It’s not Sex and the City without Samantha Jones — and that’s still the case, despite Kim Cattrall not being part of the upcoming revival, And Just Like That.
“We love Samantha. Samantha is never not going to be a part in some way, right?” Kristin Davis, who portrays Charlotte York on the series, said on the Today show on Tuesday, December 7.
While the actress, 56, couldn’t say what the writers decided to do with Samantha, she did give a bit of a tease about the absence being addressed in a story line.
“There is respect for Samantha. … It’s part of the story,” Davis explained. “We would never disrespect Samantha.”
Cattrall, 65, portrayed Samantha on the HBO series, which aired from 1998 to 2004, as well as in the 2008 and 2010 movies. However, amid a feud with costar Sarah Jessica Parker, Cattrall stated during the second film that she was done playing the PR mavin.
While many assumed that the Tell Me a Story alum turned down the chance to be in And Just Like That due to her feelings about Parker, 56, showrunner Michael Patrick King said it was never part of the plan from the start.
“And Just Like That was never four [characters],” the writer, 67, told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday, December 4. “It never was on the radar as four because Kim Cattrall, for whatever reason, didn’t want to play Samantha anymore while we were doing the [third] movie.”
The How I Met Your Father actress has been vocal through the years about being done with the character, noting via Instagram in 2017 that she “can’t” play Samantha again, adding, “My heart isn’t in it anymore. … I’ve moved on.” She later also called out Parker, claiming she was “cruel” to her.
“I never thought, ‘Oh, there’s a hole I have to fill,'” King said about working on the HBO Max revival without Cattrall. “Samantha doesn’t not exist in their lives. [And Just Like That] was born of these three characters: What’s their life, and who can I bring in to inform it?”
And Just Like That will follow Charlotte, Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw and Cynthia Nixon‘s Miranda Hobbes as they venture through life in New York City in their 50s.
Chris Noth, whose character, Big, is married to Carrie, recently weighed in on the drama between his former costars — and admitted he’s confused by it all.
“I have to tell you, I have absolutely no idea what [Cattrall’s] thinking is, or her emotions,” the Law & Order alum, 67, told The Guardian on Sunday, December 5. “I liked [Cattrall], I thought she was marvelous in the show and some people move on for their own reasons. I don’t know what hers were. I just wish that whole thing had never happened because it was sad and uncomfortable.”
He added that he feels “very protective” over his onscreen wife, therefore he didn’t like the negative comments made by the Filthy Rich alum.
“I was not happy about that,” Noth noted. “That’s all I’ll say about that.”
The first two episodes of And Just Like That debut on HBO Max Thursday, December 9.
