And Just Like That…

It’s been nearly 24-years since we first met Carrie Bradshaw—played by Sarah Jessica Parker—in the 1998 premiere of Sex and The City. Fans watched for six seasons as Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda navigated love, careers, friendship, and the New York City lifestyle.

The show pointed out the many inequities women face in the dating world. In addition, it leveraged the glamorous image of a ‘high-fashion progressive New York woman’ to create a televised feminist dialogue. With talk of vibrators, orgasms, threesomes, and women enjoying sex, the series played a significant role in the early 2000’s movement toward women’s sexual liberation.

Quips like, “I want to enjoy my success and not apologize for it,” “it’s my clitoris, not the sphinx,” and “I love you, but I love me more” were shocking and empowering at the time. The show encouraged fans to reach for their goals, enjoy sex, prioritize themselves, and take risks—and if those risks didn’t pan out just right, there was always an iconic Carrie-ism to put things in perspective like “Buy a Chanel and get over it!”

Changes to expect in the “new chapter.”

Sarah Jessica Parker, an executive producer on the mini-series, doesn’t consider And Just Like That another season of Sex and The City. An interview with Vogue is carefully referred to as “a new chapter.” And Parker notes that while the fabulous fashion and real-talk attitude stay, viewers should expect to see a few changes. Here are three important differences to look out for when watching:

Meaningful diversity.

Cynthia Nixon—who plays Miranda–says that “The incredible lack of diversity was the Achilles’ heel of the show, the first time around.” In contrast, executive producers Michael Patrick King and Sarah Jessica stress the importance of giving the audience an authentic portrayal of New York City’s diversity.

With the addition of new characters Sara Ramirez, Nicole Ari Parker, Karen Pittman, and Sarita Choudhury, fans can expect to see a varied range of perspectives compared to the original series.

Nicole Ari Parker—who plays Park Avenue resident Lisa Todd Wexley—spoke with Variety about the importance of representation in casting And Just Like That. “I’m excited to be a part of something that’s different for [the Sex and The City franchise],” She went on to say, “there were no fully fleshed-out characters of color, but now here’s the four of us. We’re real people, and they’ve been great to work with, and some of our [storylines] deal with race and deal with real experiences. It’s New York City!”

The sexy and unforgettable Samantha will not be returning. Actress Kim Cattrall crushed it as Samantha in the original. However, she made it clear that she had moved on from the show. When discussing a longstanding feud between herself and Parker and the possibility of returning to play Samantha, Cattral had this to say, “Never. It’s a no from me.”

Sources at the Daily Mail say that Samantha’s character will not be “killed off” or played by another actress. Instead, it is predicted that a move to London will explain Samantha’s absence.

In the continued pursuit of telling authentic and whole stories, the writers and producers of the limited series made the conscious choice to focus on the lives of Carrie, Charlotte, and Miranda—as they navigate ‘sex and the city’ in their fifties.

Cynthia Nixon—who plays Miranda—told Vogue, “I like that we’re not trying to youthify the show. We’re not including, like, a 21-year-old niece. I think it’s revolutionary to do a show about middle-aged women, with their aging lady bodies.”
 

 

Executive producers clap back against the “misogynist chatter.”

Unfortunately, not everyone had nice things to say about the choice to follow the characters into their fifties. Some people took to social media to troll the upcoming show, likening it to The Golden Girls. To these comments, Michael Patrick King had this to say: “Wow, so it’s either you’re 35, or you’re retired and living in Florida. There’s a missing chapter here.”

Sarah Jessica reported having to deal with “a lot of misogynist chatter” on social media as well. And she isn’t sitting back and taking it. In an epic clap before, Parker said, “Everyone has something to say. ‘She has too many wrinkles, she doesn’t have enough wrinkles.’ It almost feels as if people don’t want us to be perfectly okay with where we are, as if they almost enjoy us being pained by who we are today, whether we choose to age naturally and not look perfect, or whether you do something if that makes you feel better. I know what I look like. I have no choice. What am I going to do about it? Stop aging? Disappear?”

Okay, we’ve teased this out enough. It’s time to look for yourself!
 

 

A tribute to Willie Garson.

You may have noticed Willie Garson in the trailer. Sadly, Garson—privately battled pancreatic cancer—passed away on September 21, 2021. Sex and The City cast paid tribute to their dear friend by sharing kind words in his loving remembrance. In addition, Sarah Jessica took to Instagram to express her grief.

“It’s been unbearable. Sometimes silence is a statement. Of the gravity. The anguish. The magnitude of the loss of a 30 + year friendship. A real friendship that allowed for secrets, adventure, a shared professional family, truth, concerts, road trips, meals, late-night phone calls, a mutual devotion to parenthood and all the heartaches and joy that accompany, triumphs, disappointments, fear, rage and years spent on sets (most especially Carrie’s apartment) and laughing late into the night as both Stanford and Carrie and Willie and SJ. Willie. I will miss everything about you. And replay our last moments together. I will re-read every text from your final days and put to pen our last calls. You absence a crater that I will fill with the blessing of these memories and all the ones that are still in recesses yet to surface.”

Willie was part of filming And Just Like That before his passing. Michael Patrick King told the BBC that Garson was “[working] even while sick. His spirit and his dedication to his craft was present every day,” So viewers can expect to see his final performance as the beloved Stanford Blatch in the first few episodes.
 

 

Where can you watch And Just Like That?

The first two episodes of And Just Like That become available on HBO Max on December 9. The eight remaining episodes of the mini-series will steam one at a time on Thursdays. So mark your calendars—because it’s time to shake up some cosmos and drool over Prada and Christian Dior!