This Is Exactly What Devi Needs In Never Have I Ever Season 2, According To The Cast

The season 1 finale for Netflix’s Never Have I Ever, “... Said I’m Sorry,” could technically end after one perfect scene and leave its audience desperate for a season 2 renewal. In the cathartic set piece of the episode, Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) rushes to the Malibu shore to join her family for a moving goodbye to her late dad Mohan (Sendhil Ramamurthy). After 10 episodes of family infighting, Devi, her mom Nalini (Poorna Jagannathan), and her cousin Kamala (Richa Moorjani) grieve for Mohan while scattering his ashes. A montage of Devi’s best memories with her dad plays to “Beautiful Day” by U2. 

It is, as Bono sings, a deeply beautiful day. But, the story doesn’t end there. Before the finale fade to black, we check in with both of Devi’s love interests: competitive secret sad boy Ben (Jaren Lewison) and dreamy jock-with-a-heart-of-gold Paxton (Darren Barnet). Devi kisses Ben in the final seconds of “Sorry,” causing her to miss a call from Paxton, who is standing outside of her home back in Sherman Oaks. 

Never Have I Ever wants its fans thinking about the Ben-Devi-Paxton love triangle as they dream about a prospective season 2, which Netflix has yet to order. However, the cast of the streaming comedy says Devi should have far bigger goals than romance if Never Have I Ever returns for a second season of lovably awkward Netflix hijinks. 

“I’m Team Devi, man!” Never star Ramona Young told Refinery29 during a February interview when asked if she had considered a Team Ben vs. Team Paxton debate for the future of her show. Young's costars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Lee Rodriguez — aka Internet darling Fabiola — were sitting next to Young, who plays theater geek Eleanor, on a cozy West Hollywood hotel couch and passionately agreed. “Team Devi!,” Rodriguez shouted, adding, “I’m Team Devi and her happiness, okay? She’s healing. She’s getting through it.”  

“I didn’t even think about Team Ben or Team Devi. I mean Team Paxton. Sorry, Paxton!,” Ramakrishnan says with a laugh, proving just how difficult it is for her to imagine anything outside of her character’s internal world going forward. “That [love triangle] didn’t even pop into my mind. I was just happy for her, her own journey, and figuring out herself.” 

“Sorry” clearly puts Devi on the road to the kind of enlightenment her portrayer is talking about. Not only does Devi help spread Mohan’s ashes — bumping into narrator John McEnroe along the way — but she agrees to move back home after multiple episodes of back-and-forth familial chaos. In penultimate episode “... Had to be on My Best Behavior,” Devi even picks back up her harp, which she last played during a school recital the year prior. Mohan suffered his fatal heart attack during the performance. Because of that tragic fact, Devi had been too traumatized by loss to touch something so tied to her father's death. By returning to her harp, Devi is letting go of some of her white-hot grief.

More than anything, Ramakrishnan believes Devi needs to continue her growth if Never is picked up for a second season. “After playing Devi and going through those emotions and what she had to worry about and what was important to her, I think she is overly confident to show up the fact that she’s very insecure,” Ramakrishnan began, explaining what she hopes to see in her character’s future. “If I was friends with Devi, I would want to tell her, Just be comfortable in your own skin. Be able to sit with yourself. Like, Devi has her friends, but I don’t think Devi is friends with herself.” 

As Lee Rodriguez said after that thoughtful truth bomb, “Dang.”