ben love triangle that keeps going back and forth throughout the season, Ben also does take a bit of a departure with Aneesa. What did you enjoy about getting to explore that dynamic? Was it fun to get to explore a relationship that’s not quite as contentious?
LEWISON: Absolutely. I love world-building. Also, Megan Suri is excellent. I think that fans are going to absolutely love her and love her character. If they’re extreme Team Devi, maybe they won’t. But I think that it’s really fun to get the chance to explore new relationships. For Ben, Aneesa represents something that’s really special. She comes in and immediately identifies with Ben and takes an interest in him, which is something that he’s not used to. He comes from an upbringing where his parents are really absent and that has a tremendous effect on his personality. So, to have this girl who was effortlessly cool and so good at so many things, take such an interest in him and a genuine care and kindness towards him, is really special. That’s definitely why I think that initial attraction builds. And then, you couple that with the inner conflict between, okay, how does he still feel about Devi and navigating those feelings? Messiness comes back into play, and that is high school. Sometimes you’re torn into different directions. So, I’m curious to see, if we get a Season 3, where that ends up going and where he’s pulled.
Darren, I love that we get some moments this season where Paxton actually wants to not just be seen as the hot guy, but he also wants to show that he can be smart and be seen on that level too. And then, at the same time, you also have a hilarious shirtless scene in the show. What was it like to film that moment? Is it difficult to do that be so serious? Is it hard not to crack up when you’re doing something like that?
BARNET: What a question.
LEWISON: It’s one of my favorite scenes. I literally screamed when I saw it.
BARNET: Mindy sat us all down when she first booked us, and her and Lang told us why they booked us. One of them was like, “Darren, you know, you’re one of the only guys we met that could smolder, but still have a heart and make it funny.” You’re talking about the shirtless scene, the only funny part about it is that they were playing “Pony” by Ginuwine in the background, to try to get me in the mood of it. But also, I’m sprayed down with glycerin and water to make me look sweaty, but it’s also inside of a soundstage where it’s like 60 degrees. So, I’m sitting there trying not to freeze while I’m also trying to be sexy. I’d say that’s one of the funniest parts of that.
The behind-the-scenes of that moment must be fun to watch.
BARNET: Yeah, they definitely will be.
Jaren, at the end of the season, Ben has a realization that losing Devi is really his own fault and not Paxton’s. How do you think he feels in that moment?
LEWISON: I think it’s so multi-layered and complex. I don’t even know if he genuinely knows what he feels. Those feelings with Aneesa were true and they were real, and they still are. And all of these feelings of pain and of interest and connection and strength, and so many other things about Devi, come rushing in all at once. So, I think that look is just this inner conflict of, “What now? What do I do now?” And also, you can’t turn those feelings off. When he sees Paxton and Devi so proudly dancing together, it’s hard for him. I don’t think that he knows how to navigate through that, so it’s gonna be really interesting to see how he does come to terms with that and the route that he takes, in order to move on or move towards it. I’m very curious, myself.
Darren, the moment when Devi and Paxton walk into the dance holding hands, and everything after that, is such a huge moment for them. When you get to a moment like that, is there an added sense of pressure and responsibility in making that moment perfect for the show, especially when you know fans are waiting for that to happen?
BARNET: Yeah, you wanna make that as perfect as possible. In that moment, what added the pressure was the range of emotion that had to be expressed within 10 steps, as we walk in. When we look around, there’s a variety of senses of approval or disapproval. I look at my group of friends and the direction I kept getting was that I didn’t really know how I felt when I looked at them because they’re obviously all looking at me dirty and like, “How could you be with this girl, who’s not on your level and who also cheated on you?” But then, I’m also going back to Devi and being confident and holding her hand. So, expressing that was definitely a challenge because it’s 10 steps where you’re trying to do all of that. I really think it turned out well. I love the song choice. I will not ruin that surprise, but it is magical and it ties it all together.
What would you guys like to see in a Season 3? Is there anything involving your character, specifically, that you have on a personal wishlist of things you’d like to get to explore or learn more about?
LEWISON: Yeah, it’s several things for me. Also, it’s weird because a lot of things that I wish for don’t end up coming true. For Season 1, I was like, “Man, I wonder if this will happen?” And then, I’d get surprised by things I didn’t even wish for and be like, “Wow, I really definitely want this in here. I’m so glad that this is there.” For me, I love Ben’s home life. I love getting to work with Angela Kinsey. I think that she’s amazing. It’s really interesting when we see Ben’s home life. And then, the biggest question now, where do we go from here, with Ben’s relationship with Aneesa and Ben’s relationship with Devi, and just peeling back some of his layers and showing some more of that vulnerability. I really love those types of scenes. So, I’m really excited, if we get the chance to do a Season 3, what the writers are gonna be cooking up because it’s so excellent. I think you can see from our transition from Season 1 to Season 2 that, in my opinion, it’s only gotten better. I can’t wait to see, if we get that Season 3, how much better we can continue to be.
BARNET: You never know how they’re gonna work the timeline, but Paxton is a junior and he may be a senior in Season 3. So, it’s gonna be interesting to see what he’s deciding to do with his life after high school and how he’s gonna be handling having to be more academically inclined. There is a lot there to work with. There is a lot of new in his life that he has to handle and deal with. So, seeing how he tackles that while everything’s getting flip flopped on him and he’s being forced to have to try a lot harder, it’s gonna be interesting seeing how he deals with that. Also, I love how they dove more into his heritage and home life in Season 2 and I think that could even go further, with maybe a surprise visit from a cousin in Japan. Who knows?
I love how much fuller all the characters’ lives feel in Season 2. We get so many more private character moments that there isn’t necessarily time for when you’re introducing everybody in the first season, and that just makes all of the characters’ lives feel so much bigger.
BARNET: Yeah, I agree.
Never Have I Ever is available to stream at Netflix.