Netflix’s Never Have I Ever cast have shared the valuable life lessons they learned from the series

Never Have I Ever

Credit: Netflix

Under Her Eye


Netflix’s Never Have I Ever cast have shared the valuable life lessons they learned from the series

By Christobel Hastings

Updated 1 year ago

3 min read

We’ve come a long way since meeting the gang of Sherman Oaks High, and now that the third season of hit coming-of-age comedy Never Have I Ever has landed on Netflix, the cast are taking a look back at their journeys.

Ever since arriving on Netflix in 2020, Mindy Kaling’s hit coming-of-age comedy Never Have I Ever has been making waves with its bold storytelling, authentic representation and uniquely drawn characters. Following the life of awkward Indian American teenager Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), the series chronicles the everyday pressures of high school and drama at home, while also navigating new romantic relationships.

Now that Netflix has dropped the third season of the hit show – along with one major cliffhanger to keep the rumour mill in overdrive until the series returns for its final goodbye – Devi and the gang at Sherman Oaks High have shared the valuable life lessons they learned while shooting the series.

Ramakrishnan – whose character Devi sees plenty of romantic ups-and-downs in the latest season with resident hearththrob Paxton Hall-Yoshida (Darren Barnet), new paramour Des (Anirudh Pisharody) and on-off nemesis/love interest Ben Gross (Jaren Lewison) – explained to Variety that she’d experienced a lot of personal growth since making her professional acting debut on the show.

“I’ve learned a lot in these past few years of my life, gone through a lot of change,” she began. “One [lesson] that I have really reminded myself in this past bit is that no matter what happens, I’m going to be OK.”

“There’s a lot of times in my life where I get very nervous. I get very anxious and scared, and I overthink and I get stressed. But I remind myself that it’s going to be OK, no matter what happens. I should trust in myself that I’ve worked hard, and I’m a cool person, and who knows what’s gonna happen. It’ll be alright.”

Never Have I Ever

Credit: Netflix

Speaking of love interests, Darren Barnet had some sage words of advice about staying true to yourself in the face of societal pressure.

“Stop trying to please everyone’s expectations of you,” he said when asked about his key lessons.

“Because all you will do at the end of that is disappoint yourself. And that’s really who it needs to start with, before you start pleasing others. Be true to yourself, do you and love with all you have. Don’t hold back.”

Jaren Lewison’s primary takeaway, meanwhile, was very much inspired by his role playing Devi’s long-time overachieving rival Ben: “Perfection is the enemy of art.”

Never Have I Ever

Credit: Netflix

“I’m trying to incorporate that in my real life where perfection is kind of an impossibility and being able to be comfortable in the fact that messiness can be really awesome, can really help me in my personal life and my own growth and help me be a better person and a better friend,” he continued.

Megan Suri, whose character Aneesa Qureshi is dating Ben Gross in the third season, added that she’d learned about the importance of confidence.

“I’ve learned confidence and kindness can go hand-in-hand,” she explained.

Never Have I Ever

Credit: Netflix

“It’s really cool to be confident and doesn’t make you conceited, or doesn’t make you full of yourself. I hope that more women embody that. We’re just taught to dim our light down or not be too loud in a room. 

“Aneesa is the perfect representation of someone who can be confident, but can still be on the same wavelength, kind, as well. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”

The first three seasons of Never Have I Ever are now streaming on Netflix.


Images: Netflix

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