“This nerd is playing doubles like a pro!”
John McEnroe is impressed.
(Nobody tell her mom!)
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.Gizelle Hernandez for EW
Yes, you read that last part correctly.
And in typical Devi fashion, it’s a messy one: She decides to date them both.
Hey, it’s not like it’s an easy choice!
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.Gizelle Hernandez for EW
Paxton is hot, but Ben is smart.
Ben and Devi have a lot in common, but Paxton isreallyhot.
As Devi saysin the season 2 trailer, “Ben gets my super-brainy side.
Paxton gets my mega-horny side.”
And according to McEnroe, it seems to be working.
At least for now.
“It’s exploding with so much more electricity.”
That’s great news for a fandom that has waited more than a year for the show’s return.
“When it dropped, I was in awe,” says Barnet.
Its success also proved the power of putting diverse stories on television.
That’s something that our show is unique in right now."
Even putting Devi in the middle of a love triangle feels revolutionary.
“What it means for a brown girl to navigate two boyfriends, it’s all brand new!”
And it all started with Kaling’s books.
“I also didn’t want to do something set in the ’80s or ’90s.
I wanted to do something about kids now.”
(After all, how many autobiographical series end up giving us juicy love triangles?!)
We didn’t want Devi to be that.
We wanted her to be someone that everyone knows, but maybe for the wrong reasons."
(There’s a reason McEnroe is her narrator.)
I love that about Devi.
She is someone who approaches her father’s death as this great injustice that she’s angry about.
It’s also funnier."
That somewhat disturbing visual eventually led them to Ramakrishnan, now 19.
Only this was a tweet from Mindy Kaling, announcing casting for her new series.
And Ramakrishnan, who’d previously dreamed of becoming an animator, submitted a tape.
“We wanted somebody who was super authentic,” says Fisher.
When we brought Maitreyi to L.A., she was so funny in the room.
I think she dabbed three times."
Ramakrishnan is quick to correct that last point.
“I think Lang overexaggerated how many times I dabbed.
I did it ironically!”
(And there’s a good chance she will.)
“Then I amplified her hot-headedness and I just went for it.”
you might feel Ramakrishnan shaking her head at the memory.
“Oh Devi, you weird, weird child,” she says.
“We love her.”
And she’s right.
We do love her.
Joining the fun this year isCommon, who, like many, was a big fan of season 1.
“It makes you feel good,” Common says of his experience binging the show.
“I was really impacted by how good I felt watching it.
I needed that in my life, and I need it now in my life.”
“Devi feels like it’s a betrayal,” Fisher says.
But Dr. Jackson and his high-end skin products aren’t not the only thing raising Devi’s blood pressure.
“Aneesa’s very athletic.
She also happens to be Muslim,” says Fisher.
“She has the confidence and lack of awkward jealousy that drives Devi to be a maniac.”
In other words, someone better hide Devi’s textbooks.
As for Paxton, he’s getting the Ben treatment this season.
“It was really fun to show more depth to Paxton beyond his abdominal muscles,” Barnet says.
Though, to clarify, the abdominal muscles are still prominently featured.
“I feel like we stayed true to season 1,” Ramakrishnan says.
“It’s a proper transition.
I do think season 2 is better than season 1.
I like to say, ‘We got no sophomore slump here!'”
Standing in her house in an early episode of the new season, Devi’s panicking.
Let’s just hope she really is as good at doubles as McEnroe seems to think she is.
Read more fromI Want My Teen TV, EW’s summerlong celebration of teen shows past and present.
Motion direction and photography by Gizelle Hernandez.
