“There’s that saying that you have your whole life to make your first album, and then eight months to make your second,” says Donald Glover. “And when the first one’s fire, and everybody loves it, then they will all come up to you and say: ‘Hey don’t let me down with the second one, now.’ That was the way we were feeling about season two of Atlanta.”

For the 34-year-old actor, writer, director, singer, rapper and producer, it’s likely there is more than a modicum of pressure weighing on him given the success of Atlanta. The debut season of the comedy, which he created and stars in, launched in the autumn of 2016 and went on to win a run of awards including two Golden Globes and two Emmys, one for outstanding direction for a comedy, the first time an African-American has ever received the award.

Set in the southern US city, which is beleaguered by crime and poverty yet bursting with creative output, particularly in rap music, the show portrays the struggles of three young men lurching through life: Earnest (Glover), an Ivy League college dropout trying to establish himself in the music business by managing the career of his cousin Alfred, AKA Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry), a trap artist on-the-up, whose recent mixtape was certifiably “fire”; and their spaced-out friend, Darius (Lakeith Stanfield). The show soon established itself as dark, weird and very funny. Which came as something of a surprise to Henry, for one. “We honestly didn’t think Atlanta was going to be seen as a comedy but you have to be able to laugh at the absurd, in order to keep from crying,” he says when I meet him and Glover in Los Angeles.

Not that they’re calling it anything so prosaic as season two, however; this is Atlanta: Robbin’ Season. “We filmed it in the autumn and winter. And, in Atlanta, that’s the time that people flex [show off]. And people are going to jack you for that,” explains Henry of the rise in crime during this time of year. “There’s a bigger threat of home invasion, there’s a bigger threat of getting mugged. Robbin’ Season is about exploitation. There’s a greater sense of danger and darkness for these characters, too.” Indeed, the season begins with a shootout at a drive-through fast-food joint; Earn is now homeless and Paper Boi under house arrest, while later episodes see a hostage situation in a Neverland-esque mansion and strange goings-on in at Drake’s house. For the actors, there was a tangible sense of life mirroring art. The show continues to be filmed “in the ’hood”, as Glover describes some of the city’s most deprived neighbourhoods. “And we’d not been in Atlanta since the first season,” says Henry. “And now everyone recognises us, we’re like: ‘Oh, that’s great. But actually, we might get mugged.’”

“I kind of forgot that everybody on the show wasn’t super-famous before this,” admits Glover, with a giggle. Indeed, the boost that the show has brought to its cast and their careers has been enormous. Later this year, Henry will be seen alongside Daniel Kaluuya and Liam Neeson in Widows, directed by Steve McQueen, while Stanfield stars in Sorry to Bother You, a film about an African-American who adopts a “white accent” in order to progress in his job, released next month. However, this is undoubtedly Glover’s year, with his role as Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Stars Wars Story, and his much-discussed single as Childish Gambino, This Is America. He also won a Grammy earlier this year for his track Redbone, and last year was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.

Atlanta steers clear of direct political commentary, though “there is no way of waking up in the morning, and walking through this country as a black man and not have it be political,” shrugs Henry. But the show – much like Insecure, Issa Rae’s HBO comedy which she describes as being “about black people being basic” – does not get bogged down with references to the current, or previous US administrations.

I am blue... (from left): Brian Tyree Henry, Donald Glover and Lakeith Stanfield. Photograph: FX Networks

“The way I look at it, the years Obama was in office, and the year after Trump was inaugurated, if you were poor, you really didn’t see the difference. That stuff really didn’t touch you,” says Glover. “We just look at what happens when someone is really poor, when someone really doesn’t have a stake in any of this. I think half the reason we are at the place we are at with politics is because so many people do feel that they don’t have a stake in it.”

Glover’s buzz-creating video for This Is America – featuring the startling scenes of him shooting a gospel choir among other loaded images – was more overtly political, taking aim at US issues including police brutality and gun violence. It was directed by Hiro Murai, who also directs much of Atlanta, and injects the show with a somewhat surreal flavour. “We have a really great chemistry, and it’s rare that you find that,” says Glover of their dynamic. “I think we keep each honest about what’s actually daring. I don’t like shows when they become risk-averse. I don’t think that’s the point – trying to self-preserve. I’m not here to make seven seasons and a movie. That would be really bad.” He giggles again: “Unless we get to seven seasons, and I’m like: ‘This is actually perfect: somehow Atlanta became Game of Thrones.’

“But I’m not making a TV show, I am making an experience,” he adds.

When putting together his writers’ room for the show, Glover deliberately selected people with no television experience. “You are much more willing to take a risk if you don’t know you are taking one, if you aren’t aware of the problems that could arise.”

Along with his team’s blissful ignorance, Glover is also blessed with an impressive level of creative confidence. “I think a lot of people are afraid to fail because, being black, you don’t get a chance to fail,” he explains. “But I am not afraid to fail.” It’s probably a moot point. Given the rapturous reception Robbin’ Season has received in the US and worldwide already, failure would not appear to be on the cards any time soon.

Atlanta: Robbin’ Season continues on Sunday 24 June, 10pm, Fox; the whole of season one is on BBC iPlayer