Spoilers for And Just Like That… below.
The debut episodes of HBO Max’s And Just Like That… hit the ground running. Within the first few scenes, most topics that the fandom had been buzzing about since the show was announced were already addressed, like aging, COVID-19, and the disappearance of fan favorite Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), who—spoiler alert—has passed on…to London. When Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) fired her as a publicist, she says in the first episode, Samantha apparently “fired” Carrie as a friend.
This explanation didn’t sit well with viewers, many of whom thought Cattrall’s refusal to participate in the Sex and the City reboot could have been dealt with more gracefully. Yet, the fact that showrunner Michael Patrick King knew he’d have to explain the Samantha void to throngs of very-online fans underscores one of the biggest differences between the last televised iteration of SATC and this one: social media exists now. In fact, Carrie’s casual hobby of posting Instagram fashion finds seems to be her newest claim to fame this season. But the presence of social media means the response to the reboot is far more immediate than it could feasibly be in 1998, when the show first premiered.
While talking with reporters on Friday, Cynthia Nixon told ELLE.com that she’s long been aware of some of the criticisms aimed at SATC in the last several decades, especially regarding the lack of diversity.
“For me, I’ll just speak for me, the idea of how white our show was is an enormous problem and has always been an enormous problem…and I didn’t need any fan or journalist to tell me that, I’m really aware of it,” she said. “To me that was the number one thing we had to address going forward and had to change about the show.”
But Nixon had no idea that there was already a debate unfolding on Twitter about whether or not Miranda Hobbes would be so awkward in the face of her new professor, Dr. Nya Wallace, played by actress Karen Pittman. In a cringe-inducing scene, Miranda puts her foot in her mouth over and over with comments about Dr. Wallace’s race and braids, and the rest of the first two episodes only further pile on her “white savior” tendencies. Nixon doesn’t think anyone should be surprised by Miranda’s missteps, though.
“Miranda is always sticking her foot in her mouth!” she insisted. “Getting angry and mouthing off. This wasn’t a case of her mouthing off, but it was a case of her speaking before she thought or not having the right words.”
After so many years in the role, Nixon would understand Miranda’s motivations and character better than anyone.
Kristen Davis also spoke to press, sharing what it was like to pick up where she left off and play Charlotte York Goldenblatt again. It was “not hard at all” to jump back into character, she told Samuel Spencer of Newsweek. “I love Charlotte. I love her, even with all of her faults,” she added.
Davis still thinks one of the most interesting things about Charlotte is how she’s changed since we last saw her, and how she will be asked to change as a mother. The first episodes of AJLT hinted at the disharmony in Charlotte’s Park Avenue apartment and the way she holds her two children, Lily (Cathy Ang) and Rose (Alexa Swinton), to certain standards of accomplishment and femininity.
When asked by Deadline‘s Rosy Cordero about the potential for exploring gender in the coming season, and the involvement of new non-binary character Che Diaz (played by Sara Ramirez), Davis explained that Rose is on “a journey” and Charlotte’s going along with her.
“We talked about it off screen probably more than we talk about it on screen,” Davis said. “The Rose journey is going to be a long one, so it’s not necessarily something that will have a distinct end this season.”
Later, she told ELLE that when it comes to her kids, it’s “great to see Charlotte, who is so about control not having control.”
Letting go of control is definitely the lesson of And Just Like That… so far.
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