And Just Like That… creator Michael Patrick King has been speaking out about the Sex And The City spin-off as its first season comes to a close. This article contains no spoilers for the finale (airing tomorrow), but if you’ve yet to have watched any of episodes, you may want to click away now.
King spoke to Variety about the actor Willie Garson, who played beloved gay character Stanford Blatch. Garson, 57, filmed three episodes of the show before dying of pancreatic cancer last September.
Related: Sex and the City star Willie Garson dies aged 57
King says it was always his plan for Stanford to go through some sort of “midlife crisis” and probably split from his husband, Anthony (Mario Cantone).
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However, Stanford was originally due to feature in all ten episodes. Instead, following Garson’s death, the character’s absence was explained by Anthony discovering that Stanford had suddenly left him to move to Tokyo to manage a TikTok star.
“He was in all 10 episodes,” King said. “Before I knew that Willie was sick and couldn’t complete it, Stanford was going to have a midlife crisis. Stanford’s character always had a borderline career as a manager, and we were like going to explore the fact that it wasn’t a real career. It was going to be Carrie and him, feeling the shifts. Anthony and him were probably going to have split anyway.
“Then we would keep both of them in, and everybody would be relieved that they were divorced because it was not pleasant for anybody. But there was a series of really fun, flirty, hilarious confidante scenes with Carrie that I loved. That old, old, very specific chemistry that Carrie and Stanford have, which is based totally on the uniqueness of Willie and Sarah Jessica’s history.”
King went on to say that dealing with life and death and fiction can be tricky when the audience is aware the actor has died in real life.
“Life and death is one thing in fiction: When it’s real, it’s not funny or cute. I didn’t want to even flirt narratively with cute business about where he is. I knew the audience would never invest in it, because they knew he was never coming back. It’s the most threadbare writing I’ve ever done just to move him along without much maneuvering, because it was just so sad. There was no way I could write myself out of that in any charming, cute way.”
Related: Cynthia Nixon breaks her silence on the Chris Noth scandal
Variety also asked King about the sexual assault allegations against Chris Noth, 67. He said he could not comment. Noth, who has denied the allegations, played Mr. Big, husband to Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker). His character died in the first episode, and the actor was subsequently cut from a flashback scene in tomorrow’s finale.
However, King did reveal the death of Big had been planned to take place in the third, never-made, Sex And The City movie. That film never emerged primarily because actress Kim Cattrall, who played Samantha Jones, refused to sign up for it.
“I had the idea that Mr. Big would die — that was the movie. And I’m so thrilled it didn’t happen in the movie, because I wouldn’t have been able to explore the journey for Carrie.”
King said, “The idea of the movie was really strong, and there was interest. And then all of a sudden it was impossible to get all four ladies to participate: Kim didn’t want to do the movie. Kim had finished playing Samantha, and despite conversations back and forth she just said, ‘Yeah, I don’t want to do this.’ So she pulled out, and I thought, ‘Well, then there’s no movie’.”
He says Cattrall’s decision was “disappointing at the time, because I had a good story and I love writing Samantha. You have to look at the reality of something: You can literally not make an actress play a part.”
According to HBO Max, And Just Like That… has been its most successful original show to date. However, there’s no official word yet on whether it will be renewed for a second season.
Bonuscheque
I am enjoying the new show so much.
Caine
I am also – I originally had problems with Miranda’s storyline – it felt as though that is what the actress wanted not the character. The show does not miss Samantha at all. Bye to that bad mojo.
cuteguy
Michael Patrick King destroyed the new show and the legacy of SATC. It was widely reported that he, along with SJP, was one of the reasons that Kim Cattrall did not want to return. They treated Kim so badly after the original creator Darren Starr left the series. And Just Like That has been such a disappointment, especially in the writing but just in general. The wasted opportunities, primarily with a non binary character like Che Diaz who is universally hated, fall at the feet of the writers. MPK should be ashamed of what he did but as a true narcissist, he will live in delusion. And as far as the way HBO MAX is spinning this is your typical corporate response, it’s a rather new streaming service so they don’t have much of a history yet of original programming, and they realize the negative reviews from fans and critics alike, that they will put out nonsense that it’s the highest rated ORIGINAL programming to date without giving any data. At the very least, ppl are talking about this train wreck so I guess they can be happy it’s at least being talked about
Caine
then – ya know – don’t watch!
bsg1967
Sounds like a train wreck of a show
cc423
I loved the original SATC. But not every show needs to be dragged on forever.
This show should have been allowed to wander off into the sunset. Instead, they trot out the same old characters from the 90s and pepper the entire catastrophe with trite dialogue about podcasts and TikTok. It’s clunky and sad.
Chrisk
That’s too bad. Willie garson and Kim Katralll was the reason I loved sex in the city so much.
Cam
Honestly, after that second movie, I’m surprised they let the same person oversee this series.
lykeitiz
You can never go back and fully capture the feeling of an original, but this series has been very enjoyable. Watching the uptight have-it-all Miranda from the 90’s facing her male-like midlife crisis has been brilliant. Sure, there are too many new side characters wasting screen time, but when the originals are together onscreen, the LOL moments are still there. Of course I also had the unpopular opinion that (most of) the Will & Grace reboot was fun too.
toddlicious
They should’ve given Stanford a proper goodbye. It’s sad that they just wrote him out and sent him off somewhere to disappear into oblivion. He was a sweet, good, character that now the audience just has to except has disappeared. In real life, people die, and if they thought two deaths in one series was too much, then they’re missing the whole point of trying to be relevant and make their show makes sense in today’s world. Mr. Big’s death was needed because that character was awful from the beginning, but Stanford should’ve been given a heartfelt farewell too.
SoloMcDaniel
AJLT is an entirely different show than Sex & the City. Sex & The City was funny and the characters actually had sex. AJLT is a chore to watch. The characters are portrayed totally different It’s like taking the Loony Tunes characters and putting them in Terms of Endearment.
Recommend watching Search Party on HBOMax. It’s actually entertaining.
Godof 1967
Samantha was my favorite and I miss her.