Mindy and Danny goodness! With the third season premiere of The Mindy Project days away, creator and star Mindy Kaling dropped by the HuffPost Live offices in NYC to discuss Mindy Lahiri and Danny Castellano’s (Chris Messina) relationship status on Friday, Sept. 12.
“We were really excited to see what these two super different characters would be like together. A lot of shows I think break characters up for no reason because the show has to last for seven or eight years,” Kaling said.
“We thought, no. People can still be interesting when they are together,” she added. “He’s 40, she’s 34. They just want to make it work.”
The series left off last season with Danny finally revealing his true feelings to Mindy after a brief split. To make the moment as poignant as possible, Kaling, 35, personally sent a letter to Bruce Springsteen for permission to use his 1985 hit “Dancing in the Dark” and the final scene reunited Mindy and Danny on top of the Empire State Building. Cue the tears and “Drive” by The Cars!
“At the beginning of a show you want to keep yourself open-minded as to where it’s going to go and there was no feeling even in the middle of season two that we thought, ‘Should we get them together?’ We didn’t know as writers. We wanted to see what people’s reactions were,” the Office alum said.
Mindy and Danny shippers, it seems, has Messina to thank for the relationship storyline. Kaling noted that his smoldering looks and acting chops are what sealed the deal to bring the characters out of the friend zone.
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The Mindy Project’s third season premieres on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 9:30 p.m. EST on FOX.
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