ALAN YANG: We talked about everything story-wise. We tried to explore every possibility. But Aziz and I just felt like in the case of that relationship that it had ended. It felt like it would be a bit of yank to be like, “Oh, they’re back together again!” So that’s what we kept falling back to. That was our instinct. It also opened up this dynamic where after you’re so serious with someone and then spend some time apart, it can be like you don’t even know them anymore. We thought that could just be really relatable, depending on what’s happened with you and your ex.

Off of that, this season feels like a different show than it was last season in some respects. Almost like it’s matured along with Dev. When starting this season out were you trying to do anything different this year versus season one?

ALAN YANG: Yes! Our kind of watchword was that if season one was our attempt to create something new, original, and of its own, in season two we wanted it not to be like anything else that we had seen on TV or film, but also to distinguish it from the first season. So we didn’t necessarily want to duplicate a formula, recipe, or pattern that we had established. Like why do more of the same if you can push yourself and try and be more ambitious? It’s scary in some respects, but it’s also more exciting.

How did you guys come to decide on doing this transcontinental love story? Dev and Francesca’s material feels so real. Alessandra [Mastronardi] absolutely kills it and is such a star in this.

She’s just unbelievably charismatic, isn’t she? She’s already a big star in Italy but not a lot of people know her in America. But man, she’s just got so much charm on screen. As far as the romantic arc goes, it’s something that we decided on early on. There are some aspects of personal experiences from the writers in there and we poured everything we could into that story. It really laid out pretty nicely for us because it felt like a logical extension of those first few episodes in Italy. Then there was this idea last season that Dev couldn’t decide what he wanted and this year he wants something so badly, but it’s not available.