There’s a specific turbulence that accompanies high school coming-of-age stories, and plenty of shows have attempted to trace the growing pains of growing up — among them, beloved shows like “Euphoria,” “Degrassi,” “All American” and “Skins,” which delve into admittedly adult and weighty topics. Netflix’s “Never Have I Ever,” from co-creators Lang Fisher and Mindy Kaling, is born of grief and trauma — Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s Devi Vishwakumar is still reeling after the death of her father — but the series stands apart for letting its central teen be, well, a teen.
“We like that we have someone who’s a little immature,” Fisher, who also serves as showrunner and executive producer, told TheWrap. “She’s insecure and she makes defensive moves out of her insecurity because that’s the kind of teenager I was and our writers were and most people are. You are sort of dishonest and a little bit shady because you’re too tender about things and you’re too vulnerable.”
The show, which premieres its third season Friday on Netflix, sees Devi making “crazy mistakes” as she attempts to process the loss of her best friend and cope with the detachment she feels from her strict mother, all while trying to have her high school firsts with her core group of friends. Throughout Seasons 1 and 2, she’s been selfish and arrogant, inconsiderate and quick to anger, but the writers room takes care to imbue her with a sense of empathy and, of course, plenty of humor.
“Several writers, me included, have lost a parent … and I think that we all drew from personal experiences of the weird comedy that comes with all that pain,” Fisher said. “We wanted to show a young person who’s having trouble processing it, and therefore making these hilarious decisions, like asking a strange boy to take her virginity and flipping out at people and talking to a coyote and all the other things that she’s done in the series.”
Ramakrishnan said she finds portraying Devi “fulfilling” because of her dimensionality and that it’s “never lost on me” that the character — a breakthrough in representation for darker-skinned South Asian girls — is her first role.
“Devi means the world to me,” the actress told TheWrap. “My favorite part about her is that she has just such a big heart that is able to feel so many emotions, so very strongly — yes, very capable of self-sabotaging and has a bunch of insecurities on her shoulders — but she also has such a capacity for love and compassion and empathy as well.”
#Daxton may be official as “NHIE” embarks on its junior year season, but — by the looks of it — Devi will continue getting schooled in the art of romance. Not only is there potentially trouble in paradise with heartthrob Paxton Hall-Yoshida (Darren Barnet), but a new love triangle is forming on the horizon with cast addition Anirudh Pisharody, who plays Des.
Season 3 picks up with the official hard launch of the newly christened power couple, but the pair’s honeymoon phase is cut short as Devi begins letting self-doubt and naysayers cloud her judgment.
As much as Fisher and the writers room love the romantic drama in the show — “Our writers room is split evenly down the middle between Ben and Paxton fans, it’s really funny,” Fisher said — the mother-daughter friendship forms “such a large part, if not the most important relationship” in the series.
Poorna Jagannathan, who plays Devi’s mother, said, “I think this season you see Nalini step into the huge shoes left by Mohan — he really used to emotionally take care of Devi and really be her best friend and just be able to be a really loving parent. Nalini is so amazing as a parent in other ways, but emotionally there’s always been such a gap between her and Devi.”
“NHIE” also prioritizes authentically representing a first-generation Indian American family, which includes Devi’s cousin Kamala (Richa Moorjani). Moorjani, who grew up in southern India, said she was particularly ecstatic to be part of a scene, briefly depicted in Season 3’s trailer, that features a Golu — a festive display of dolls particularly tied to the revered multi-day Hindu celebration of Navaratri. (The show’s Golu includes a doll of Dr. Sanjay Gupta, which Jagannathan joked is a “big spoiler alert.”)
“I actually grew up going to these Golus, the dolls on the steps, and it’s not something that happens all over India, that’s a very specific cultural thing that happens in the south and not even all of the south — only parts of the south celebrate that — so to see that not only reflected, but to be a part of that, I felt like I was just going to my family friends’ Golu,” Moorjani said. “It’s so wonderful to be a part of that and I know that there was a small snippet of it in the trailer and I already saw comments from people saying, ‘Oh my God, that’s a Golu. I feel so seen right now.’”
Ultimately, the show is also centered around teenagers’ painstaking, and often hilarious, experiences navigating popularity, academic pressures, self-esteem issues and first crushes. Fisher described the upcoming season as a “tale of insecurity.”
“We created a very flawed character,” she said. “There’s so many teen girl characters that teen girls are inundated with that make them feel like less than and make them feel like they are not enough and we’re hoping by creating this girl — who’s a little scrappy and kind of punk and sometimes sounds like Bart Simpson and is not like an elegant woman of the world who looks like a supermodel– … We really want girls to see her and to feel good about themselves and to realize you don’t need to waste all this time hating yourself in high school or when you’re young because it’s just not worth it.”
For star Megan Suri, who portrays Aneesa — first introduced last season and perceived by Devi as a threat for being a seemingly more put-together — the show is vital for young girls in how it depicts female friendships.
“One of my favorite traits of this friendship group is how they are — maybe not Devi, sorry Devi — super big on accountability,” Suri said. “People have this idea that maybe friends should just be people that agree with you all the time … and I think it’s important to have friends that step out on you if you’re not doing the right thing or call you out on your crap.”
Then, of course, there are the delicious rom-com aspects of “NHIE,” which are always sure to “create a visceral reaction” in the fervent viewing audience.
“In Season 2, when Paxton appears at the window, I mean that’s just ‘Romeo and Juliet,’” Fisher said, laughing. “But it’s a timeless move. I don’t know if anyone’s actually ever had a guy come through their window. I certainly never have, but it seems thrilling.”
“Never Have I Ever” Season 3 will premiere all 10 half-hour episodes Aug. 12.
