‘Not Suitable for Work’ Only Has 9 Episodes, and Mindy Kaling’s Explanation Makes Total Sense
Mindy Kaling has built a reputation for creating ensemble comedies that quietly become essential viewing, moving audiences from high school hallways through college dorms and now into the professional world. Her latest Hulu series, ‘Not Suitable for Work,’ follows that exact trajectory, centering on five ambitious twenty-somethings navigating careers, friendships, and romantic chaos in Manhattan’s Murray Hill neighborhood. The show stars Ella Hunt as first-year analyst AJ Pascarelli, Avantika Vandanapu as her best friend and roommate Abby, Will Angus as Davis, Jack Martin as Josh, and Nicholas Duvernay as Kel, rounding out an ensemble designed to carry the series across multiple seasons.
The series premiered on Hulu on June 2, with the first three episodes available immediately and the rest rolling out on a weekly basis, giving audiences just enough to get hooked before the wait began. It quickly became one of the top titles on the platform, and the comparisons to a certain iconic New York sitcom about a group of friends started almost immediately. Kaling has acknowledged the ‘Friends’ parallels directly, arguing that ‘Not Suitable for Work’ asks a different question about what happens when your friends are also your coworkers and your competition.
What left many viewers momentarily confused was the episode count. Nine feels like an odd number by streaming standards, sitting between the more common eight and ten, and fans who finished the finale expecting a tenth episode came up empty. Kaling addressed the deliberate choice directly, telling Deadline that she borrowed the structure from Danny McBride, who used an extended pilot followed by half-hour episodes for ‘The Righteous Gemstones,’ and she applied that same format to ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls’ and now ‘Not Suitable for Work.’ The nine-episode count was never a budget compromise. It was a creative blueprint borrowed from someone who had already proved it worked.
The Season 1 finale placed a love triangle firmly in motion between AJ, Josh, and Davis, with the ending designed to feel intentionally unresolved and set up a potential second season. Josh, Abby, and Kel experienced career wins by the closing credits, while Davis faced a significant setback, and AJ’s future arc remained a question mark. It was a closing chapter clearly written with more chapters in mind.
While the comedy currently holds a modest critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, audience reactions have generally been much warmer, and the platform performance has been hard to ignore. As for a second season, Kaling has been candid about where things stand. Speaking to Deadline, she confirmed the writers’ room for Season 2 is already up and running, while noting the big question remains whether they will receive an official pickup for production. She added that the cast’s enthusiasm, including the organic TikTok content they have been creating unprompted, has been one of the most meaningful signs of the show’s health.
Showrunner Charlie Grandy, speaking to Variety, confirmed the creative team has already mapped out exactly where a second season would go, saying “we definitely know where we’re going, and it’s very good.” As of June 24, the show was ranking at the number six spot on Hulu’s TV chart according to FlixPatrol, a signal that viewership has not dropped off after the finale. Hulu has yet to make an official renewal announcement, but the pieces are in place and the appetite is clearly there.
With a writers’ room already assembled, a creator publicly crossing her fingers, and a platform chart that keeps the show visible, the case for ‘Not Suitable for Work’ returning feels stronger by the day. Which of the season’s unresolved storylines, whether AJ’s love triangle, Abby’s career crossroads, or Kel’s missed moment, are you most desperate to see picked back up if a second season gets the green light?
