Entertainment / Maitreyi’s Mastery: Catching Up With Maitreyi Ramakrishnan & Season 2 Of ‘Never Have I Ever’

Maitreyi’s Mastery: Catching Up With Maitreyi Ramakrishnan & Season 2 Of ‘Never Have I Ever’

Entertainment Jul 15, 2021

by Matthew Currie

Last time we chatted with Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, it was the early days of the lockdown and she was getting ready to make her international acting debut on Mindy Kaling’s brand-new Netflix series Never Have I Ever. Exactly a year later, we catch up with this now global sensation to celebrate her awesome year that followed, what the past 12 months has taught her and what fans should expect with Season 2, which is out today!

In 2021, it’s harder than ever to really make a splash on TV, given the ocean of content being produced by broadcast networks, cable channels and streaming services. Every single day, there’s a new show debuting on HBO, Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, etc. — entirely too many to keep up with.

**Maitreyi’s Mastery: Catching Up With Maitreyi Ramakrishnan & Season 2 Of *Never Have I Ever*: Canadian breakout Maitreyi Ramakrishnan returns as relatably awkward L.A. teenager Devi Vishwakumar.** Photo credit: Isabella B. Vosmikova/Netflix © 2021

But one program that definitely did stand out in the pandemic-addled spring of 2020 was Netflix’s high-school dramedy Never Have I Ever. The show is co-created by Mindy Kaling (The Office, The Mindy Project), which certainly played a big role in its remarkability.

Another key factor? Breakout star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, the Mississauga native who had critics abuzz with her quirky, nuanced performance as Los Angeles teen Devi Vishwakumar, a brilliant student whose social life leaves a little something to be desired. In season one, Devi set out to broaden her horizons — particularly when it came to romance, starting with a sex-vitation to school stud Paxton (Darren Barnet). She pushed her best pals (Ramona Young, Lee Rodriguez) to spread their wings as well, while also grappling with an overbearing mom (Poorna Jagannathan), an annoyingly beautiful cousin (Richa Moorjani) and periodic interludes by her supportive yet deceased father (Sendhil Ramamurthy).

Season 2 opens to find Devi still bumbling of age, while also immersed in an unexpected love triangle betwixt aforementioned hunk Paxton and her academic nemesis turned possible soulmate Ben (Jaren Lewison).

In advance of today’s season premiere, we were fortunate enough to land a Zoom chat with the 19-year-old leading lady, who discussed where the show is headed and how her life has changed.

ANOKHI LIFE: When we spoke a year ago, the series was just about to air. And it did so with a splash, debuting at No. 1 on Netflix. Tell me your reaction when you heard that news.

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan: That was crazy to me. Because obviously Netflix has a lot of shows. I thought the show was good, but not that good (laughs). I was like, “OK, cool.”

Maitreyi’s Mastery: Catching Up With Maitreyi Ramakrishnan & Season 2 Of *Never Have I Ever*: (L to R) Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi, alongside Lee Rodriguez and Ramona Young as her equally unusual pals Fabiola and Eleanor. Photo Credit: Isabella B. Vosmikova/Netflix © 2021

AL: The past 12 months were quite incredible for you. You were named as part of “Time 100 Next 2021” by Time magazine and on top of that, The New York Times called you one of the year’s best actors.

MR: It’s surreal. It’s all happening so fast. You don’t have time to understand that it’s happening. Part of it is honestly because of the pandemic and the quarantine. You just see it as another click-away article, which is just another photo I see on the Internet. Does that make sense?

I got to hold the actual physical Time magazine article. That was cool.

AL: When you and your friend were first putting together your audition tape, did you envision that all of this would happen?

MR: The conversation between my friend and I was literally, “Yo, wouldn’t it be cool if we go to Hollywood?” “Yeah, but if we lived in L.A., that would be so cool.” We just did it for the fun of it (laughs).

AL: What was it about Devi that first excited you as an actor?

MR: There are so many things to love about Devi, because she’s such a well-rounded character with a lot of different personality traits and quirks and just depth. She’s a nerd, but she’s not your shy, conventional nerd that is incapable of talking to people. But she still gets flustered when she talks to Paxton, because it’s Paxton. She’s really, really smart, but then she’s also really dumb when it comes to common sense. Like, “Devi, what are you doing? This is pretty clear, dude. Like, come on, be better!” She’s such a great character to play, with all these different nuances that are fun to just mess around with.

