And Just Like That: The women of Sex and the City are back
And Just Like That… Season 2 is here!
Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw, Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes and Kristin Davis as Charlotte York are back navigating love, life, loss and lifelong friendship in New York City in the spin-off of their late-‘90s cult hit show, Sex and the City (SATC), which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.
The HBO show’s second season follows a successful Season 1, which for Sarah Jessica, served as validation that they made the right call in bringing back the beloved characters from SATC. The original show ran from 1998 to 2004. Carrie and her friends are now in their 50s and have expanded their circle to include new faces.
During a recent virtual chat with the global press, The STAR included, this writer asked Sarah Jessica about the kind of fulfillment she got out of the first season. For And Just Like That…, she and co-stars Cynthia and Kristin are now executive producers with SATC writer-director Michael Patrick King.
“We were thrilled that it was still connecting. That people were wanting to be with these characters. And inside these stories again, that Michael’s and my instinct about coming back now was certainly… It was comforting to know that we weren’t wrong about that,” said Sarah Jessica.
“And it’s thrilling when it connects and it’s been absolutely, you know, an exquisite feeling to be back with that audience again and to hear from them. We always hope we do right by them and their devotion and commitment to us. Because it means a huge amount to us.”
Sarah Jessica particularly acknowledged the efforts and creative genius of the show’s writing pool for the success of the pilot season.
“You know, we are aware that we are in a somewhat unique position of playing characters for all these years and also having a showrunner and a writer’s room that is so skilled at creating stories that connect with an audience. And it is by virtue of that relationship that the show has success and especially as we are, you know, watching a big impactful writer’s strike,” she said, referring to the ongoing labor dispute in the US between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
“We are always grateful for our writing room, ever more so now. So, I think that we lay the good fortune at the feet of the writers and then we get to hit the streets of New York and try to make it work. And do right by those words.”
For Kristin, on the other hand, she never thought the appeal and charm of SATC would last this long and that she, Sarah Jessica and Cynthia would continue to tell their characters’ stories via And Just Like That… or over 20 years after they first embodied them on screen.
“Never did I ever, ever, ever imagine,” she said. “I mean, we had very humble beginnings.”
“We were talking about this the other day. We did a podcast with Michael Patrick, Cynthia, Sarah and I, and we just didn’t know what was going to be the response (then) or where we were gonna go.
“I did feel magic. I felt a magic when we were together… I felt the potential, but at the time, HBO really had like boxing and male-oriented shows. We were kind of like, gosh, are they even gonna pick us up? We don’t know.
“And then (I had) this totally silly complaint (because) I had come from Melrose Place, which is like a big machine, a big production, big success, a big machinery like regular television.
“There I (was) in New York. We were on the streets where (we had) these tiny trailers and craft services, which were like snacks that you eat during the day, and we got this little, tiny like cardboard table with fake M&Ms.
“Okay, they didn’t have real M&Ms. And I was like, what is going on that we don’t have real M&Ms while working like 18 to 20 hour days?” she laughed in recollection.
“So, those were elements where it was like this is so weird. There were some magical, surreal elements and then there were some really odd elements, where you’re like, huh? So, you really couldn’t tell. But the joy of it all — well, obviously, the joy is that we’re still here. But the second joy was that HBO really allowed us to find ourselves in a really unique way.”
Kristin recalled that when they filmed the SATC pilot, they waited for a year and a half to get picked up for airing.
“Then we shot 13 episodes plus the pilot without ever airing. None of it aired until we were done. And that’s kind of unique,” she further noted.
“I remember, all of us going, like yeah, what are they gonna think, like what’s gonna happen? And at the end of those 12 episodes, we got hats that said ‘Sex’ on the front and ‘And the City’ on the back. So you were walking around and I needed to wear mine when I was in Starbucks. And this man, he went, ‘What’s that hat?’ ‘Oh, it’s a show I’m on for HBO.’ And he said, ‘Oh, are you on Real Sex?’ Did you remember there was a (documentary) show called Real Sex (on HBO)?
“But I was like, no, no, no, no, no! This is fiction. So, it’s really funny to think of the whole journey. The whole journey has been quite something and never ever, ever could I dreamed it up!”
Kristin believes that “the reason I think it’s still alive is that all of us are included in terms of the storyline, the creativity.”
She noted that even “back in the olden days” when they didn’t carry executive producer titles, writer-director Michael Patrick always discussed with them storylines and story arcs, and paid attention to while they swapped ideas.
And while their writers were the “center for the ideas,” she appreciated the fact that they were included in a way she hasn’t experienced elsewhere.
“I think that’s part of the reason for the success is that everybody was kind of honored, included and listened to. It doesn’t mean you always won that argument, right? But like having that investment makes you more invested in the character and the whole project,” she said.
“Having everyone be invested is so, so important. We have these new characters now. And they’re so invested in everything. They have so many great ideas and we want them to be happy as well.”
Another reason could be because there’s a real sisterhood and friendship happening behind the scenes. They genuinely like each other in real life.
Asked by The STAR how she would describe her relationship with Kristin and Sarah Jessica nowadays, Cynthia said, “I would say we just love each other and have known each other for a really long time.
“We share so many points of view. We’re all, you know, mothers. We’re from different places… but we love being together. We love being together fictionally and in real life. Like we miss the chemistry of the fictional characters being together so much.”
Cynthia continued, “But I also think it’s really nice to have this bond and then, be able to welcome all these amazing new people into this world.
“I don’t know, but we just always know we’re there for each other and can check in with each other. Or, if we have a problem or if we have a question, it’s like, let’s convene, the three of us, and brainstorm and problem solve.
“It’s really nice to have these women, who always have your back and have such good heads on their shoulders. Do you know what I mean? That if you don’t know something, you can ask them because at least one of them is going to know and you can trust it,” she concluded.
(Stream And Just Like That… Season 2 on HBO GO. Other returning regulars are Sara Ramírez, Sarita Choudhury, Nicole Ari Parker, Karen Pittman, Mario Cantone, David Eigenberg, Evan Handler, Christopher Jackson, Niall Cunningham, Cathy Ang and Alexa Swinton.)
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