Mindy Kaling, the series creator of Netflix's Never Have I Ever has explained why the popular show's fourth season will be its last. Never Have I Ever follows an over-achieving and impulsive first generation Indian-American teen, Devi, navigating the romantic and social foibles of high school. The show was co-created by Lang Fisher, a writer on The Mindy Project, and it's a semi-autobiographical take on Kaling's life growing up in Boston, although the show is set in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles.
Never Have I Ever season 2 saw Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) continue her journey of growth in the wake of her romantic triangle with Paxton and Ben imploding. It also continued to deal with her complicated relationship with her strict but loving mother, Nalini, both still grappling with her father's death. Devi made real strides towards maturity in some ways, while backtracking in others. She finally set boundaries with Paxton about their hidden relationship, but she also accidentally started a rumor that fellow student Aneesa has an eating disorder, because Devi was jealous of her and Ben's relationship.
While fans would be happy for the show to go on for years to come, Kaling had a more pragmatic idea in mind. As she told E! News, "they can't be in high school forever." She goes on to point out how odd it is to watch someone play a high schooler for "12 years" knowing full well an actor is in their late 30s. Having the show end after four seasons perfectly mirrors the amount of years the majority of people spend in high school. Kaling elaborates that she and the other writers feel positive about telling Devi's story in four seasons, saying:
"The great thing about doing it on Netflix is that we got to tell stories that you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell in traditional network shows and so we feel good. We really told the story of this 15-year-old girl and that felt like the perfect amount of time."
Never Have I Ever has garnered plenty of accolades for its strides in representation and its breaking of Asian stereotypes. Fans love how truthful and messy the characters are, while still being hilarious and infinitely relatable. Never Have I Ever season 3 officially wrapped and is due to air some time this summer. Kaling and Fisher seem ecstatic about the upcoming season and promise it will bring plenty more hilarious adventures and moments of steamy romance to assuage any fans disappointed by news of the show's ending.
Most high school shows don't stay in high school forever, often casting stars in their early-late 20s, so by their nature, they can't. In Beverly Hills 90210, Pretty Little Liars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, they all graduated at some point and moved on to college. No one wants to see Rory Gilmore at her fourth consecutive senior prom. It's always better when a show can end on its on terms, rather than running a once promising story into the ground because it should have ended seasons earlier, or because network executives are too greedy to let a good thing go. Supernatural and Once Upon A Time are two such examples, but there are dozens more that could be listed. Audiences should be excited that not only do they get to see two more seasons of Never Have I Ever, but that Kaling and Fisher get to tell the story they wanted to tell and wrap it up in a way that they feel honors their characters.
Source: E! News