Which boy is actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan supposed to end up with in her character at the end of Never Have I Ever?
Apparently it depends on the day – at least as far as most reporters are aware.
“OK, I’ll be honest in this interview – I’m going to let you in on my plan,” 21-year-old Ramakrishnan said ahead of the comedy’s fourth and final season, which premiered on Netflix Thursday. This plan: to give different answers to different publications in their other exit interviews.
Why bother? Mostly, it seems, it’s about messing with people.
But it was also her way of dismissing the debate altogether. Should her character Devi, the show’s self-sabotaging and sex-obsessed teenage protagonist, choose passed out swimming captain Paxton (Darren Barnet)? Should she choose Ben (Jaren Lewison), a certified nerd and Devi’s sworn school rival? Should Ramakrishnan care?
“Both guys are great,” she said. But Devi is so young, she added. “When I think about my 17-year-old self, I don’t want her to commit. Like going to college, bro. Live your life.”
When we last saw Devi she had as much life as she could take. She’d just redeemed Ben’s handwritten coupon for “a free boink” — trading in her long-hated V-Card in the process. The final season picks up steam with the chaos that follows, but Devi also needs to focus on her academic future as she heads into senior year. Yes, there’s balancing friendships and romantic prospects, but also meeting admissions counselors and attending universities.
Raised just outside of Toronto in Mississauga, Ontario, Ramakrishnan was once an ordinary high school teenager, a daughter of first-generation Tamil immigrants from Sri Lanka. Like Devi, a Native American, she grew up in a multi-generational home – and still lives there with her family. Also, like Devi, she is a passionate nerd herself. (Her Instagram is full of cosplay looks from the past, and she spent the last few minutes of our call sharing video game tips.)
Any sense of normalcy quickly changed after she answered an open casting call from Never’ creators Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher during her senior year in 2019. She outperformed more than 15,000 others for the role in her first professional acting outing. Other jobs followed: she lent her voice to the Disney/Pixar animated film Turning Red (2022) and was cast in the upcoming Netflix film The Netherfield Girls, a modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
In a video call late last month from an Airbnb in Los Angeles, Ramakrishnan shared her thoughts on completing the series, completing her first full year of college, and sharing said Airbnb with her grandmother. These are edited excerpts from the interview.
Many of Devi’s experiences seem strange at first, but the feelings she’s struggling with are understandable. Did you have a similar high school experience?
I wasn’t crazy about boys like Devi; My friends always came first for me. But the biggest lesson I witnessed was her journey to self-love, which was all about learning to love yourself first. You have to be okay with your own silence.
Do you think you’ve reached that point with yourself?
I have learned that there are ups and downs. That happens with every new relationship, right? It’s certainly not a linear journey. I’m definitely better than I was when I was 17. I used to be really angry at myself for being someone who wore my heart on my sleeve. If I liked a man, I just told him. Like, “Hey man. That’s it. I like you.” I went through a phase where I stopped doing it, just out of fear.
Having your heart on your sleeve is such a big Devi thing.
That’s why I got this tattoo! [She holds up her arm and points to the inside of her elbow, where there is an illustration of an anatomically correct heart.] It’s kind of like an “Never have I ever” tattoo. One of the best lines of the series is Dr. Ryan [Devi’s therapist, played by Niecy Nash] saying, “Devi, you feel a lot, and that means you’re going to hurt a lot, but it means you’re going to have such a beautiful and rich life.” Oh my god, when I cry in this scene, I cry actually because that’s me – at that moment I was just crying. I thought: There’s nothing wrong with the way I feel. i feel a lot
This is one of those shows where you want to yell at the screen when Devi does something stupid. But we’re still here for them for four seasons. Why do you think we stay on their side?
I wish I had a video of fans reacting to Devi’s most idiotic moments. My reaction when I read the script is always like this: [sucks in a sharp breath through her teeth] Ooo-kay. But I think the reason people have a crush on them is at the heart of their flaws, starting from real-world locations. Sometimes it’s easier to tell our friends and family what they deserve and how we see them. But when we look in the mirror, it’s hard for us to say that we deserve the same respect – that we too are just as beautiful. I think Devi is that messy friend that we really see in ourselves.
How did you deal with the more difficult scenes surrounding Devi’s father’s death?
Mindy and Lang helped talk through with their respective parents how it felt for them, but it was also just about learning how to be openly sad. Actors get this great opportunity to cry, and in the end nobody asks us, “Are you okay?” We get applause. We can totally break down and everyone is like, ‘Oh my God. Great.” And sometimes that’s great. Sometimes it’s a lot. When I look at those scenes, I try to realize that we’re doing a different show — still comedic, but sonically we’re going to be sad now. But that’s life , isn’t it? It’s comedic, and then it gets really sad and you dream about a dead father.
There is a heavy focus on Devi’s mother (Poorna Jagannathan), which isn’t very common in shows about high school.
Yes, 100 percent, the whole family dynamic. I think one of my favorite parts of Never Have I Ever was the addition of Devi’s grandma. Because I’m very close to my grandma – right now, actually. In this Airbnb where I live. My grandma and I sleep together. But I grew up under one roof with my mother, my grandmother and my great-grandmother. And my father, my brother, my grandfather – but four generations of women, that’s what I’m used to. Family talks in my house are like ping-pong games. I think the Vishwakumars do the same. And Nirmala [Devi’s grandmother, played by Ranjita Chakravarty]? she is cheeky This is my grandma. I definitely inherited my overdramatic self from her.
A big part of this season revolves around Devi’s journey to college. Has it made you think about going back to school? [Ramakrishnan deferred her acceptance to York University’s theater program in Toronto when she was cast.]
I’m actually back. Dude, I finished my compulsory sciences and couldn’t be happier.
which one was it
Astronomy. It’s such an art kid thing. How, ooh! Stars! Oh! planets! Space! My whole approach to school right now is to push where I can, but I don’t have a timetable. Obviously it’s been four years and I haven’t made it and I’m still alive. But I really love studying. My degree is now in Human Rights and Justice Studies. My parents think I’m a sadist just because I do all the work I do at once. I’m giving myself a pat on the back for getting through my whole semester with decent grades – I’m the “Cs gets a degree” type of guy, but I’ve done a lot better.
How do you feel about the ending of the series?
In the end it could have been either Team Ben or Team Paxton winning and I wouldn’t really care. I think it’s pretty awesome that she’s grown up like that. I’m just Team Devi; I’m really. It’s about her independence, about her making mistakes and just learning what she likes. I will die on this hill. I think people think I’m lying, but I really care about letting a woman be a woman.