Note: This story contains spoilers from “Not Suitable for Work” Season 1, Episode 7.
In Mindy Kaling’s “Not Suitable for Work,” Avantika Vandanapu’s Abby is one of the five twentysomethings struggling to navigate life, work and love in Murray Hill. Like her roommates and neighbors, she’s laser-focused on growing her brand as a stylist — especially after leaving Vanessa (Constance Wu) to go out on her own.
By Episode 7, however, that move backfires when her only client, Austin Blanchett (Harry Richardson) leaves her as his stylist, bringing Abby’s client roster from one to none.
“You lose them how you get them,” Vandanapu told TheWrap of the rejection. “It’s not a great feeling, but I also think in an industry like the styling world, I think she probably heard enough stories about people leaving … some part of her is mentally prepared for that.”
Despite the loss, it makes Abby all the more grateful that she drew the boundary of Austin remaining solely a client and not delving into a romance with him, noting “the betrayal hurts a little less, at least.” “I just can’t imagine dating someone and them betraying you like that,” she said.
It’s a boundary that Vandanapu admits Abby has been “more successful at drawing” than AJ (Ella Hunt), her best friend and roommate, who has been involved in a secret relationship with her boss, Bill (Jay Ellis). “Abby has very free-spiritedness about her, and is sort of making mistakes as part of life ethos about her, but I don’t necessarily think she thinks … messing around with Bill, is the smartest move for AJ’s career or for her life,” she said.
It was the messiness, failures and growth within the friend group that first attracted Vandanapu, who previously starred in “Mean Girls” and “Pretty Lethal,” to the series. The actress recalled, “It was very reminiscent of my first few years in New York” — down to the occasional rental fraud and comfort Asian takeout restaurant seen in the first few episodes of the Hulu series.
“This whole show just kind of feels like me in sort of an alternate universe — it just feels like a parallel lifestyle,” Vandanapu said, pointing to her own proximity to the fashion world. She also resonated with Kel’s (Nicholas Duvernay) arc of dropping out of medical school to pursue a dream like acting, much to his family’s chagrin, noting that the experience is akin to that of many Asian families.
Reading about the series order for the show, which was, at the time called “Murray Hill,” in the trades back in 2024, Vandanapu said the show sounded like a “dream,” with the added draw of filming in New York. “Abby wasn’t a character,” she revealed. “By virtue of it being an ensemble, a lot of characters were sort of switched around.”
And, of course, working under creator Mindy Kaling was a huge plus. “She’s pioneered and championed brown voices in American film and TV almost her entire career,” Vandanapu said of Kaling. “I really appreciate that she stands her ground with that and champions brown voices in every project that she does, and I’m grateful to be able to be that for her.”
Vandanapu completed a chemistry read with Hunt before landing the part, and then had one with Duvernay after booking it. “It’s very stressful being in a chemistry [read], because it’s not just about how well of a job you’re doing, but how well you’re melding and gelling with the people around you, and how the executives and showrunners are perceiving that, so it’s not always in your control, as is no audition process,” she said. “I lucked out with Ella and Nicholas, because it was sort of instantaneous the moment I went into the room.”
It’s clear Abby and Kel are queuing up for a slow burn romance, but it might not be quite the right time as Abby amps up her career. “I think it’s just easier for her to have him as a support and as someone by her side and someone she can rely on in a platonic manner,” she said.
“The best relationships start off as friends, but I also think there’s always the hesitation of … is it worth losing what you have in hand for something that might potentially work out?” Vandanapu said. “But … it’s not fun to watch a good thing go either, and he’s a catch for sure.”
With ambition standing out as one of the central themes of the show, Vandanapu noted she respects Abby’s choice to leave her post as Vanessa’s assistant, noting that “a lot of wanting to make it in your career, and hustling and being ambitious is stepping into rooms that might be too big for you, and hoping that you’ll rise to the expectation.”
“I think it’s better to do things scared than to not do them at all, and to do them imperfectly than to not do them at all,” Vandanapu said. “That’s very real, right, for us to sort of jump the gun a little bit with our careers, that’s part of just dreaming big.”
That said, Vandanapu noted Abby isn’t “ready to fly the bird’s nest quite yet.” “I think there is room for more guidance for far more mistakes as well, which I’m excited to see her do,” she said.
It’s ripe ground to be explored in potential future seasons, should “Not Suitable for Work” be renewed by Hulu. “I feel like you just get a taste of where these characters are living in this investment world, in this world of network TV, in this world of fashion,” Vandanapu said, adding she hopes the cast can “rope some of our friends in as fun guest stars.”
Specifically, she hopes to further explore the “push and pull” between Abby and her clients, saying “what if she found it a little harder to say no.” “I would also just like to see her have a deeper relationship with any of the boys in the complex neighborhoods,” she said. “I would like to see her sort of thrive in the neighbor space.”
“Not Suitable for Work” drops new episodes Tuesdays on Hulu.
