John McEnroe couldn't help leaving his mark one last time in the series finale.
Spoiler alert! Do not proceed if you have not watched the final season of Netflix's Never Have I Ever.
Never Have I Ever has signed off! Netflix's coming-of-age drama said goodbye after seeing Devi Vishwakumar off in its fourth and final season, but an intriguing tease at the very end of the last episode hinted that, actually, this could just be the end for now.
The series bid farewell with a sequence of quick flash-forwards in the final episode revealing where everyone ended up: Devi and Ben happily enjoying college life after getting into Princeton and Columbia, respectively; Paxton re-enrolled at ASU to study to become a teacher; Eleanor putting on her acting/directing hat with Trent's help; Fabiola acing robotics at Howard; Nalini finding love with Andres; Nirmala enjoying married life with Len (guest star Jeff Garlin); and Kamala taking that Baltimore job and reuniting with Mr. K(!).
While all the storylines seemed to be tied up neatly, narrator John McEnroe had to stir the pot one more time with his last voiceover to close out Never Have I Ever, after dropping hints at Devi's new dreams (i.e. to become the first Supreme Court justice with an aspiring hip-hop career). "This is John McEnroe signing off from Princeton, New Jersey ... for now," he slyly said, after which the screen cut to black, possibly leaving room for a potential follow-up down the line. Naturally, the question had to be asked for the cast of the outgoing Netflix series: Is this truly the end?
"To our knowledge," Never Have I Ever leading lady Maitreyi Ramakrishnan told ET's Denny Directo, but left the door slightly ajar. "To our knowledge. I mean, hey, McEnroe knows all."
"I think so," co-star Jaren Lewison, who plays Ben, said.
Seeing Devi and company thriving by the end of the series was equally satisfying for the cast, who have lived with these characters and this world for more than four years.
"When I read [the series finale], I was like, 'This is fanfic.' But like the actual episode, everything that I wanted to happen just happened," Ramona Young, who portrays Devi's BFF, Eleanor, shared.
Added Richa Moorjani, who plays Kamala: "I think we were like, 'Why does this have to end?' Like, also, 'Wow, that was satisfying.'" Poorna Jagannathan, who plays Devi's mother, Nalini, credited the writers for expertly tying everybody's storyline up by "the last episode." "It's genius writing," she praised.
Jagannathan also revealed there was an alternate ending to the show, but didn't elaborate further. "There is [another ending]," she hinted, before skirting around the topic, "I don't know if I could talk about it."
Though viewers may have seen the last of Devi on Never Have I Ever, the cast was gung-ho on keeping the universe alive with a future movie or spinoff.
"If there was a spinoff, [it] would have to star Trent [played by Benjamin Norris]," Ramakrishnan said of Paxton's best friend and Eleanor's boyfriend. "That's like non-negotiable. Sorry, like, it would have to be Benjamin Norris. We love you!"
Lewison added that he would be interested in revisiting the characters in a decade or so to see how their lives are going.
"I think it would be cool if we did it some time from now, like a 10-, 15-year kind of thing depending on where we all are in our careers," the actor said. "I think that would be more so the way we would do a movie if we ever do one. But who knows? Who knows where we will be. Like Maitreyi said, McEnroe, he's the one who knows."
Whether or not Never Have I Ever comes back in some form in the future, the cast took time to look back on their four-year experience, with Lewison calling it "bittersweet" to be saying goodbye to their characters.
"These characters mean so much to us, just personally, not even because we portrayed them for four years and you get connected to a character," he said. "But for us, we really love them. We're protective of them. There [are] storylines sometimes if they ever mess up, I'd be like, 'Ugh, what are you doing?' It is hard to say goodbye, but Maitreyi and I were talking last year, the show, I think we both said, found us at the right time and taught us so much. And then, I think we were ready and we got to tie [everything] up and the writers did such an amazing job. Now it's got a beautiful bow on it."
Ramakrishnan opened up about growing up on the set and what she'll take away most from her breakout role.
"For me personally it's slightly different from Devi as a character, but rather it's hard to say goodbye to waking up at 5 a.m. every day for my call sheet -- I am not a morning person! But my job, I was that person that was happy to wake up, happy to say hello to every single person in the morning and the crew members, most of whom stayed with us since the first season. So most of them saw me since I was 17 grow up to 20 years old," the actress said. "Truly as cheesy as it is, but like truly, that is what I think hit me personally the most.
"But in terms of the legacy of Devi, I'm not sad about that only because I know that in the future only more projects will come for many other young actresses, including myself, where there will be more characters that are just as amazing, if not more," Ramakrishnan reflected. "I'm excited about the impact and personally, as an actor, I'm excited for the unknown. Like, what's next?"
Never Have I Ever is streaming now on Netflix.
RELATED CONTENT:
