Cynthia Nixon detailed the ways making And Just Like That differs from filming Sex and the City‘s original run — and hinted that Kim Cattrall‘s absence has changed things for the better.
“This is not something that we speak about, really,” the Emmy winner, 57, told Vanity Fair on Thursday, June 15, when asked whether “the dynamic” was different on AJLT without Cattrall, 66. “Yes, it did feel very different. It felt very different also because we have these new amazing characters, and we’re older and our fictional children are now largely grown. Many things felt different.”
The former gubernatorial candidate didn’t mention her former costar by name, but she implied that the cast is happier now because they’re all excited to be part of the revival series.
“The main thing that felt so great was that everybody who was there really wanted to be there. That’s just the bottom line,” Nixon explained. “We all love each other, we love our show, we wanted to do more of it. And we all wanted to be there. So that makes an enormous difference, that you’re not walking around on eggshells with someone who’s unhappy for reasons that are hard to even understand what they are.”
Cattrall, who played PR expert Samantha Jones throughout SATC‘s original run and in the two movies, did not return for AJLT, which premiered in December 2021. She also declined to participate in a third SATC movie.
Both Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker, who plays Carrie Bradshaw, have said that the Mannequin actress was never asked to reprise her role for AJLT.
“We did not ask her to be part of this because she made it clear that that wasn’t something she wanted to pursue, and it no longer felt comfortable for us, and so it didn’t occur to us,” the Divorce alum, 58, told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2022. “You’ve got to listen to somebody, and if they’re publicly talking about something and it doesn’t suggest it’s someplace they want to be, or a person they want to play, or an environment in which they want to be, you get to an age where you’re like, ‘Well, we hear that.’”
Last month, however, news broke that Cattrall will appear on AJLT after all, albeit in a small cameo during the season 2 finale. According to Variety, the How I Met Your Father star did not interact with Parker or showrunner Michael Patrick King during the scene, which reportedly depicts a phone call between Carrie and Samantha.
As AJLT viewers know, Samantha is still alive and well in the world of the show, but she now lives in London and has a distant relationship with Carrie, Miranda (Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis). In season 1, there were several scenes where Carrie texted Samantha, but Cattrall never appeared on screen.
Last year, Cattrall used the word “odd” to describe Samantha’s arc on AJLT. “I don’t know how to feel about it. It’s so finite for me, so it doesn’t continue,” she told Variety in May 2022. “This feels like an echo of the past. Other than the really wonderful feeling of — it’s rare in my business — people wanting more, especially at 65. That feels powerful, that I’ve left something behind that I’m so proud of. I loved her. I loved her so, so, so much.”
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Season 2 of And Just Like That premieres on Max Thursday, June 22.
