Mindy Kaling is adding an on-screen role to her work behind the scenes on Running Point. The co-creator, writer and executive producer will recur in the Netflix sports comedy’s third season as Divya, the outspoken and self-assured CEO of a popular gambling app.
It is a notable expansion of Kaling’s connection to the series. Her existing creative credits place her among the people shaping the show’s overall direction; playing Divya puts her directly into its central business and family power struggle. The character is designed as a consequential obstacle for Isla Gordon, the Los Angeles Waves executive played by Kate Hudson, rather than a brief celebrity detour.
Production on Season 3 is underway in Los Angeles. Hudson will direct the season’s first episode, which marks her television directorial debut. No release date, episode count or further character details have been provided.
Divya is built as an opposing force, not Isla’s mirror image
Divya and Isla begin from a meaningful shared position: both are women leading in industries dominated by men. But that parallel is explicitly not meant to make them allies. Divya is set to become a persistent problem for Isla’s plans throughout the season.
That framing gives Kaling a character with clear dramatic utility. A recurring role generally means a performer appears in multiple episodes without necessarily being credited as part of the principal regular cast. In this case, “recurring” also signals that Divya’s involvement is expected to have a continuing effect on Isla’s decisions rather than being limited to one negotiation, one game or one workplace encounter.
The gambling-app angle creates a direct connection to the commercial world around a professional basketball organization. The supplied details do not specify whether Divya’s company has a formal relationship with the Waves, whether she is pursuing one, or what individual plan places her at odds with Isla. What is clear is that the show is using the character to introduce another executive with authority, confidence and a competing agenda.
That distinction matters. Isla’s conflict is not simply about earning respect in a male-dominated environment; Divya’s arrival suggests that two leaders can share an experience while still disagreeing sharply about priorities, tactics or control. The show has not revealed the particulars, so it is best to treat the coming clash as a broad season-long premise rather than assume a specific corporate battle or plot turn.
Isla’s job remains the center of the series
Running Point follows Isla, a former party girl and college dropout who unexpectedly becomes the person in charge of her family’s pro basketball team. The franchise is the Los Angeles Waves, and Isla’s professional authority has always been intertwined with the complications of the Gordon family.
The Season 2 setup places Isla in a more precarious kind of visibility. She is no longer treated as the unexpected selection to lead the Waves; she is the person people are watching. With the team recovering after the previous season’s scandal, she wants to demonstrate that she is more than a temporary replacement for her brother Cam, played by Justin Theroux.
Cam, however, is working quietly to regain his former position and is prepared to use Isla’s mistakes as leverage. That gives the series multiple layers of pressure: an executive charged with stabilizing a sports organization, a sibling contest over the job itself, scrutiny from the team’s board, and Isla’s effort to preserve room for a personal life.
Divya’s introduction fits naturally into that construction. Isla already has to make decisions that count both on and off the court, while navigating a family member with a reason to see her stumble. A formidable outside executive can raise the cost of any miscalculation without replacing the core story of Isla trying to hold the Waves together.
For viewers, the useful expectation is less “a sports story about gambling” than “a workplace and family comedy with a new business rival.” The supplied information identifies Divya’s industry and her adversarial relationship with Isla, but it does not establish that betting will become the show’s dominant subject. The team’s leadership, the boardroom and the Gordon family remain the stated foundations of the conflict.
Hudson’s first television directing assignment arrives during Season 3 production
Hudson’s role in the first episode goes beyond starring as Isla: she will direct it. A television directorial debut means this is her first time directing an episode for television, not merely taking on an expanded producing or creative credit.
Directing a premiere can be especially important because the episode establishes the pace, visual approach and immediate story priorities for a season. Still, no information has been shared about how Hudson’s episode will introduce Divya, how many episodes Kaling will appear in, or whether Hudson will direct additional installments. Those are open questions until more production details emerge.
Hudson is also an executive producer on the series, alongside Howard Klein, Jeanie Buss and Linda Rambis. Her directing assignment therefore brings one of the show’s leading creative stakeholders into a new production role. It also arrives as the show adds Kaling’s character to the acting ensemble, making the start of filming a particularly consequential point for the comedy’s next chapter.
The ensemble around the Waves is returning
Season 3 will bring back Drew Tarver, Scott MacArthur, Brenda Song, Fabrizio Guido, Chet Hanks, Toby Sandeman and Theroux. Recurring performers Ray Romano, Uche Agada, Ken Marino and Jay Ellis are also returning.
The full returning lineup matters because Running Point is not structured solely around Isla’s office. Its comedy and conflicts depend on a wider mix of family members and people orbiting the franchise. With Cam still positioned as a threat to Isla’s control, Theroux’s return is particularly central to the ongoing leadership battle. Kaling’s Divya will enter a show that already has active internal tensions, instead of resetting the premise around a wholly new organization or cast.
There is also a broader entertainment-and-sports overlap in the series’ executive team. Buss and Rambis are among its executive producers, while the fictional Waves provide the professional-basketball setting. For readers following sports stories beyond scripted television, Joking Joystick has also covered the way music and basketball can intersect around the game, including Bay Area rap support around the Valkyries’ WNBA Finals push.
Kaling remains a key creative voice on the show
Kaling created Running Point with David Stassen and Ike Barinholtz. All three are writers and executive producers, while Stassen serves as showrunner. A showrunner is the senior creative and managerial producer who oversees the day-to-day execution of a television series, including coordinating its writing and production direction.
The show is produced by Kaling International in association with Warner Bros. Television. Kaling and Stassen are under overall deals with Warner Bros. Television, meaning they have broader working arrangements with the studio beyond this individual project.
Those credits help explain why Kaling’s casting is more interesting than a simple guest spot. She is not joining an unfamiliar production from the outside. As a co-creator and executive producer, she has been part of the show’s creative foundation, while Divya gives her a new way to participate in the story itself. The character’s confidence and willingness to disrupt Isla’s agenda should provide a useful counterweight to a protagonist already fighting to prove she belongs in the top job.
For now, the confirmed picture is focused but promising: Season 3 is filming, Hudson is directing the opener, the core ensemble is returning, and Kaling will recur as a gambling-app CEO whose interests run against Isla’s. The finer points of Divya’s strategy, the exact stakes for the Waves and the season’s eventual premiere timing have not been disclosed.