Maitreyi’s Mastery: Catching Up With Maitreyi Ramakrishnan & Season 2 Of *Never Have I Ever*: Common joins the cast as Dr. Chris Jackson, a dapper dermatologist who romances Devi’s mum Nalini (Poorna Jagannathan) this season. Photo credit: Isabella B. Vosmikova/Netflix © 2021

AL: Let’s talk about the Paxton vs. Ben of it all. The big love triangle. There’s been quite a shift in the dynamic between Devi and Paxton in particular. In season one, he was her big crush. In season two, he’s in a position of pursuing her, and she may actually be more interested in Ben.

MR: Right now, that voicemail [Paxton left Devi at the end of season one] is loud and clear in her phone, but God knows if she’s actually going to respond to it, right? I thought that was pretty awesome. It’s sorta cool to see how that full-circle comes about. But it helps add layers to both guys — Ben and Paxton, and also adds a lot of extra arguments for both the “teams,” as I’ve seen on Twitter.

AL: On that note, is it a little surreal that you’re now a person whose fictional love life has “teams”?

MR: Yeah! Not gonna lie. That is a little surreal. Because it is sorta that Edward-Jacob, Twilight love triangle — but no vampires and werewolves…

AL: And viewers want to know: which team are you on?

MR: I am obviously on the right team, which is Team Devi. That’s my proposed team. Preachin’ it since season one! And I am happy to say we have more people supporting Team Devi, we are slowly recruiting them. Yay!

AL: Mindy Kaling co-created this show, along with Lang Fisher. What is it about Mindy’s writing that’s so special, that people really gravitate towards?

MR: Mindy, obviously she’s an amazing comic and a great writer, actor — does it all. She does so many things. But I think what makes her comedy work is that there’s a lot of heart in it, because it comes from genuine places — places that she has lived through herself. And because of that, she understands that cringe that Devi is going through. It’s that same cringe that we experience as viewers. As an actor, I understand that cringe because it’s like, “Yeah, we been there.” Audiences say the same. “Yep, we been there!” Which makes it so relatable. Comedy is actually (dealing with) some of the most heartfelt things, the most serious and sad things out there, but it’s in just a funny tone that we deliver it with.

**Maitreyi’s Mastery: Catching Up With Maitreyi Ramakrishnan & Season 2 Of *Never Have I Ever*: (L to R) Utkarsh Ambudkar and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.** Photo Credit: Isabella B. Vosmikova/Netflix © 2021

AL: You were just about to head off to York University when you landed this role. Is it at all strange to get out of high school and then immediately be put in a situation where you’re re-exploring the experience?

MR: Oh yeah, 100 per cent. It’s like, “Hey, congrats. You graduated high school. Time to reflect. What did you like about high school? What did you hate about high school. We’re gonna go through all the moments.”

AL: Tell me about being the ambassador for Plan International Canada. What was it about Plan Canada that attracted you?

MR: I always wanted to work with them. My parents adopted a child through them. I wanted to do more and learn from them. I told them “Teach me everything!” I want to learn everything that I possibly can. I want to have a productive relationship. I love working with them because they are so open to my ideas. One of my favourite things to work with them is Gift of Hope campaign. You can give someone a gift like a goat, which is the biggest one. You see the actual impact that gift does. My favourite is the gift of a birth certificate; that accesses a lot of human rights, because without a birth certificate you can’t do a lot. You can’t own land without a birth certificate. You can’t have a lot of your name. We are very privileged to have that and not think about it.

AL: On the whole, what should the audience expect this year? What do you hope they take away from Season 2?

MR: If they would laugh at least once, that would be cool (laughs). It would be cool if they take away all the different lessons and themes that this season has. I also think that the new characters that are brought on perfectly blend with the characters that we already know. These characters bring out another side of our characters that we haven’t seen.

All 10 episodes of Never Have I Ever Season 2 debut Thursday, July 15, on Netflix.

Matthew Currie

Author

A long-standing entertainment journalist, Currie is a graduate of the Professional Writing program at Toronto’s York University. He has spent the past number of years working as a freelancer for ANOKHI and for diverse publications such as Sharp, TV Week, CAA’s Westworld and BC Business. Currie ...

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Maitreyi’s Mastery: Catching Up With Maitreyi Ramakrishnan & Season 2 Of ‘Never Have I Ever’

by Matthew Currie

Matthew Currie

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