For U.S. audiences, the driving plot behind the new season of “Boarders” will feel awfully timely, and that’s not because series creator Daniel Lawrence Taylor felt inspired by the recent attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion happening in America.

That initiative kicked off by the Trump administration earlier this year hadn’t even occurred to Lawrence Taylor when production on his British teen dramedy began again last summer. But it is nonetheless relevant to the point he makes about it in its second season, which sees our returning Black boarding school quintet — Jaheim (Josh Tedeku), Leah (Jodie Campbell), Toby (Sekou Diaby), Omar (Myles Kamwendo) and Femi (Aruna Jalloh) — grappling with cuts to their scholarships as St. Gilbert’s acting headmistress plots to get rid of them.

It wouldn’t be the first time affirmative action has been repealed; there’s already a long history. “Boarders” makes it clear this is just another example of the cycle repeating itself.

So, when I ask Lawrence Taylor if he believes this well-timed storyline will especially resonate with U.S. viewers once his show returns to Tubi on Thursday, he replies matter-of-factly, “You know what? I think it will.”

“It’s scary… but at the same time, it’s not surprising because I feel like it’s a pendulum that constantly does this,” he explains. “It’s like, ‘Yay! Black lives matter.’ And then, ‘Oh, actually, I don’t know if they do.’”

This is the conundrum the scholarship kids grapple with in Season 2, as they’re informed by headmistress Carol Watlington-Geese (Niky Wardley) that their program — the same one enacted to save the school’s reputation in Season 1 — will shrink from five spots to three because she believes financial aid should be “based on talent, rather than background.”

Similar rhetoric was used by the U.S. Department of Education in March when it launched investigations into 40+ universities that were accused of using “racial preferences and stereotypes in education programs and activities” and “allegedly awarding impermissible race-based scholarships.” Even across the pond, those parallels give “Boarders” fans plenty to unpack this season.

“It’s always a constant battle, so it is perfectly timed, and I think it will definitely resonate with people,” Lawrence Taylor adds of Season 2, which sees him return as mentor Gus. “And I think it will highlight as well that these are the challenges Black people are constantly up against because there’s always someone who’s like, ‘Nope.’”

Beyond this bump in the road, Season 2 of “Boarders” doesn’t center as many “culture clash” moments that gave the hit series legs last year. The new school term picks up with the group collectively figuring out how to hold on to all their scholarships while also dealing with their own personal crises.

Femi’s dilemma coincides with the headmistress’ vendetta as he struggles to keep his grades up so his stern Nigerian father won’t book him a one-way flight home. Omar, on the other hand, is trying to maintain his spot with the secret Raisinettes society by digging up gossip on his schoolmates (and friends) while also exploring a budding romance with Dilton (Dillon Mitra). Toby is still pissed over his breakup with Abby (Assa Kanoute). Meanwhile, Leah thinks she’s found an ally in the new Black American exchange student Devon’ye (Kendra Brown). And Jaheim is dealing with, well, a lot more than a teenager should — from his strained family back home to his new school enemy (the headmistress) to a messy love triangle (what’s a high school series without one?).

Exploring the woes of being a teenager called for a “much lighter tone” in the latest installment of “Boarders,” whose first season focused on the group’s alienating experience of surviving at their nearly all-white boarding school. This time, though, the series switches gears to show the students somewhat thriving.

“And by thriving, I mean I wanted to show that they understood the space a little bit more and [are] starting to make new connections, whether that’s friendships or relationships,” Lawrence Taylor clarifies. “There’s still that struggle of being a fish out of water, but it’s not as prominent, and it’s more about them just surviving as teenagers in this world.”

He adds, “I wanted to do that evolution.”

Much of that evolution involves the scholarship kids gaining a deeper understanding of themselves. Like Femi discovering his special talent and Jaheim finding out what happens when you confuse love with lust. Or even Leah, who thinks she’s finally found her equal at St. Gilbert’s — another whip-smart, no-nonsense Black girl — only to spiral when her suspicions about Devon’ye begin to surface in the most ridiculous ways.

“Her whole being is rattled, and she starts to question herself and her relationship with this person,” Lawrence Taylor explains of Leah’s arc this season. “Her whole self-belief system is shaken, and I think that is what happens when you’re a teenager. You think that you know the world, but then something comes into it and slightly changes it, whether it’s true or not, but it can disrupt your whole belief system.”

