Mindy Kaling's New Comedy “Not Suitable for Work ”Is Inspired by Her 'Painful' Post-Grad Years in N.Y.C. (Exclusive)

Kaling tells PEOPLE how the new series — which stars Ella Hunt, Nicholas Duvernay, Will Angus, Avantika Vandanapu and Jack Martin — is semi-autobiographical

NEED TO KNOW

• Mindy Kaling drew from her own memories of post-grad life in New York City when creating her new comedy series, Not Suitable for Work
• “I am surprised by how vividly I remember the time when I moved from Boston to New York at 21, and what a rude awakening it was,” Kaling tells PEOPLE
• The first three episodes of Not Suitable for Work are now streaming on Hulu

Mindy Kaling revisited all of the trials and tribulations of life after college for her latest comedy series.

Not Suitable for Work, a new Hulu series, follows five 20-somethings (Ella Hunt, Nicholas Duvernay, Will Angus, Avantika Vandanapu and Jack Martin) living in the Murray Hill neighborhood of New York City as they strive to succeed romantically and professionally in post-grad life.

The series marks a sort of completion of a trilogy that Kaling began in 2020 with Never Have I Ever, the Netflix coming-of-age series about first-generation Indian-American Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan). "Not Suitable for Work is kind of my third show that I've done about my youth. Never Have I Ever is about my teenage years," Kaling, 46, tells PEOPLE. "The Sex Lives of College Girls was [about] my college [experience], and then this is about my 20s."

Now a mom of three, the prolific TV writer moved to New York City after graduating from Dartmouth in 2001 with a degree in playwrighting. It would be another five years before she landed the life-changing gig as a writer — and then star — on The Office.

"I am surprised by how vividly I remember the time when I moved from Boston to New York at 21," Kaling says. "And what a rude awakening it was."

She remembers "the feeling of having so much to say and having so much to offer, or thinking I did, and having no access" when she thinks about her early twenties in New York City.

"When your ambition does not meet your access, to me, it was really theatrical, and fun, and also a painful time in my life," Kaling admits. "I also had so many crushes and a really dynamic friend group, and I just wanted to do a show about that."

Now that her coming-of-age trilogy is complete, Kaling isn't necessarily done with the retrospection.

While she says she doesn't have any ideas floating around her head "right now" for a show about a different period of her life, she is "examining my time in my 30s."

"I literally just think of my 30s as going from The Office to The Mindy Project. I don't remember ever not being on a sound stage," she admits.

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"So maybe there's something there about a woman who gives up her entire life to the pursuit of television."

She continues, "I do have a lot of great stories of that time. Honestly, between Charlie Grandy, and Ike Barinholtz, and Tracey Wigfield, and all these writers, we probably have a lot of fun stories for a show."

The first three episodes of Not Suitable for Work are now streaming on Hulu, and new episodes drop weekly on Tuesdays through June 23.

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