After a hilarious, horny, and chaotic first season, Mindy Kaling and Netflix's popular teen, coming-of-age series Never Have I Ever is officially back!
Picking up right where season one left off, season two finds main character Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) caught in the delightfully awkward dilemma of having to choose (or rather, not choose) between the two main loves of her life, Paxton (Darren Barnet) and Ben (Jaren Lewison), while grappling with the realization that she and her mom will have to move to India soon. Devi's best friends Fabiola (Lee Rodriguez) and Ramona (Eleanor Wong) are right there by her side and get their time to shine too, especially Fabiola, as she finally comes to terms with her sexuality and enters into a committed relationship with classmate Eve (Christina Kartchner).
Out got the chance to sit down virtually with Lee Rodriguez, the actress who brought Devi's queer bestie to life, to talk about Fabiola's ongoing arc and what it was like helping give young queer girls the mainstream media representation they so rightfully deserve!
"I feel like it's a very interesting story to tell," Rodriguez told Out when asked about Fabiola's main season two storyline of trying to immerse herself in queer women's culture after finally coming out (which includes a hilarious scene of her panicking about having to catch up on several hours of the classic lesbian TV series The L Word). "She doesn't know much about pop culture. She's trying to catch up, and so I think it's a very interesting storyline that I feel doesn't get told a lot. Just trying to fit into this specific mold and sometimes you just don't and that's kind of okay, it's fine. You don't have to. You don't have to be in the know. That doesn't make you a valid person queer person. You can be how you are and you can like what you like. It's a really interesting storyline to tell."
"It was so great for her to have this beautiful realization moment of just...she has to just stay true to who she is and what she likes and it's okay that she doesn't really have the same interests as Eve or doesn't really want to dress like Eve," she continued, speaking about Fabiola's continued journey. "That's a really big part of it. A lot of like the wardrobe holds a story within itself, so it's okay that she dresses how she wants to dress. It's fine. She likes robots. She has that moment where she just doesn't want to give it up. So I feel like that's just a really, really beautiful moment that I feel like a lot of people will relate to. It'll be really, really interesting for people to just tag along and follow her longer journey."
Never Have I Ever Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix!
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