Based on the romance novel series by Sherryl Woods, Sweet Magnolias follows Maddie, Helen and Dana Sue, childhood best friends who help one another through the good and bad of family, career and romance. It would be easy to assume the drama, created by Sheryl J. Anderson, concerns itself solely with their love lives, but it’s also about the way strong friendships and communities anchor us, especially during challenges that affect us all. The first season aired in May 2020, mere months after multiple countries went into strict lockdown to help control the COVID-19 pandemic. Season 1 arrived at a time when the world needed to see a community pulling together despite multiple obstacles. As the second season, launched this month, sits in your “Continue Watching” list, Anderson wants viewers to know that while love is still at the heart of the show, so is forgiveness. In fact, “forgiving people who have wronged us and forgiving people for not meeting our expectations” are, Anderson tells Tudum, the themes of this season.

Sweet Magnolias takes place in the fictional town of Serenity, South Carolina. There’s Maddie (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), a recently divorced mother of three, trying to gather the pieces of her life now that her ex-husband Bill (Chris Klein) is preparing to start fresh with his pregnant former mistress, Noreen (Jamie Lynn Spears). Next is Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott), a flourishing restaurant owner dealing with the pains of an estranged marriage and raising a teenage daughter. And then there’s Helen (Heather Headley), a successful lawyer who wonders if it’s too late to have a family of her own. Nicknamed the Sweet Magnolias because of their kind and generous dispositions, the three women rely on their friendship to ease them through life’s challenges, including learning how to walk away from past love and toward new.

“The power of female friendship really does fuel so much in life, but it’s not often highlighted,” Anderson explains. “Look at how women support one another in happy times and sad times, giving one another strength when it’s needed, and support, and joy. It really ripples through an entire community."

It was this that drew Anderson to the book series the show is based on and made her want to see the characters on-screen. “The three ladies are the hub of an entire community of people who do their best to be there for one another and to lift one another up,” she says. “Because, personally, I think that’s the best way to go through life.”

The world of Serenity remains COVID-free moving into Season 2, but Anderson hopes the audience can apply some of the major life lessons learned through living in a pandemic. “I hope that people will watch our show and remember how important it is to love your neighbor,” she says. “How important it is to reach out to those in need and to aspire to the best in all of us, and help the people around you reach their best rather than emphasizing what we perceive as what separates us.”

Establishing the community was an important aspect in Season 1, as was laying out the romantic lives of Maddie, Helen and Dana Sue. Although many viewers are tuning in to see how their respective relationship troubles untangle, Anderson stresses the significance of their friendship. “They’ve known one another since they were tiny, before romantic relationships existed for them,” she says. “So I think that they are committed to seeing one another realize their dreams, but it was very important to us that we not say their dream is the perfect partner and nothing else.”

Many of these lessons are imparted through the unlikely friendships that emerge on the show. Dana Sue and Erik (Dion Johnstone), for instance, were able to move away from the tense start of their employer-employee relationship into a more caring and devoted collaboration. Anderson hopes these surprising connections can be a lesson to all.

“We take great delight in saying, ‘Hey, these two could have an interesting conversation and maybe they could come out of it as friends,’” she says. “So our desire there is to entertain the audience and encourage them to be open to the unexpected friendships in their world that could make their life richer.”

A prime example is Isaac (Chris Medlin), who arrives in Serenity on a mission to find his birth mother. In the first season, he struggles to warm up to the townspeople, but once he comes clean about his intentions, he’s embraced and offered assistance. In the second season, we see him not only discover both his birth parents, but also build tighter friendships within the core group and give in to the community spirit. His journey is touching to watch.

As important as the lessons in community and friendship are, it’s the love stories that keep us glued to our sofas with margarita pitchers and trays of chips and salsa. While many of us are still waiting to get a text back, the Magnolias have to deal with the challenges of letting go of old loves and learning how to move on to new ones. Maddie is still reeling from her divorce from Bill, so she’s leery of starting anything new with Cal (Justin Bruening), her oldest son’s baseball coach, which could get complicated. Meanwhile, Dana Sue comes to terms with her estrangement from her husband Ronnie (Brandon Quinn), but thankfully local farmer Jeremy (Chase Anderson) brings her plenty of strawberries and other kinds of sweetness to chew on. And Helen must decide if her old flame Ryan (Michael Shenefelt) should keep dipping in and out of her life as pastry chef Erik woos her with desserts, a comforting shoulder and tasty kisses. Yes, all these love interests are eye candy, but they’re also caring, thoughtful and supportive friends. It’s enough to set audiences swooning.

“We were looking to make these relationships exciting, but to enjoy the process and not rush to okay, we’re a couple, we’re in bed, boom, boom, boom,” Anderson says. “We wanted to enjoy the anticipation and the getting to know each other — the friendship on the way to maybe something more. And we wanted the men to be respectful, intelligent and intentional about it.”

Anderson admits there is some wishful thinking at play there, but it works. The women are beautiful and should be surrounded by beautiful men. It makes perfect sense.

Part of the beauty we see in Serenity is its diversity. In the core friend group, Maddie, Dana Sue and Helen are all physically different from one another, both in race and in body type. Dana Sue’s weight is never mentioned as a deterrent or as a fetish. In watching the show, you see an inclusivity of its townspeople that remains rare. In the first season, there are little people, people in wheelchairs and people with prosthetic arms. In Season 2, we see people using sign language. Most have speaking roles and interact with the main characters, so they’re not just in the background; they are visible, active parts of the community. Again, Anderson reveals these are deliberate choices that extend to behind the camera, with Anderson “setting up a diverse writer’s room.”

“We just look for every opportunity to include people and show how vital they are to the community, how welcome they are in the community and how much they welcome the other people,” she says. “It’s a little bit of wish fulfillment. It’s the kind of world I want to live in.”

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.