Joseph Gordon-Levitt is set to return to the TV realm. News broke over the weekend that the popular film actor and Don Jon director will be popping up in an episode of The Mindy Project after it makes its transition over to Hulu. Go ahead and add that to your list of reasons it's great news the series has earned a second life as part of the subscription streaming service.
It looks like Joseph Gordon-Levitt will provide some additional star power during the Season 4 premiere. The episode is going to get a little fantastical and explore multiple possibilities for lead character Mindy Lahiri’s life. It’s unlikely the show is going to get into complex thought processes like parallel universes or multiverses (like The Flash), but Buzzfeed reports that this charming storyline will feature a universe in which Mindy is married to a Bravo executive named Matt, who will conveniently be played by Gordon-Levitt. It’s supposed to be a nod to the movie Sliding Doors.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt rose to fame nearly two decades ago playing Tommy on 3rd Rock From The Sun. In the time since, he’s largely strayed from TV—unless you count appearances on late night programs including SNL--instead favoring movie roles as varied as (500) Days of Summer, Looper and Inception. I have no idea how he ended up taking a gig on The Mindy Project, but it may have had something to do with Kaling appearing on the actor’s crowdsourced web series HitRecord.
In the past, the show has managed to draw in a ton of big names. Shonda Rhimes got the acting bug and debuted that skill set on an episode of The Mindy Project. James Franco and Breaking Bad’s Anna Gunn also both appeared on the show, not to mention Bill Hader, Common, Kevin Smith and more. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is arguably a bigger star than everyone but maybe Franco, but even Franco has been known for taking other oddball TV gigs, which made his appearance on the sitcom less unusual.
It’s great that The Mindy Project is even able to beef up its guest-starring lineup. Just a few months ago, Fox announced that it had cancelled the series, which effectively seemed to be the end of the show. But the comedy smartly shopped around, and Hulu took the bait, picking up the series for a whopping 26 episodes—more than fans would have gotten if the show was on traditional television. Those episodes don’t have a premiere date, yet, but they are expected to hit the schedule sometime in 2015.
