New Promos and Spoilers for 'The Mindy Project'

As a cranky recluse, my favorite part about summer ending is the fact that fall television comes back. Among my most-anticipated is The Mindy Project for its second season. Mindy Kaling is back with a cropped 'do and a life-changing trip to Haiti ahead of her with her do-gooder minister boyfriend Casey, played by Anders Holm. A new promo aired yesterday featuring James Franco (the man is everywhere!) as a rival doctor named Dr. James Leotard who takes over for Mindy while she's out of the office being altruistic with Casey in Haiti, but her old Mindy comes rushing back when she returns to the OB/GYN office and scolds Dr. Leotard for trying to out-cute her. Oh, Mindy. Never change. Hypable visited The Mindy Project on set, and Kaling describes Franco’s character as her “nemesis” while co-star/writer Ike Barinholtz (Morgan) says “James Franco is the ‘anti-Mindy’. He’s everything [she's] not." Yes! Give Mindy an enemy, and who better than James Franco to be anyone's nemesis?

The Mindy Project came out pretty strong in Season 1, even though some of its characters were more caricature, and people came and went disappointingly (I want to see more of Mindy's best friend, Gwen). But the second season is already looking more promising, with a bevy of guest stars lined up -— besides Franco, Justified star Timothy Olyphant is slated to appear as a love interest for Kaling — which, sadly, means that she and Casey are probably headed for a split.

Chloe Sevigny is coming back, too, as Danny's (Chris Messina's) ex-wife-turned-girlfriend. And Ellie Kemper is coming on as a love interest for Morgan. What else I hope to see: more of the ladies. There are a lot of dudes on this show, and as much as I enjoy Kaling's dynamic with each of them, I wanna see her hang with more gal pals. I'd love for Tamara (Xosha Roquemore) to get more screen time and become closer to Mindy, too. Thankfully, Bill Hader is already signed on to appear on the second season, so we can at least be happy about that.

Oh, and I love Dr. Lahiri with short hair, even if Danny Castellano hates it. Pro-pixie all the way! You can watch the promo below:

The Mindy Project returns to FOX on September 17.