Sarah Jessica Parker

OF “DIVORCE” ON HBO

Is it safe to assume that you had many opportunities to return to series television before settling on “Divorce”?

People had been really generous in their offers, and part of my declining them had to do with timing and children and children’s ages. Simply, television deserves a real commitment of time and energy and focus, and I just didn’t feel I was in a position to give it what it deserved.

When I first had the idea for this show, I didn’t imagine it for me (to star in). I was just really interested in the story and this portrait of a marriage and an attempted divorce, but when it became clear that HBO wanted me to do it, everybody including myself was very excited about it. It just felt like the right time, and obviously, being at home at HBO ... I’m sentimental about it, but there’s just so much about working for them that I love. It was fortuitous in lots of ways.

Since divorce is the subject of the show, do you feel the series matches the feel of winter?

The first season, we really wanted it to be in the winter. We loved cinematically what it brought to the show, and we were mindful and purposeful about that. This season, we’ve tried to move it into spring as a season of hope, metaphorically.

Spring often brings with it different sorts of feelings. For a lot of people – including me – winter tends to feel bleak and sort of like Chekhov, so emotionally and environmentally, we’ve tried to move toward something that is different and makes you feel different. We pushed (the filming) back intentionally to get some good months in there.