Q&A: Mindy Kaling on 'Project' season finale

Contains spoilers about Tuesday's season finale of Fox's The Mindy Project.

It wouldn't be a season finale of The Mindy Project without a grand, romantic gesture.

Last year, it was Danny Castellano (Chris Messina) confessing his love for Mindy Lahiri (Mindy Kaling, also the show's creator) at the top of the Empire State Building. And in Tuesday's Season 3 closer, it was Danny flying solo to meet Mindy's parents in India — showing up at their doorstep unannounced with a, "Hi, I'm Danny Castellano and I'm in love with your daughter," before the screen goes black. It's a cliffhanger that reinforces his commitment to Mindy, after confessing to her at her baby shower that he may not ever be ready for marriage.

We caught up with Kaling to discuss the emotional finale and likelihood of Season 4:

Q: The finale definitely took me by surprise. I knew it'd be too soon for Mindy to have her baby and a proposal might seem too obvious, so it was interesting to see these sides of Mindy and Danny at the end of the season. Why did you feel this was the right direction to go with their relationship?

A: I think in so many ways, the Danny Castellano character is so perfect and he's such a wish-fulfillment guy. He's like everyone's perfect boyfriend. And I think the thing we never address is that he really dislikes the institution of marriage — what it did to his family and what it did to his own marriage, and he doesn't believe in it. It's a big difference between him and Mindy, and we've never really talked about it. So I thought that was a good thing to tackle head-on for the finale.

Q: When Danny tells Mindy that he's unsure about tying the knot, we see a rare, vulnerable side of her. She admits she just wants a relationship she can share on Instagram, but also that she deserves her shot at marriage. What are your thoughts on that scene and how did you approach writing it?

A: Yeah, so it's probably one of my favorite scenes that Chris and I have ever shot together, because (in) the show — and I'm so proud of this about the show — the episodes are typically packed with jokes. And especially the last 10 minutes of this episode are pretty serious, and I kind of liked that. I felt like, as a (writing) staff, it showed we just had confidence in the series regulars' ability to sit in a serious moment and tackle that kind of acting.

And Chris is the best actor that I've ever worked with and he doesn't get to flex that muscle that much, so it was great to see him look just like a real movie star in the last act of the show. I, of course, love to be able to show a little bit of range, too. I love Mindy's selfish, funny ways, but it was really nice for me to be able to show her really want something and be really vulnerable at the end of the finale. You can't do it all the time, you have to save it for special occasions, or else the show becomes like, a drama. But it's nice to show in episodes like the finale and the premiere.

Q: Throughout the series, you've referenced and been influenced by a number of romantic comedies. Was there anything you watched or looked to for inspiration writing this finale episode?

A: You know, I wasn't really influenced by any particular movies for the ending. If anything, we have so much time between different scenes on set and I know Chris so well at this point, and he always talks about how much he loves the writing on the show. But what he really loves is just stage direction and being able to act without having to necessarily express it through dialogue. And I kind of thought, "Wow, this is a really good opportunity" — for him, our production designer who has to create India, and our director Michael Spiller, to shoot him and direct him without using words. And this (was) such a nice challenge for me as a writer to show some restraint by not having anyone talk, and that's sort of what I was inspired to do: just give Chris what he wanted and I think it's the smartest thing I did.

Q: Many fans, myself included, were leery when Mindy and Danny finally got together at the end of Season 2, and then when Mindy discovered she was pregnant this season. But I've been surprised how smartly you've handled both story lines and how much funnier they've made the show overall. Did you ever face much pushback from the writers' room or network about either one?

A: We've been really lucky, because when I was pitching the pregnancy, I ran it by the studio and the network, but I did it more because I actually do value their opinions, like Bela Bajaria, who's the head of the studio and Dana Walden, who's the head of the network. She doesn't necessarily usually weigh in on story lines, but she liked the show so much and felt invested in the characters and wanted to hear it. So I spoke to them about it, but they were completely supportive of it. And they were the same way when I got Mindy and Danny together, so that was good.

If anything, the pressure was just with us, because we don't want to fall into the tropes of the same old. I've obviously heard from so many people the pitfalls of having a character be pregnant (and) the pitfalls of getting characters together.

Q: Looking back on Season 3, what's one episode or story line you're most proud of?

A: I'm really proud of our finale, it was able to accomplish a lot of things. Ike Barinholtz (who plays Morgan Tookers), I don't think has ever been funnier than he was in this episode, and he might be a little bit overlooked in terms of supporting actors, like just how incredibly nuanced and funny he is. He's so emotional and moral as a character, but makes such huge, bad decisions. He's just like a comedy writer's gift. So I loved the finale, because I thought it both got to showcase some of his funniest acting ever but also some of Chris' best dramatic acting.

And the season, I don't know if it was so much an episode as it was the introduction of Rhea Perlman as Danny's mom. (That) was something that completely changed the series in a good way. Sometimes you're lucky enough to get an actor who will completely elevate a character or bring another dimension to a part that you didn't even anticipate, and she totally did that.

Q: Danny showing up at Mindy's parents' doorstep is the kind of cliffhanger that begs for another season. How do you feel about your chances of getting renewed?

A: I feel really good about it. I feel hopeful and I feel very supported by the studio and our network and obviously the fans.

Q: Have you started pitching any ideas to the network or mapping out where you'd like to go with Season 4?

A: I have not yet started to think about it. I just locked the finale on Friday night, so right now, I'm just excited to take this week off, kind of finish my book, and then in a month or so, hopefully we'll hear news and we can start up again, which would be great.

Q: Finally, have you thought at all about what Mindy's parents would be like?

A: That's the big thing! I've had notions with some of the writers of very funny ideas of what they could be like. We even have a (list) of some actors we love, but we haven't done any more than that, because we figure that's sort of the work of Season 4.