There are “much more of those teenage storylines that I think we can all relate to” in Season 2, the creator promises. That, along with plenty of heartfelt moments and sharp comedy from the cast, made “Boarders” such a hit with audiences in the first place, and hopefully, what will keep them coming back.

This time last year, “Boarders” was coming off of its widely successful Tubi debut in North America, after first airing on the U.K.’s BBC. It’s unclear exactly how many viewers the show drew in, but rave reviews and word-of-mouth chatter helped it earn a rare 100% Rotten Tomatoes score upon its premiere. That’s way more praise than Lawrence Taylor ever thought possible for his fictional coming-of-age series, partly inspired by his higher education experience and an old Sunday Times article about a social experiment where five disadvantaged Black boys from East London were sent to the elite Rugby School in 2008.

“It’s funny, ’cause in some ways it was a very Black British experience, but with universal themes,” Lawrence Taylor remarks of “Boarders,” which follows his last London-set series, the BAFTA-nominated comedy “Timewasters.” Hence, it’s been “really lovely” to see U.S. viewers take to his show the way, he says, some Brits have with American hits like “Insecure” and “Atlanta.”

“The fact that you guys took it to heart so well, it just blew my mind,” he shares excitedly. “It’s quite nice when our stuff goes over to you guys, and you embrace it.”

Modern U.S. audiences have seemingly always loved British TV, and “Boarders” proves this theory right again. As Candice Frederick wrote for HuffPost last year, the series finds itself in conversation with another universally beloved U.K.-set teen dramedy, Netflix’s “Sex Education,” which ended after four seasons in 2023. But instead of focusing on the relationships of horny high schools students in the U.K. — although that is one source of drama in “Boarders” — Lawrence Taylor’s show digs into other complexities of teenhood, from identity to being the new kid to academic pressures and overbearing adults.

What really sets the series apart is how it tackles Black excellence in academia and what sort of challenges come with it, such as the five gifted Black students having to prove themselves worthy of a scholarship they’ve already been awarded. That’s another curveball “Boarders” throws in Season 2, as Lawrence Taylor was curious to see “what happens when these characters are actually no longer just surviving together, but they’re having to compete against one another?”

“I thought that that was really interesting. Not only interesting in terms of story, but it’s also very real in terms of life, as in that concept that there’s only so much space for these Black faces,” he notes. “It speaks to the world and society, and what that does to you mentally and how that activates your fight-or-flight response as well.”

Finding these new pockets of storytelling in “Boarders” was “the biggest challenge” for Lawrence Taylor, especially when he and his writers did so before knowing they’d get the green light for a second season. And after fans fell so in love with the characters, the creator knew he needed to cater to that demand while still keeping the show’s material fresh.

“It’s always a tricky battle,” he shares, “but I just decided in my heart of hearts, ‘The evolution is so important because the shows that I love are the shows that constantly evolve.’”

Lawrence Taylor is hopeful that, with indisputably high ratings, “Boarders” will continue its upward trajectory in a potential third season, which he and his team are “already in the process of putting together.”

“We’re just waiting for that green light, so fingers crossed,” he said.

Of course, the end of Season 2 (don’t worry, no spoilers here) sets up several different scenarios for where the story could go next, between all the new relationships that are blossoming and some characters who might be leaving. Either way, Lawrence Taylor promises, “it’s gonna be good.”

For him, it’s been a joy to bring a new Black British experience to TV, one that proves it’s “not a monolith” but one of many depictions of Black U.K. life not often given a spotlight onscreen.

“It’s so important to show that we all move differently in these spaces,” Lawrence Taylor points out. “And even though I show five of them, there are so many other different versions of how we enter these spaces, and there’s never a right or a wrong way of doing it.”

“I think that’s what I really wanted the show to show, but at the same time, I wanted to do it with laughter and put Black joy on screen,” he adds. “Because, even though we come up against these adversities, we still are very good at shaking off and moving forward. And we will always carry that baggage with us, but we will always do it with style and grace.”

As for what he hopes viewers take away from Season 2, the goal is simply for people to see more of “these beautiful characters” in “Boarders” and how they’re “gonna win in life” — whatever that looks like for them.

“They’re gonna go against these challenges, and I want an audience to follow them and see how we as people, when you’re young and even when you’re grown, we all have flaws, and we’re constantly molding and shaping. Sometimes, the people that we become are because of what we were like during these teenage years. So, I wanted to show that all of these characters are beautiful human beings just figuring out who they are.”

All episodes of “Boarders” Season 2 are streaming now on Tubi.