Spoilers ahead for the final season of Netflix’s Never Have I Ever.
If one thing is true in this world, it’s that Mindy Kaling knows how to make a good TV show, especially one that centers on complex young women with extremely hot male love interests. One of those young men is Never Have I Ever’s Paxton Hall-Yoshida, played by Darren Barnet. The kindhearted, popular swimmer has spent the past three seasons in a love triangle with Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and her academic archnemesis Ben Gross (Jaren Lewison), while stealing the hearts of viewers at home.
While previous seasons of the series have focused on everything from grief to sex to the exploration of identity, a major arc for all the characters in the fourth season is college, especially for Paxton, who in a twist of events has decided to enroll at Arizona State University after all. Even more surprising is his experience once he arrives, which features a rough beginning that leads him to drop out and return to Sherman Oaks High School as the assistant swim coach after only a few weeks away.
“The first year of college is a bit of a mystery for everyone,” Barnet tells Bazaar.com over the phone, a few days ahead of the final season’s release on June 8. “I don’t think I was ever as cool as Paxton, so I wasn’t really missing out or comparing it to my experience in high school.”
Still, the 32-year-old actor is not shy about having gone to college because he felt like he needed to, even though he knew he wanted to act: “I wanted to be an actor since I was five, but when you tell your parents that, it’s kind of like you want to be an astronaut or rock star,” he says, laughing. Instead, he studied broadcast journalism and international relations, partaking in theater here and there, before taking off for Hollywood after graduation.
Though Barnet admits he “always had this thought that Paxton would end up coming back to work at the school,” the choice is seen as a defeat by most of the character’s peers—except for his goofy best friend, Trent, who is just excited to have him back. More than halfway through the season, we’re welcomed back into the brain of Paxton (through the wonderful narration of Gigi Hadid) when he finally comes to terms with his decision to return to Sherman Oaks, trading in his old party habits for his new role as a teacher, which includes him helping nerdy robotics team member Eric make the JV swim team and realizing he likes what he’s doing.
While Paxton’s new role as a swim coach changes his relationship with his former classmates, it especially complicates his romance with Devi and the question of “who will be endgame?” after the two almost share a kiss in an equipment closet. Finally, we get an answer: Team Paxton or Team Ben? Even though he knows half the fandom (or more) might be upset, Barnet has seen the answer coming for a while.
“Ever since season three, at the graduation, where Devi realizes Oh, there’s no butterflies there anymore, I’ve seen it coming. The fireworks were saved for Ben,” Barnet says. “But I like the friendship between Devi and Paxton better than the romance anyway. They seem to not do well together regardless, but as friends, they really flourish.”
Working on Never Have I Ever has taught Barnet a few things about himself. One, he’s better when he’s busy. And two, he’s working on practicing more gratitude.
“It’s easy to be in the middle of doing a show that’s very popular, and sometimes you’re just sitting there waiting for the end of the season so you can have free time,” he says. “There were times I wish I did more. Towards the end, I kind of just sat there and was like, Wow, I’m here doing what I’ve always wanted to do my entire life, and it’s happening in front of my eyes. I’m working on not taking that for granted and taking a pause.”
Never Have I Ever’s bittersweet ending is the perfect farewell to the teen series. It also means Barnet is officially moving on from high school—at least for now. He says his dream role for the future is an “eerie villain or gangster.”
“I think that’s probably not a high school role,” he says, laughing—though you never do know. Barnet’s not one to bet against anything.
