The Sex Lives of College Girls boss talks love triangles and losing Leighton in season 3

Say goodbye to freshman year, because when The Sex Lives of College Girls returns, Bela (Amrit Kaur), Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet), Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott), and Leighton ( Reneé Rapp ) are officially sophomores.

"[It's] this very fun kind of mirror image of the pilot in many ways," co-creator Justin Noble tells Entertainment Weekly. "They're in a new suite and it's so insanely gorgeous."

But... are they all in that suite? Because season 2 ended with Whitney deciding to move into a sorority after she saw Kimberly kiss Canaan (Christopher Meyer), and Bela asking for a transfer. "That is heavily dealt with in the first two episodes of our show," Noble says. "We've intentionally led to a bit of a fractured living situation that needs to be resolved. I mean, our girls got to find a way to get back together. If you're an eagle-eyed viewer who's watched the 'Coming Up Soon' Max supercut, you probably feel good about your chances of them getting back together since they're partying in a frat basement together."

As for that Kimberly-Canaan kiss, the show is going to deliver on a love triangle, but hopefully not in the way you're thinking. "We try not to do a lot of girl-on-girl warfare," Noble says. "I'm not particularly interested in a prolonged fight between people, but we do want to explore that messiness that exists in college when you start to crush on someone, and even that inner space where you're a little confused by it. Some of my best friends in my life now are people that I was like, 'Am I in love with that?' Yeah, I was, but as friends. So we'll have to see how it plays out. There's definitely an existing triangle going into season 2 and we'll see what shape it shakes out at."

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There's also the question of what's next for Leighton, as we know that Rapp will only appear in a few episodes of the upcoming season. "We have obviously had a ton of growth for Leighton's character through season 2, and only more curve balls will be thrown her way," Noble says. "We'll be seeing some more growth for Leighton in a couple different areas over the time that she's with us in season 3. But it does feel like this interesting reflection on what college really is, when people are in your life for this period of time and then they're not. People move around. But it is interesting and it shakes up our girls in a way that allows for, I think, pretty good TV."

Because college is all about meeting new friends — and you know, studying — season 3 will be adding two new series regulars, including Taylor (Mia Rodgers), an international student from the U.K.. "Now that our core group has elevated to being sophomores, they need someone who's underneath them who doesn't know the ropes yet, and are they going to take on big sister roles or are they going to take on more conflict roles and it probably changes by the day of the week," Noble says.

Then there's Kacey (Gracie Lawrence), another transfer student, but she's coming to Essex in search of something... or someone... specific. "She is a transfer student whose boyfriend has been at Essex since their first year," Noble says. "They were dating in high school and they got separated through the college admissions process and she worked her butt off at Duke and transferred to Essex to be with her boo."

So long as everybody gets along with Lila (lia Isorelýs Paulino), we're happy.

The Sex Lives of College Girls returns in November on Max.