Everybody’s high school experience is different—just ask Mindy Kaling.
The former star of The Office is a co-creator of Netflix’s Never Have I Ever, which just dropped its third season Aug. 12. The show follows Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and her pack of eclectic friends as they attempt to navigate high school and adolescence in California’s San Fernando Valley.
While the show deals with some tough real world issues—death, cultural differences, broken hearts—it’s undeniably more breezy and light-hearted than some of its contemporaries, namely HBO’s Euphoria.
Mindy said that’s absolutely by design.
“I love Euphoria and I think [creator] Sam [Levinson] is like a genius. I think he has a lot to say about things like sex and drug use and addiction and those are incredibly interesting, but we don’t have a ton of experience in that,” she told The Hollywood Reporter Aug. 11. “I watch that show on the edge of my seat, vicariously, but I feel like nerds lusting over guys is more what we feel comfortable writing about so that’s why we do this. We write about strivers and dorks and people who are underestimated.”