'Never Have I Ever' Cast Spill Behind-the-Scenes Secrets for Season 2 | THR Interview - video Dailymotion

Hollywood Journal

The stars of 'Never Have I Ever' speak on the success of the series, representation in Hollywood, what's to come in season two and Team Paxton vs. Team Ben fans. 'Never Have I Ever' is now streaming on Netflix.

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00:00I want them to see season two tomorrow so badly, and I want them to just have like a vomit bucket

00:06right beside them. The cast of Never Have I Ever is spilling all the behind-the-scenes secrets of

00:11season two. The hit Netflix series stars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi Vishwakumar, a first-generation

00:17Indian-American teenage girl navigating her friendships, family, and love, all while coping

00:22with the sudden loss of her father. The coming-of-age series, co-created by Mindy Kaling

00:26and Lang Fischer, based on the former's childhood, has been seen as groundbreaking for its representation

00:31of the South Asian community. The cast shared with us the importance of that representation

00:36and how showcasing new and diverse talent on a major platform was a big win.

00:41You know, as a fellow South Asian, South Indian, this show, of course, really resonated with me,

00:47and we've been craving this kind of representation for so long.

00:51This show is, you know, walks the talk, but it's bizarre to be in it because it's something we

00:58couldn't have imagined. This show is radically diverse and radically authentic yet radically

01:04universal.

01:05That wasn't lost on me about, you know, making sure I do a good job that I'm actually proud

01:11of and sticks to my own morals. Though I was some 17-year-old kid who had no idea about how Hollywood

01:17would work, I was a 17-year-old kid that knew what I was comfortable and not comfortable with.

01:22Mindy and Lang, they believed in us from the very start. Like, they sat us down at the first,

01:26like, kind of pre-table read and told us why we booked this show and how much they believed in us

01:31and believed in our talent. And I think when you pull that much belief and perspective together,

01:36you know that you're making something special. We could all feel like this magnetism in the air

01:40that we knew it was going to mean so much to people.

01:42I don't think any of us knew that it was going to take off in such a big way.

01:47You know, with stories like these, first of all, we never get to tell them or make it past,

01:51you know, the written pilot stage, let alone getting picked up straight to series to be on

01:55a show that was literally on my vision board, a show that was highlighting a South Asian family

02:00living in America that normalizes South Asian American experience with multiple South Asian

02:06characters and diverse people behind and in front of the camera. All of that was a dream come true.

02:11Now in Season 2, the show finds Davey torn between two love interests,

02:15her school rival Ben Gross, played by Jaron Lewison,

02:18and school heartthrob Paxton Hall-Yoshida, played by Darren Barnett.

02:22I'm really excited to pull back the layers and get beyond the cover of what Paxton is portrayed as,

02:28I think, a lot in Season 1. You start to get warmed up to it at the end of Season 1,

02:31but he's really, you know, pulling them back this season.

02:34You're seeing a whole new vulnerable side of him.

02:36I cannot say anything on the narrator, but I am very, very happy with the choice.

02:42I think they do it so much justice, and it's an episode I'm very, very proud of.

02:48I'm excited for fans to see with Fabiola, kind of her full circle realization moment at the end.

02:56So I'm excited for people to just, you know, watch that journey and also everyone else's journeys

03:00and all the new characters that are coming and new love triangles and new love interests.

03:05So it's going to be really, there's a lot going on.

03:08Your friends made fun of the way that you ran in Season 1, but they didn't like your kissing scenes.

03:16Oh, I know.

03:16And you have, you have a lot of them in Season 2.

03:19I want them to see Season 2 tomorrow so badly, and I want them,

03:24I want them to just have like a vomit bucket right beside them.

03:26Season 2 also welcomes newcomer Megan Suri, who plays new student Anissa in the series,

03:32a role the actress says was a dream come true.

03:34Walk me through what was going through your head when you first found out that you booked this role.

03:39It's nuts, Neha.

03:41I was nuts.

03:42I don't even know.

03:42I was so excited when I got the audition.

03:46I was like, I have to do this.

03:48I hope that I can do this.

03:49Being on set with these people that I was watching on my screen a few months ago during quarantine

03:54still feels very surreal.

03:55I'm like waiting for it to fully hit and sink in.

03:58The new season also addresses the heated Team Paxton and Team Ben debate,

04:02with Ramakrishnan noting that while both fandoms are fiercely passionate,

04:05no one is a bigger fan of the debate than her family.

04:08All my grandma cares about is the debate between Team Paxton and Team Ben.

04:12And I ask her, what about Team Devi Ma?

04:14This is a really bad look if my own grandmother isn't supporting Team Devi.

04:19Is she Team Paxton or Team Ben?

04:21After, okay, after season one, she was Team Ben.

04:26Now she's a little bit in between.

04:28But then I'm like, okay, so like, are you Team Devi then maybe?

04:31No answer.

04:32And as for who ends up winning Devi's heart, well, you'll just have to wait and see.

04:36Yeah, no, I thought it was really wholesome.

04:39Like, I'm not gonna lie.

04:40I thought it was really wholesome, not just for like the love triangle purposes,

04:43but also just like the friends.

04:45Like the girls have like a really awesome moment.

04:47So it was a really nice way to end the series.

04:49And filming it, like we filmed that as the last kind of scenes that we did while filming.

04:55So it was all honestly really sweet.

04:57Elsewhere, the stars had some fun spilling more behind-the-scenes secrets of filming season two

05:01and even showed off their close-knit bond as a cast.

05:05Who is most likely to pull a prank on set?

05:09My three.

05:10Probably my three.

05:12Or Jaron.

05:13My tray.

05:14My tray, for sure.

05:15Her pranks are never bad.

05:16They're just kind of like little small surprises that you're like, oh, that's nice.

05:20If you guys could both have anyone narrate your life, who would it be?

05:24I would love for Pedro Pascal.

05:27Morgan Freeman, just because his voice is like soothing.

05:31Morgan Freeman.

05:33I know that's your answer too, Jaron.

05:34We've already talked about it.

05:35I know, Mindy Kaling.

05:36Mindy Kaling.

05:37I don't want like a celebrity that like I actually know.

05:40So I'd probably just like ask Mindy.

05:42Like, you know what?

05:43It actually could be a solid favor.

05:44Like, you know, like you do me a solid.

05:47Like I did you a solid.

05:48Season two of Never Have I Ever is streaming now on Netflix.

05:51For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Neha Joy.

'Never Have I Ever' Cast Spill Behind-the-Scenes Secrets for Season 2 | THR Interview

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