Quick Links
Sex and the City fans likely have Sarah Jessica Parker to thank for the HBO revival series, And Just Like That. This is because she reportedly took a massive pay cut in order for the show to get made. While viewers certainly had issues with the sequel series, it was a big enough success to warrant a second season on HBO Max.
Sarah recently gave fans a glimpse at what's to come in the second series. Sure, it wasn't much, but it was enough to get them excited. If the second season is anything like the first, fans can surely expect over-the-top, W*F moments galore... even if some of them are pretty cringey.
Spoilers Ahead For Season One Of And Just Like ThatIn an interview with Vulture, Michael Patrick King, the man credited for developing the series, as well as his partners, shed some light on reasoning for some of the first season's biggest and most controversial twists.
Why Is Samantha Not In And Just Like That?
Kim Cattrall apparently gave And Just Like That a hard pass when she was asked to reprise her role as Samantha. There just doesn't seem to be any way around the apparent feud between Kim and Sarah Jessica Parker. However, the creators of And Just Like That managed to find a way to incorporate Samantha without actually featuring Kim. The results were divisive.
In the show, it's revealed that Carrie and Samantha had a falling out because the latter moved to London after the former fired her as her publicist. Throughout the first season, Carrie texts Samantha and eventually, it's suggested that the former best friends reunite due to the passing of Big. This all happens off-screen, of course.
"Because Carrie has this history with Samantha, we wanted to honor that," executive producer Julie Rottenberg explained. "The worst thing that could happen to Carrie already did. Big died. So letting Big go is liberating for Carrie. She’s going to give it one more try, to make this bold invitation. And to have Samantha say yes — we loved that reward."
What Happens To Miranda In And Just Like That?
There's no shortage of fans angry about what happens to Miranda in And Just Like That. Mostly because her love triangle with Che and Steve sort of contradicts what the character is all about. In particular, the end result where Miranda decides to move to California with Che, giving up her competitive internship in the process.
"We moved the pieces of this decision up to the very end. We actually had the very fast, last-breaking thought that Miranda would go to California," Michael Patrick King explained.
"It became part of the writing to decide, 'does Miranda claim her old self or her new self?' The old self would have stayed and taken care of Brady and chosen the internship. We even had a line where Miranda went, 'I just remembered I’m Miranda, not Rambo.' But we looked at it and went, 'Why?' We built the entire season around the fact that she’s feeling something out of her head and in her body and heart. Why would we change that? That opened up the conversation to the last speech, and the choice of red hair."
Julie Rottenberg added to this explanation by saying, "In a way, choosing to have her go to L.A. and change her hair back is messy, and these women’s lives are messy, and that is what we wanted to embrace — to not have it follow a clear linear step A, step B, step C. That is also why it’s a heated conversation around these characters."
Is Miranda Divorced In And Just Like That?
While the decision to have her dye her hair and move to California was controversial, it paled in comparison to Miranda's breakup with Steve. Many fans online felt that Steve was given the shaft by the writers.
"The Steve-Miranda breakup was going to be a biggie," Julie said to Vulture. "I believed what we were doing was true to the character in the moment, where she’s getting in touch with the fact that she’s unhappy with her marriage. I believed in that, supported it, thought I was ready for the response, and definitely was not. People were invested in them as a couple."
The fact that Miranda followed up her divorce with a relationship with Che furthered fans' animosity. But the creators wanted to be clear that Che had nothing to do with the end of Miranda and Steve's marriage.
"I had a really strong drive to be as clear as we could that Miranda deciding to leave Steve wasn’t about Che, but was about her trying to make a change in her life," co-executive producer Rachna Fruchbbom said to Vulture.
"Che was a symptom of where she was, but not the reason for the action, necessarily. Miranda was already in a place where her marriage was not feeling full."
Why Was Big Killed Off And Just Like That?
Mr. Big's shocking demise made huge news. But Michael Patrick King didn't choose to kill off a major character just for publicity. He knew it was the launching point of the series.
"The really clear pitch is 'Carrie Bradshaw is single again at 55.' Big had to die. Otherwise, there would be no reason to come back."
