Hulu Cancels Mindy Kaling’s ‘Not Suitable for Work’ After Just One Season, but the Story Might Not Be Over

Mindy Kaling has built one of the more prolific résumés in modern television comedy, moving fluidly between showrunning, executive producing, and voice work across networks and streamers alike. That track record has made her one of the industry’s most consistently working creators, even as her shows have had a mixed history of sticking around for the long haul.

Her latest venture seemed to be following a familiar pattern of cautious optimism. ‘Not Suitable for Work‘ premiered on Hulu in June as Kaling’s first sole creator credit since ‘The Mindy Project,’ following a group of ambitious 20-somethings navigating career pressure and personal entanglements in Manhattan’s Murray Hill neighborhood.

That optimism has now come to an end. Hulu has officially canceled ‘Not Suitable for Work’ after just one nine-episode season, according to Variety, with Warner Bros. Television, the studio behind the series, now planning to shop the comedy to other potential streamers or networks in hopes of finding it a new home.

The cancellation arrives just two months after the show wrapped its freshman run, and it comes despite Kaling sounding genuinely hopeful about a second season not long before the news broke. Speaking with Deadline around the time of the finale, Kaling said her writers room had already been ramped up for Season 2, adding that she was crossing her fingers for an official pickup and that she loved how much the cast and writing staff had embraced the show.

Reception for ‘Not Suitable for Work’ told two very different stories depending on who was watching. The series landed a middling 54 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences responded far more warmly, giving it an 82 percent approval rating, a gap that suggests the show found real fans even as reviewers stayed more skeptical.

The ensemble cast included Ella Hunt as AJ, an investment banker who relocates to New York, alongside Avantika as her best friend Abby, an aspiring celebrity stylist, with Will Angus, Jack Martin, Nicholas Duvernay, and Jay Ellis rounding out the core group. The show also featured a deep bench of recurring guest stars, including Victor Garber, Constance Wu, Ego Nwodim, and Greg Germann.

Unfortunately, this isn’t new territory for Kaling when it comes to television cancellations. HBO Max ended ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls’ in March 2025 after three seasons, the animated ‘Velma’ wrapped at Max after two seasons in 2024, and her NBC comedy ‘Champions’ lasted just a single season back in 2018. Even ‘The Mindy Project’ itself was initially canceled by Fox in 2015 before Hulu stepped in to rescue it for three additional seasons, a rescue that ultimately gave the show a six-season run.

That history offers at least some reason for cautious hope here too. Since Warner Bros. Television retains the rights and has already signaled intent to shop the series elsewhere, there’s a real possibility another streamer could step in the same way Hulu once did for ‘The Mindy Project,’ even though nothing is guaranteed given the show’s polarizing critical reception.

For now, all nine episodes of ‘Not Suitable for Work’ remain available to stream on Hulu, leaving fans of AJ, Abby, and the rest of the Murray Hill crew in limbo until word comes on whether the series finds a second life somewhere new.

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