Never Have I Ever season 4 spoilers below
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan's journey as Never Have I Ever's enchantingly flawed Devi Vishwakumar is over and while we weep over that fact, Ramakrishnan has a pretty different immediate future to look forward to. One that involves fewer finger guns and dramatic Devi-style antics.
In an exclusive interview with Digital Spy she opens up about her 'bittersweet' season-four journey, what's next for her post-Sherman Oaks and why, while Devi finally, finally got the guy, did it even really matter any more?
Ramakrishnan also responds to John McEnroe's curious cliffhanger words.
You know the ones we mean, you've only been obsessing over them since the finale dropped.
The last time we spoke to you you'd wrapped filming on season four and you told us that you were happy Devi's story ended. It's been a whole year since then, do you still feel the same?
Honestly, I still am really happy with it. I'm happy with how the show ended. Truly.
Personally as an actor, I feel way more at peace. I think before, when it was still fresh, I was way more bittersweet about the whole thing but now I'm truly just at peace, and very calm about letting the show end.
Was the bittersweetness about the end of the journey, or the end of Devi's particular story?
I think a little bit of both, back then but now I definitely have closure.
Devi finally fulfils her season-one goal to have sex. We loved the way that there's no stigma attached to her enthusiastic sexual exploration, and the fact that she takes charge of her own sex life. What does that kind of representation mean to you?
I think it's so important, and I also love how Never Have I Ever will talk about having sex in a bunch of different instances, and a bunch of different experiences, and making sure that they're all a) valid, and b) consensual. Which is very, very key.
I mean Ben shows more of an emotional connection, but that still didn't pan out, as in the best of experiences and with Ethan, it was more lust.
Either way, it's totally okay.
There's no shame about either instance.
What I do love about it is, it's all very realistic. I love Devi and Ben's, you know, worries and doubts after with their friends, or, you know, basketball player.
I think those conversations are like, 'Oh my God. Am I just bad at this? What did he want? What did she want? Did I mess up?'
I think that's a really nice representation for audiences of all ages, and, you know, men and women, and everyone in between, to just see.
Devi also ends up with exactly the kind of guy she said she didn't want: a nerd from her AP class. Since you were happy with the end, why do you feel that Ben was the right choice?
I never said Ben was the right choice. I said I was happy with the end. I mean, if the end for you is being with a man, that's great but that's not my end.
My end is Devi praying at the altar, and praying to the gods, and not asking for anything, except for asking them to look out for her loved ones, and then just saying a deep, deep thank you to them, for the amazing life that she realises she has.
To me, that's the ending I liked.
It could have been either of the guys after that, and I would have been fine, because, truly, that's the part that matters.
Devi's the hero of the story, and we get to see her come out a whole different person, a different young woman, than when we started.
One of the show's strengths is how it explores the relationships between women really well. Family, friendships, frenemies; you literally have the whole spectrum of female relationships. What was it like to you, getting to showcase the complexities of those relationships?
As a woman, that's life. It's just really important and special that we get to, because we don't often get to see that in such a genuine way, and in a way where we put the importance of platonic relationships at the same level as romantic.
I personally think your friends, and the love that you have for your friends, should be just as much as the love that you have for your romantic partners. It's different, but it still can be just as intense.
I think it is very special, especially between women, when we don't get to see that often enough.
The show is also about the painfully beautiful process of how we process grief. Grief is never-ending but do you think the show does justice to that raw stage of the grieving process?
I think what Never Have I Ever does very well is, we explain that grief isn't a process that you are "one and done", and you're cured.
Devi lost her father at the age of 15, and that's such immense trauma that is truly something you definitely can't get over just like that.
I love that we continue to push back on it. We continue to explore that. We continue to not only see the grief impact Devi but also her mother, and see how it's affected their family.
I personally think that even after the series finale, we can definitely expect and see that Devi's character is still tackling all of that; she's still coming to terms with the loss of someone who truly was her best friend.
Speaking of the finale, it ends with some very curious words, "Signing off... for now". What does that mean?
It means something, definitely, to the people who have the actual power to make it mean something more.
I mean, to me, it's just the same as the audience. It means saying: 'Oh, wow. OK. Cool. That's happening.'
It's definitely not in my court.
So you don't have much knowledge about what could potentially come next?
I don't.
Well, what's next for you, then?
Truly. Well, continuing this press tour, which has been very fun. I've been excited to do it. But also, after, just taking a moment to breathe, and live a little, and hang out with my friends, because I've worked really, really hard since I was 17, throughout the whole pandemic, kind of without a break.
So it'd be kind of nice to, you know, be a little bit of a normal human being, in the real world.
Finally, we have to ask, any words of comfort for the Paxton fans out there who were shipping you two from the beginning?
Um.sucks to suck. I'm not good with comfort.
Never Have I Ever seasons 1-4 are available to watch on Netflix.