Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Darren Barnet & Jaren Lewison Talk ‘Never Have I Ever’ Season 4 Spoilers – Interview
It is the end of an era!
The final season of Never Have I Ever is now streaming on Netflix, and it’s been an amazing ride. Throughout the four seasons of the show, we’ve been able to spend time with Devi, her family and friends, watching them through all their ups and downs and their growth.
Prior to the last season’s debut on Netflix, I had the opportunity to interview some of the cast members of the series, including the actors who are part of everyone’s favourite love triangle, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Darren Barnet and Jaren Lewison. The trio play Devi, Paxton and Ben, respectively and had many amazing things to say about the fourth season.
Ramakrishnan, Barnet and Lewison spoke about what it was like for them to film this last season, their favourite moments from this season and more!
*Please note, if you haven’t finished watching the latest season of Never Have I Ever, there are spoilers in the interview ahead.
Check out the full interview with Daren Barnet, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan & Jaren Lewison below:
With the series coming to a close, all three Never Have I Ever cast members had a lot to say about filming the final season and the emotions that came with it. Ramakrishnan said, “We still, as usual, with all of our previous seasons, we find out what’s going to happen as we go along, which is still exciting. But, you know, then all of a sudden, you realize like, ‘Oh, this is the last time I’m going to do this.’ Like, this is the last time we’re gonna get a script sent to us. Oh, this is the last time we’re on the Vishakumar household set. Oh, this is the last time we’re in the hallway. And now, this last time we’re in the classroom.”
Following Ramakrishnan, Barnet shared, “With every job as an actor, I think you get challenged with that fact of, like, will I ever be here again? Will I experience this again? Will I work again? The answer is yes and no. You may work again, but you’re never going to have the same experience, the same job, the same people, the same feeling. And it’s easy to get caught in the race and just be worrying about what’s next, what’s tomorrow. So really learn to value what you have today. That way, you won’t rely so much on tomorrow. That’s the best way you can put it.”
Over the course of four seasons, all of the characters in Never Have I Ever have experienced so much growth. When I asked about this and what moments stuck with them from the series, Ramakrishnan, Lewison, and Barnet had great answers to share from their time on the show.
Ramakrishnan said, “For me, I think this is one I’ve been wanting to talk about. It’s like a very specific one, not like the most growth moment because there’s so many for Devi, but one that I think is very cool is that she, in season one, Ganesh Puja, was making fun of those girls dancing. And then she herself at Nirmala’s wedding is dancing. And she’s dancing to a Tamil song herself in her half saree. And when Kamala says like, ‘Hey, are you ready?’ She’s not like, ‘Oh, yeah, let’s do this, I guess.’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, let’s do this! Let’s go like blow everyone’s minds!’ And I think that’s a nice way of showing how she’s grown quite like, you know, black and white. Right in your face, it’s like, look at how she’s embraced her culture. And I think that’s quite nice, you know?”
Lewison followed Ramakrishnan’s comments about Devi to talk about his favourite Ben moment. Lewison said, “I think that for me, one of my favourite Ben moments, which I think is definitely like the culmination of the lessons that he’s learned, is that ‘I love you’ scene in the finale. I think that Ben finally realizing that he has to be vulnerable to be able to connect with somebody that has offered him so much growth and has helped him through so much. He has to let it all out there. He has to take that lesson. And he has to take that leap of faith. And he does. And luckily, it pays off for him. I mean, sometimes that doesn’t happen. But for him, it really did. And it wound up being really beautiful and heartwarming. And I’m proud of him for that. I think that that’s a really special moment.”
Lastly, Barnet shared his favourite moment with Paxton, which included teaching an old classmate how to swim. Barnet said, “Teaching Eric how to swim. It’s, you know, for me, one of my favorite moments. I think Paxton learns a lot about himself in that moment, you know? I’m gonna get the lines wrong, but like, ‘If you’re so bad at something, why even try one and why not just give up?’ And that’s a true statement. And Eric’s response is gold. And I think it really opens Paxton’s eyes in terms of the choices he’s made that led him to where he is, and it makes him want to be better. Just a very inspiring scene. It’s very funny because Jack is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met in my life. So it was a joy to shoot. It’s just such an assessment of the show to have such a heartfelt moment wrapped in comedy but still make it hit you in the stomach as much as it does in the heart.”
Never Have I Ever is streaming on Netflix!
