And then there were three. News of the Sex and the City revival series, And Just Like That, came with one major caveat: Kim Cattrall, who played PR maven Samantha Jones, would not be part of the new show.
In January 2021, Sarah Jessica Parker confirmed a “new chapter” of Sex and the City was in development at HBO Max with an Instagram video showing clips of New York City. “I couldn’t help but wonder … where are they now?” she wrote at the time.
The Family Stone actress was nominated for 10 Primetime Emmys during the show’s original run from 1998 to 2004, taking home a trophy in 2001 for producing and winning Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2004 for her role as Carrie Bradshaw.
When the revival series was announced, HBO confirmed that Carrie’s best friends Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) would be along for the ride too — without Cattrall. Though some fans were disappointed by the news that the quartet had become a trio, others weren’t entirely surprised given the Mannequin star’s highly publicized feud with Parker.
Rumors of tension began in December 2004 as the show was coming to an end. At the time, Cattrall said that she’d asked for a salary of $1 million per episode. “When they didn’t seem keen on that, I thought it was time to move on,” she told Jonathan Ross.
Later, Parker stood up for her former costar’s right to ask for more money, saying that “no one should vilify her” for wanting a pay raise. “People made a decision that we had vilified her,” the Divorce alum explained in May 2008. “No one bothered to say [to the rest of us], ‘Are you disappointed by not making the movie?’ Yes. ‘Do you respect and support her choice to not do it?’ Absolutely.'”
Nearly a decade later, however, things hit a boiling point when news broke that a third Sex and the City film wouldn’t be happening. After Parker said she was “disappointed” by the situation, the late Willie Garson retweeted an article claiming that Cattrall was the reason the movie was off the table. “And that is that. And sadly, the reasons are true. Period,” he wrote in September 2017.
While the tension had largely been about professional endeavors until that point, things got personal following the death of Cattrall’s brother in February 2018. After Parker sent her condolences via Instagram, the Filthy Rich alum publicly called her out.
“Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now,” she wrote via Instagram at the time. “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.”
Though fans held out hoped that a reconciliation might happen before the revival began production in spring 2021, the Golden Globe winner didn’t make an appearance in the new series after its December 2021 premiere.
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Variety reported in May 2023 that Cattrall would briefly reprise her role of Samantha in the season 2 finale of And Just Like That and would appear in a singular scene.
Keep scrolling to see everything the Sex and the City cast and crew have said about Cattrall’s absence from And Just Like That:
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