When we last saw Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw in the finale of HBO Max’s And Just Like That, she was texting longtime friend (and fourth member of the legendary Sex and the City quartet) Samantha Jones to meet up for drinks after Carrie scattered Big’s ashes in Paris. While the drink invite looked like it opened the door to even the slightest possibility of Jones’ portrayer Kim Cattrall possibly appearing in the recently green-lit And Just Like That Season 2, that door can now be considered firmly shut. While Kim Cattrall’s public stance has been that she turned down both a third Sex and the City film as well as the possibility of appearing on the And Just Like That reboot, Parker politely contradicts that assessment.
Speaking at length to Scott Feinberg on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, Parker asserted that cracks in the relationship started to initially show when Cattrall came forward with demands that she required to ensure her participation in a potential third Sex and the City film that the studio simply, was unwilling to meet. While Parker admitted that she was “disappointed” she also said “it happens”. After Cattrall began to publicly bash Parker herself, as well their relationship off-screen (Cattrall said Parker had never really been a friend, and claimed the same of co-stars Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis), Parker seemed to think that they had reached the end of the road in telling the story of Samantha Jones. According to Parker, that decision was firmly based on Cattrall’s own words. Parker told the podcast in part that “We did not ask her to be part of this ‘And Just Like That’ 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. That’s not ‘slamming’ her, it’s just learning”.
Parker had previously spoken with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live about the absence of Samantha Jones and how it was handled. At the time, she said in part, that “it was an idea because Samantha is not gone. The actress that played the role is no longer playing the role. People’s aren’t absent from your life when you don’t want them to be. In typical Michael Patrick King fashion, he threaded it through with grace, dignity and respect, and love and affection for the character-and it mimicked many friendships”. As for how Parker herself feels after finally speaking out after all this time, her reasoning was fairly simple; She told the podcast “There has been no public dispute or spat or conversations or allegations made by me or anybody on my behalf. I wouldn’t do it. That is not the way I would have it. So I just wish that they would stop calling this a ‘catfight’ or an ‘argument,’ because it doesn’t reflect [reality]. There has been one person talking.”
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