Mindy Kaling On Getting The Green Light For ‘The Mindy Project’ Season 4

“The Mindy Project” heads to Hulu on Tuesday for its Season 4 premiere.

The show was canceled by Fox at the end of last season, sending fans into a panic, but not creator Mindy Kaling. There was never another option for her but to continue the show.

“Maybe this is very naive of me, but I’ve almost never spent any time thinking about if it were to go away and maybe that’s why we keep getting the green light for things,” Mindy told Access Hollywood on a visit to the set last week. “Maybe it’s just superstition, but I just never [assumed] it was going to get canceled, so I didn’t think of any other alternatives.”

WATCH: Mindy Kaling On Her Dedication To ‘The Mindy Project’

The beloved comedy found a new home, and a hefty order from Hulu – a 26-episode fourth season – on a platform that was already streaming the show. Mindy credits the fans and President of Universal Television, Bela Bajaria, for never giving up on the show.

“Our fans are so dedicated and then Bela Bajaria, who is the head of the studio, has been a champion of the show since the very beginning. She was the one who took it to Fox from NBC at the very beginning, and then took it to Hulu and she’s always had this feeling of like, ‘Oh yeah, the show just has to continue,’ and I think that kind of trickles down from her, and I just love it ,” Mindy said. “And especially when we left on the cliffhanger at the end of last year, I was like, ‘Oh, we’re not going to not tell people what happened.'”

WATCH: ‘Mindy Project’ Stars Talk ‘Gift War’ With ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’

In its Season 4 premiere return, viewers will find Danny Castellano (Chris Messina) exactly where they left him – in India, at the door of Mindy’s parents, but there’s also an alternate reality, inspired by the Gwyneth Paltrow movie “Sliding Doors,” that imagines the “what if.” That other story involves a guest spot from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who recently had Mindy and Chris on his cable show, “HitRECord on TV,” and who plays Mindy’s alternate universe husband — a reality show television producer.

Mindy explained how Joseph’s guest starring role on “The Mindy Project” came about.

“Joe and I had worked on a movie called ‘The Night Before,’ which is coming out at the end of this year, and I was only there for three days and I knew the whole cast except for him. So I knew Seth [Rogen] and Lizzy Caplan and stuff, so I had a couple scenes with him and we just – it’s one of those things where, at lunchtime, I just hit it off with him and I loved talking to him and he’s an incredibly funny and sensitive actor and he’s the kind of person when you meet him and you’re like, ‘I feel like I went to high school with you or something,'” she told Access.

“We had a great time and he asked me to come do his show, to do ‘HitRECord,’ and he let me do something that I’ve never done before, which is a very strange little piece I did for him which is in black and white, and we had such a good time that I asked him if he wanted to come do the show and he said ‘Sure,’ so it was pretty easy,” she continued. “But it’s nice that you can just meet someone and then be collaborating with them like three times in a year, so that’s kind of nice.”

WATCH: Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Working With Mindy Kaling In ‘Hit Record On TV’ S2 Premiere

“The Mindy Project” Season 4 premiere is available now on Hulu, and continues each Tuesday on the streaming network.

Jolie Lash

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