[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Season 2 of The Sex Lives of College Girls.]

From co-creators Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble (who is also the showrunner), the second season of the HBO Max original comedy series The Sex Lives of College Girls continues to follow Essex College roommates Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet), Bela (Amrit Kaur), Leighton (Reneé Rapp) and Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott), as they try to figure out what’s next, from their classes and in their romantic lives. With issues ranging from how to stay at school without a scholarship, to figuring out who you are beyond being on a sports team, to starting a rival campus magazine, to openly exploring your own sexuality, no matter how serious the problem or wild the party, this group of friends is always there for each other.

During this interview with Collider, co-stars Chalamet and Kaur talked about what they most enjoyed about Season 1, what they’re most excited about with Season 2, where their characters’ growth comes from this season, the Kimberly/Jackson (Mitchell Slaggert) dynamic, Bela’s journey, trying not to crack up in scenes with Ilia Isorelys Paulino (who plays Lila), and their favorite moments in Season 2.

Collider: What did you guys most enjoy about Season 1, and what are you most excited about fans of the show getting to see with Season 2, as far as what you got to build on with these characters?

AMRIT KAUR: It was my very first opportunity to take all the learning I’ve had from class and put it in a real world scenario. I had done other parts, but this was my first time being in an ensemble cast. That was exciting for Season 1. For Season 2, it was nice to go deeper, in understanding everybody’s processes. I have so many thoughts about how I could become an even better comrade and better actor for Season 3. That growth every year has been very nice. For Bela, in particular, just as there’s been growth as an actor, we’ll see growth and maturity with her as a human. She dealt with so much in Season 1. At the end of Season 1, she had very specific coping mechanisms. We see a more mature, more grounded Bela in Season 2. She’s a little bit more revengeful. It’s not necessarily the right approach, but her coping mechanism is now to objectify men and to be the boss of her own magazine. She’s very ambitious. We’ll see that side of Bela.

PAULINE CHALAMET: What I loved about Season 1 was being able to see the stories of these four very different young women, who are forced to live together, and what it was like to understand their dynamic, and then what was it like to see their own individual stories unfold, with different things around the campus and in their life. By the end of the season, the characters were left in the dark a lot. What I’m most excited about for Season 2 is to continue to let these stories unfold and show the viewers how the stories unfold and show that Justin [Noble] and Mindy [Kaling] and the writers did a really good job of creating depth and nuance to the reasons why, and how, certain things are happening. A lot of the times, especially on series, I have the impression that, if something doesn’t work anymore, they just have a line about it, and it’s done. Our team really focuses on depth, and a lot of things go to the end of their thoughts. If something changes, we’re really trying to understand why.

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Image via HBO Max

For both of you, where would you say your character’s growth comes from this season? Does it come from something within themselves, or does it come from something they learn from someone else?

CHALAMET: For Kimberly, it comes from herself. She’s completely alone. She has to grow up really quickly to figure out how she’s gonna be able to afford to stay in school. Kimberly is really forced to reckon with herself and grow up.

KAUR: Everything for me, for Bela, is quite personal. There have been times in my life where I’ve been hurt, and my coping mechanism is to just wanna get to the top. I’m so ambitious, and nothing else matters. Now, that’s just a Band-Aid, and it actually makes things worse. That’s what Bela does. She’s really hurt, by the end of Season 1, and her coping mechanism is my coping mechanism, which is full-throttle focus, "I’m gonna get what I want," and she also has that revenge tactic, to not feel pain, which is so human.

Pauline, I was bummed that we wouldn’t get to see what would happen next with Kimberly and Nico, just because we got to watch them the whole first season. But then, I quickly became distracted by the new guy in her dorm. What do you think it is about Jackson that’s good for Kimberly? What do you enjoy about that dynamic?

CHALAMET: I enjoy that it’s two people whose paths would’ve never otherwise crossed. I think it’s important to have those experiences in life, at that age and older, where you get close to people who are different than you and have different beliefs and just see things differently. It helps reinforce your own personhood because you’re forced to ask yourself questions. Do I actually agree with this? Do I actually like this? Is this something that’s a part of me? Is this something that’s important to me? With Jackson, it’s a very different relationship than with Nico, so I don’t really think we can compare them. When we meet Jackson, Kimberly’s in such a different place in her life because of needing to come up with money to stay in school that we see it for what it is, which is a story that’s very different than the one with Nico.

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Image via HBO Max

Amrit, it’s so interesting to see Bela’s journey over these episodes because we see her as this confident person who knows exactly what she wants, but we also get to see that she does have some jealousy. What was it like to explore that side of her, especially when it comes to having a relationship?

KAUR: It was so fun. I know, in my personal life, because I try to base the acting on something personal, if I’m jealous of somebody, I just pretend that I’m not jealous. I’m not gonna reveal that. I’m not gonna give it up to them. I think that’s what Bela does. She’s so determined to not show that she’s falling, and she’s losing. That’s why we fall in love with her because that’s what we all do. That actually makes her go into a deeper mess, and we all laugh because we’re all the same way.

Pauline, I love the relationship with these four girls, but I also love the moments that Kimberly has with Lila because she really cracks me up. What is it like to do scenes with Ilia Isorelys Paulino? Do you ever break in those scenes because she’s so funny?

CHALAMET: All the time. She’s just so funny. She brings so much energy to a scene, which gives energy to play with. It’s such a joy to work with her. She’s so fun. In Season 2, Bela and Lila have all these scenes together too, and that’s exciting. It’s exciting when the characters who started off in one storyline continue in a storyline overlap because it only reinforces how Bela and Kimberly have this mutual friend that’s outside of the girls. It’s interesting because that’s the way the real world is too.

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Image via HBO Max

Do you guys have a favorite moment this season, whether it’s specifically for your character or something that your character is a part of?

KAUR: Going back to Lila, with Ilia in episode one, I had so much fun standing at the end of the bar and just looking at guys. It was much shorter in the episode, but when we shot it, it was much longer and we both had so much fun. We were both following impulses, and we have a similar tracking system for how we talk about men. It’s a surprise that we’re like, “We have the same language. Usually people think we’re weirdos, but I know you.” That was really fun. It was very fun to work with her. Ilia, the actress, is now one of my closest friends in real life.

CHALAMET: There’s so many favorite moments. I love everything that happens at Sips. I love the dorm room scenes. In episode one, I love when we’re sitting at the dining hall and somebody throws a milk carton. That was an impressive scene to film because things were being thrown.

KAUR: That was very funny. There was an actor named Spencer [Neville], who plays Aaron, who was so committed to being a jock. He took his job as a jock so seriously, which was such a beautiful choice, as an actor. Every time he would leave, we would all burst out laughing because it was like, “You know you’re just a jock, right? Chill out.”

The Sex Lives of College Girls is available to stream at HBO Max.