Good News, Mindy & Danny Fans

It's time to take a big sigh of relief, my fellow Beyoncé Pad Thais. As our warrior queen, OB/GYN Mindy Lahiri at Shulman's Women's Health Associates has taught us, life is like a romantic comedy and there will always be a happy ending. In our case, Mindy Kaling herself has to come to our rescue to deliver reassuring news in our trying time. With recent reports of actor Chris Messina no longer being a series regular on the show, fans everywhere have been crying into wads of tissue thinking Little Danny will no longer have his dance-loving Italian father Danny Castellano running around. However, during The Mindy Project 's For Your Consideration panel in Los Angeles Wednesday, Kaling inspired us all to still believe in true love when she said, "People will not miss Danny because he's going to be there."

Ugh, thank god, Mindy and Danny 'shippers: Castellano lives. "When people hear [an actor is no longer a regular], I think that they sometimes get worried that they're not going to see him, but he was in these past 13 episodes very frequently and they share a child, so I don't want to scare people off about him not being in the show because the character is built into the fabric of the show, especially as the father of Mindy's child," Kaling said. "We would never do that to the audience, so people don't have to worry about it."

Her announcement comes as a huge solace after many viewers worried about Danny's fate during Season 4, when his appearances on screen lessened. Not to mention with the recent demise of Danny and Mindy's relationship, it seemed as though the news of Messina's role meant no possibility for a rekindling of their epic, modern-day romance. Despite Kaling's abilities to take her show to different levels of narrative, she still holds the opinion and happiness of her audience at an all-time high.

"I never want to cause my audience pain because I love our viewers so much and they're so loyal and so invested. We were just trying to be really true to the character, you know? They dated and they were very happy and they have very good chemistry, but that relationship is also very volatile because they're super different," Kaling said. "And I think that almost everyone I've ever met has been in a romantic relationship where people try to change and they can't, which ultimately is why they break up, and we tried to show that." And she guarantees that, though the pair's engagement was called off in the midseason premiere, it's because of her new home network that she is able to bring reality of real-life relationships into the show's most paramount romance.

"Luckily, we're on Hulu, so we could actually show some of the sadder, real crux to that, which we wouldn't have been able to do on network, so we felt really lucky to do that," Kaling said. "And Chris is such a good actor, he nailed the drama. In fact, he thrives on it. He loves the conflict, so it made me love acting in those scenes even more." Oh, and no need to fret about not seeing Messina much during the past few weeks on Season 4. Kaling and executive producer Matt Warburton revealed that the final four episodes of Season 4 are very Danny heavy, and the writers have even begun mapping out when to next feature the relationship.

Though a premiere date for Season 5 of the series has yet to be officially announced, it's safe to say this will not turn into a sad documentary about a criminally insane spinster. Yaaass, all hail Mindy and Danny. And here's hoping we see a very 27 Dresses-esque wedding with a side of brown sugar coming very, very soon.

Images: Hulu; Giphy