Season two of teen comedy Never Have I Ever landed on Netflix last week and fans of the series wasted no time getting stuck in!
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In fact, the show, which is co-created by actor and writer Mindy Kaling, has been so popular with subscribers it has managed to knock small-town drama Virgin River off of the top spot as the streaming site's most-watched TV show.
However, while fans have been enjoying the new episodes, many are just now learning the real age of actor Darren Barnet, who stars as 16-year-old high schooler Paxton Hall-Yoshida in the series - and they can't get over the age difference between him and his co-star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.
WATCH: Are you a fan of Never Have I Ever?
The actor, who has also had roles in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., This is Us and Untitled Horror Movie, is 30, while Maitreyi, who plays his love interest Devi Vishwakumar is only 19 years old.
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Fans of the show were left feeling uncomfortable, especially since the two stars shared romantic scenes together in season one when Maitreyi was just 18.
Taking to Twitter, one wrote: "Its v creepy that everyone in Never Have I Ever thought it was okay to put 19-year-old Maitreyi with a 30-year-old dude Darren??? Does no one else see how thats just not a right age gap?"
© Photo: NetflixPaxton actor Darren Barnet is actually 30 years old
Someone else added that they "can't watch this series like before knowing the age gap," while a third called on Netflix to overhaul their casting process. They wrote: "Can Netflix start casting age-appropriate actors/actresses for their shows. Darren Barnet is a 30-year-old playing a 16-year-old in Never Have I Ever. This sets such unrealistic expectations for young/teenage boys on how they should look like."
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Responding to criticism levelled at the show last year regarding the age gap between the actors, co-creator Lang Fisher told News Week: "We wanted [our cast] to feel like real teens. Our one outlier is Darren, who is in his late 20s.
She continued: "You can't ask someone how old they are when they audition. You just have to assume that they're a reasonable age. I don't think we found out what his age was until we were deep in the season and then we were like, 'Oh, OK.' I assumed he was, like, 20. And the other thing I will say, when you see an actual 15-year-old boy, they're just not going to be a heartthrob. They look like a tiny baby."
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