Cynthia Nixon wants And Just Like That fans to manage their expectations for Kim Cattrall’s season 2 cameo.
“I worry that with all the build-up, people are going to wonder what all the fuss was about. It’s important to know that it is a very brief, very small cameo,” Nixon, 57, told London’s The Times in an interview published on Sunday, July 2.
The New York native, who plays Miranda Hobbes in the series, added: “We were very disappointed that the secret leaked of Kim’s upcoming appearance. We so hoped it was something people wouldn’t know about until they saw the episode and that it would be a fun surprise as they were watching.”
In May, Variety reported that Cattrall, 66 — who did not reprise her role as Samantha Jones in season 1 of the Sex and the City spinoff — is slated to appear in a single scene during the season 2 finale. Her former costar Sarah Jessica Parker — whom she has had her ups and downs with over the years — told Entertainment Tonight in June that she was “really excited” about Cattrall’s cameo. “I thought it was a really good idea and I was thrilled that, you know, we could make it happen and that it worked for her and it’s just really nice to see. It’s really nice. I was really pleased,” the Hocus Pocus 2 actress, 58, shared.
Parker previously told the Hollywood Reporter in June 2022 that Cattrall hadn’t been in talks to join the cast of AJLT prior to its December 2021 premiere.
“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 Emmy winner, who plays Carrie Bradshaw, explained. “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.’”
AJLT writers explained Cattrall’s absence during season 1 by noting that Samantha had moved to London after growing apart from her best friends Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte York (Kristin Davis).
While the TV besties’ fictional falling out was chalked up to Carrie no longer employing Samantha as a publicist, the reasons for Parker and Cattrall’s offscreen bad blood are less clear.
Following the death of Cattrall’s brother in February 2018, Parker sent her condolences via Instagram, which her former costar didn’t appreciate.
“Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now. Let me make this VERY clear (if I haven’t already). You are not my family. You are not my friend. So, I’m writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your ‘nice girl’ persona,” Cattrall wrote via Instagram at the time.
Parker, for her part, has since shut down Cattrall’s claims that she mistreated her.
“It’s very hard to talk about the situation with Kim because I’ve been so careful about not ever wanting to say anything that is unpleasant,” the Divorce alum said during a June 2022 appearance on the “Awards Chatter” podcast. “There has been one person talking. … I’ve spent a lot of years working really hard to always be decent to everybody on the set, to take care of people, to be responsible to and for people, both my employers and the people that I feel I’m responsible for as a producer of the show. And there just isn’t anyone else who’s ever talked about me this way.”
Although Cattrall is only stepping back into the SATC universe briefly, she had some stipulations about her appearance.
“It’s very interesting to get a call from the head of HBO saying, ‘What can we do?’ and I went, ‘Hmm. Let me get creative,’” the Glamorous star quipped during a June appearance on The View. “And one of those things was to get [costume designer] Pat Field back, because I just thought that if I’m going to come back I gotta come back with that Samantha style, I gotta push it.”
New episodes of And Just Like That drop Thursdays on Max.
