Poorna Jagannathan and Amna Nawaz discuss representation in Hollywood on 'Settle In'

Amna Nawaz:

Award-winning actor Poorna Jagannathan has played everything from the mom in Netflix's "Never Have I Ever" to the mob boss in Hulu's "Deli Boys." She's now stepping into the superhero realm with the new series "Lanterns."

For our latest PBS News podcast, "Settle In," Jagannathan and I talked about Hollywood's ongoing struggle with diversity and representation. And our interview was recorded just days before news broke that Hulu was canceling "Deli Boys" after two seasons.

Here's a clip from that conversation.

I know you know all this because you track all this, but there is this -- like, a Hollywood diversity report that comes out every year. UCLA puts it out.

Poorna Jagannathan, Actress:

Crazy. What the hell's happening? What's happening with Hispanic representation?

Amna Nawaz:

So, this past year...

Poorna Jagannathan:

So, as the population goes up...

Amna Nawaz:

That's right. The trends don't seem to be matching what's happening in the rest of the country, right?

Poorna Jagannathan:

Right.

Amna Nawaz:

And so, this past year, and just looking across streaming services, which is where a lot of the investments and the new content is coming from, they actually found representation for women and people of color across the streaming platforms went down in 2025.

Poorna Jagannathan:

Yes.

Amna Nawaz:

And that included, by the way, that included "KPop Demon Hunters," which was incredibly diverse casting and team behind that. Lead actors of color in particular dropped 51 percent in 2024, that was an all-time high, down to 36 percent in 2025.

So, from where you sit, do you see that happening in real time? Do you feel that? And why do you think it's happening?

Poorna Jagannathan:

Yes. It's allowed. It's OK for it to happen now. I think people -- I think it's happening across the board. They don't have to green-light us.

It's always a risk, right? Like, a "Never Have I Ever" is an anomaly. It did so well. It was such a huge -- it was a crown jewel of Netflix, yes. And it's always a risk. And they were willing to take the risk when I think there was pressure to take the risk. And I don't think there's -- the foot is off that pedal.

I see casting announcements every day, and sometimes I'm like, holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED) it's all white. That's incredible. It's an incredible thing to suddenly see this. And it's such a -- it's such a shame, because it adds so much richness into the story when you add diversity of any kind.

I actually always will track what's happening with the Latinx community in Hollywood, because I think it's such a canary for us. And when you see those numbers go down, it's such a shame. It's -- you know it's coming to everyone. And I -- every award show, I will track how many people, how many of us get nominated.

I will track it. I will clock it, how many people win. And, sometimes, there is a dichotomy. It's -- some people will say, oh, our show is diverse, but it's a black-and-white dichotomy. There's the Hispanic and Asian, and indigenous representation is really not there. So -- but I feel like they feel like they have done their job with that kind of thing.

But I do believe, like, creators of color now have more power than ever. I know Mindy will always have diversity in her shows. And Abdullah Saeed, who created "Deli Boys," will always have diversity in his shows. So I don't think -- but the number of people -- as it is, we're so few, and then their projects are not getting green-lit as readily as they used to be.

Amna Nawaz:

And you can watch that full episode of "Settle In" and more on our YouTube page or wherever you get your podcasts.