“I don’t know if I’ve seen many crazy fan theories, or if truly all of those fan theories are in the scope of Devi’s personality,” Maitreyi Ramakrishnan confesses when I ask if she’s seen any extra-wild predictions for the fourth and final season of Never Have I Ever, where her character, Devi Vishwakumar, chaotic teen at-large, graduates from high school at last.
Since its premiere in 2020, the Netflix series co-created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher has certainly never shied away from the zanier hijinks bedeviling Devi and her Sherman Oaks community (Coyote Girl forever!). But in these uncertain streaming times, it’s a treat all the same to get the much-needed closure fans are seeking for Devi re: her mother, her various teen heartthrobs, and, especially, herself.
Ahead of the season four premiere—after which she’ll be on Twitter, awaiting fan art and edits as well as all your Team Paxon vs. Team Ben shipping discourse—Ramakrishnan sat down with Vanity Fair for the Internet Diet series, where the 21-year-old Canadian actor discusses her views on everything from the Notes app (pro), voice memos (neutral), astrology apps (ehhh), and, of course, everyone’s favorite Never Have I Ever love triangle.
The resulting conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Vanity Fair: What’s your earliest memory of being on the internet?
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan: Trying to Google “ways to dye my hair without bleach.” You know what I’m talking about? Remember when people thought you could do it with a pack of Kool-Aid? I watched so many of those videos.
Plus Webkinz. Every single birthday, all the aunts and uncles never knew what to get me for my birthday. But then once Webkinz came through, it was like their saving grace.
Tell me about a recent internet rabbit hole.
I don’t know if I’m proud of this one. But I have fallen down in My Little Pony rabbit hole, and I’ve seen a lot.
I hear the Reddit community is very—
—Reddit is truly the most reflective platform of real society, in the sense that it is so unhinged.
Are you a big Redditor?
I don’t think I’m a board person so much as I like to type questions into Google and then add the word “Reddit” at the end. Like, if I watch a show, and there are fan theories, I’ll just search “Girl from Nowhere Season 2 ending Reddit,” just to see what other people are saying about it.
Weirdest or most unexpected app on your phone?
Let’s see. Okay, I have this app called Co-Star. I don’t really get how to use it. My cousin kind of wrapped me into it—I’m close with my two cousins, and they’re both “Crapicorns” like myself. She downloaded it on my phone, and then randomly my cousins will screenshot [notifications saying] “Hey, check up on Maitreyi!” I don’t get it. How do you know?
Did you have to do the thing where you text your mom to find out what time you were born in order to get your full chart?
Yeah! And my mom yelled at me, because my mom, and many Tamil South Asian people, believe in birth times being very specific, that astrology charts can be very real. My mom says that giving your birth time is like the equivalent of giving your DNA and blood. I don’t know if I believe that. My mom said, “Who are you trying to give that information to?” So I don’t know what time I was born, because I don’t think my mom trusts me.
That’s so funny. What does your Co-Star say for today?
Let’s say. It’s going to be like, Maitreyi is a dingus. [Chuckles] “Today at a glance.” Oh my God. See, this is why I don’t like this app. It just says: “Exploit your old mistakes.” What the hell? “Do mood rings. Old sitcoms. Small animals. Don’t crawl space.” That’s not even correct grammar! We need Grammarly in Co-Star. They should do a collaboration.
Are you a Notes app girl?
Oh, I am. I have my outfit schedule for the rest of my press tour on a collaborative note between me and my stylist, very practical. Also, because I’m not the best whisperer at times, I’ll type into my Notes app and just pass my phone to someone, like really casual. I don’t even know what this was about, but I found a note here that just says “the tea is about to be hot, I can already tell.”
Delia Cai
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