'Never Have I Ever' Complicates Its Asian American Characters. That's The Whole Point - NPR

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi Vishwakumar In Never Have I Ever.

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi Vishwakumar In Never Have I Ever.

The second season of the Netflix series, Never Have I Ever brings back the cringe and chaos as Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), her mom Nalini (Poorna Jagannathan) and cousin Kamala (Richa Moorjani) navigate their own conflicts at work, at school and in their love lives.

Featuring Asian American women protagonists as ones with layered and multi-dimensional stories is essential to breaking down decades-old stereotypes of Asian women in Hollywood, says Harleen Singh, director of the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University.

(L To R) Ramona Young as Eleanor Wong, Lee Rodriguez as Fabiola Torres, And Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi Vishwakumar in Never Have I Ever.

(L To R) Ramona Young as Eleanor Wong, Lee Rodriguez as Fabiola Torres, And Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi Vishwakumar in Never Have I Ever.

Aneesa, while also Indian American, is Muslim.

(L To R) Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi Vishwakumar, Megan Suri as Aneesa, and Darren Barnet as Paxton-Hall Yoshida in Never Have I Ever.

(L To R) Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi Vishwakumar, Megan Suri as Aneesa, and Darren Barnet as Paxton-Hall Yoshida in Never Have I Ever.

It shakes up the assumption of who's considered Asian American, and who's considered Indian American.

At the same time, Aneesa "complicates stereotypical portrayals of Muslim American people, especially Muslim American women," Borja told NPR.

Never Have I Ever isn't the first show to celebrate and expand on Asian American characters.

The significance of Never Have I Ever, though, is that it doesn't just bring Asian Americans to the forefront

And it gives Devi and others the space to be what Asian Americans are often denied on screen: the chance to be in charge of their own narrative, as complicated as they want