Mr. Abbott, 26, is working on a feature with Brady Corbet, his co-star from the well-regarded 2011 drama “Martha Marcy May Marlene.” Unprompted they all mentioned the director and actor John Cassavetes as a model for the kind of creative life they’d like to lead; Mr. Abbott jokingly took credit for making the reference first.

In interviews at cafes near their homes — Williamsburg for Mr. Karpovsky, Greenpoint for Mr. Abbott and Brooklyn Heights for Mr. Driver — they spoke about their lives, which mostly haven’t changed, how their characters were first described and what to expect in the second season, which begins Sunday. Here are excerpts from their conversations:

Q. How do your characters evolve this season?

ADAM DRIVER I feel like Adam is surprised how intense his feelings are for Hannah. I don’t think he really took it seriously until there was the threat of it not being there anymore. For the first half of the season he’s trying to adjust to not having that part of him, then losing all power in that relationship. Then meeting someone new who brings out different parts of his personality that I don’t think he’s expecting.

ALEX KARPOVSKY Some time has elapsed, maybe a month, in these characters’ lives. And in that month Shoshanna and Ray get close. Maybe not initially. Maybe there’s a hiccup, but ultimately they do spend a considerable amount of time together. And it was really fun to explore kind of a softer, more sensitive, caring side of Ray, because we haven’t seen too much of that, especially in a romantic context.

CHRISTOPHER ABBOTT [Charlie’s] smart, but because of the long relationship that he was in, you know, someone’s view can get kind of tunnel vision, when you like this one person so much, you don’t see much else. I feel like in the first season his view of the world is quite small. So his world opens up a little bit more in Season 2.

Q. When you auditioned, how was the character described?

KARPOVSKY There was never an audition. [Ms. Dunham] just asked me if I wanted to do the pilot. Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but the character’s name was originally Karpovsky, and I think because of that she maybe didn’t need to describe him at all. I just tried to do what she wrote. The only note that I had is: Could we change his name?