Following the success of Never Have I Ever Season 2, the cast of the show is asking for a substantial pay raise before they begin working on the next installment. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Devi), Darren Barnet (Paxton), Jaren Lewison (Ben), Richa Moorjani (Kamala), Lee Rodriguez (Fabiola) and Ramona Young (Eleanor) are all on the list of castmembers asking executive producer Mindy Kaling for more money. Negotiations have been going on for weeks, the outlet reports.
Ramakrishnan, a young actor who earned the role in 2019 as her first major gig, started in Season 1 making $21,000 per episode –– a significant amount less than her castmates who started with more experience. She jumped to $26,250 per episode in Season 2, with a $100,000 signing bonus. Barnet and Lewison were also on the same tier, making $25,000 and $26,250 respectively on Season 2, but without a signing bonus.
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Poorna Jagannathan (Nalini), whose vast list of credits include HBO’s The Night Of and Big Little Lies, earns the most on the show given her experience. She also created, produced and starred in the play Nirbhaya, which won an Amnesty International Award in 2013. Sources close to the project claim its main character is seeking a salary that falls somewhere close to Jagannathan. Barnet, who also stars in Netflix’s new holiday rom-com Love Hard (which is currently in the streamer’s top 10 items), is negotiating separately but seeking a salary that matches Ramakrishnan. Lewison, Moorjani, Rodriguez and Young are all working together to secure $150,000 each per episode.
Producers Universal Television is leading the negotiations (Kaling called the studio home before jumping ship for Warner Bros). If the cast should come to an agreement with the studio, Netflix will be asked to increase its budget to cover the additional costs of producing the series due to the two entities’ “cost-plus” deal. Sources tell the outlet that Universal TV is working with Ramakrishnan and Jagannathan to set the two on a first-tier salary agreement. As for the rest of the cast, they’ll be on the second tier possibly earning $65,000 an episode.
