I’m used to giving away my storyline and casting ideas for free, so let me make some suggestions for the Sex and the City revival, a ten-episode limited series which will come out on HBO Max at some point. As far as I know, the episodes are still being written and they’re not planning on filming until “late spring.” So, my idea is that they’re going to write out Samantha Jones by killing her, and that’s how Miranda, Charlotte and Carrie come back together, to attend her funeral/memorial, after growing apart in the last decade. Then once they’ve caught up, they start hanging out more and thus, the limited series. Which I think Kim would be fine with – she said years ago that she doesn’t care what they do with the Sam Jones character, they can recast it or kill her off or whatever.
Anyway, I’ve been sort of pleased to see that after the 2017-18 beef between Kim Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker, there’s not a ton of gossip around those two this year. Let that beef die and everybody can move on. Which is what Candace Bushnell said too, as one of the few people in the SATC world who is okay with Kim.
Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell is weighing in on Kim Cattrall’s absence from the show’s upcoming HBO Max revival, sharing that she thinks the series will be “fine” without its original Samantha Jones. While many fans and critics shared their qualms that a SATC without Samantha would not be the same, Bushnell said that viewers should not worry about the show’s storyline without Cattrall’s famous character.
“You know what, I think it’s fine,” Bushnell told Page Six just days after the revival’s announcement. “Kim is a grown woman. She is 64 and she’s made a decision that I’m sure she has 10 very good reasons for and I respect her for that.”
Bushnell continued on to say that she thinks the show will be “interesting” without Samantha and that the series can now further explore its other characters. “But I also know there’s a lot of interesting characters like [Nixon’s] Miranda. We are all Mirandas. Miranda is an interesting character — but I don’t know what they’re gonna do,” she said.
“Kim should be happy — and I think she is happy. I think that her character Samantha is always going to be an inspiration to them,” Bushnell added. “So somehow, I imagine she’ll be there in spirit and as an inspiration that gives them a chance of exploring sexuality with different characters [without Samantha hogging the libidinous spotlight].” The author also noted that the reboot’s writers will surely come up with ideas to address Cattrall’s absence.
Yeah, I’m happy for Kim too. She doesn’t have to deal with toxic work drama in any form, from a jealous SJP to the storyline they wanted to do for the now-defunct third film, where Sam would have seduced Miranda’s son Brady. Kim is not being degraded, and she’s not allowing the Sam character to be degraded anymore. Honestly, even though so many critics and SATC fans are lamenting the lack of Cattrall, I’m halfway curious to see how they work out the “no Sam” issue and what that dynamic is like on the show.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
This cast other than Cynthia Nixon has not done well past the series not even SJP herself who at some point was being marketed like the new rom com star post a popular series like Jennifer Aniston. No wonder they all kiss SJP a** and cling on to this,they have nothing else going.
Prior to Coviid19 shutting down Broadway, SJP was preparing to star in what was already a sold-out Broadway run of Plaza Suite with her husband, after previewing it for three sold out weeks and good reviews for her performance in Boston. SJP’s career was doing just fine.
I’d say the opposite actually… SJP has done the best since the show ended. Starred in several blockbuster movies.
Kim Catrall has been steadily working since the series ended. She doesn’t need the work. The one who looks like she needs the work is Kristin Davis.
Of course, she said that. Because she makes money off of it lol. Sex and the city without Samantha is ridiculous. The second movie was one of the worst movies I have ever watched… I will pass.
My thoughts exactly. After all it is business so naturally, “everything is awesome!”
That’s exactly what I was thinking as well. What does she care as long as she makes money of the show. Personally, I think it’s going to suck without Kim Cattrall
It will be a show, but it just won’t be SATC. Also, I’ve heard no mention of Chris Noth. I’m assuming Carrie would have to be widowed or divorced so that hot men can pursue her. Maybe Aiden—as if they haven’t beaten that poor dead horse enough.
Minx, I laughed aloud at your last sentence!! Ha, ha: that’s the truth!!
I hope they’re not going to make her die. Sounds petty and revengeful. I don,t like the idea. Best friends forever is not always what happens in real life – and it would be ok to address it in a different manner than always have those characters killed. Meh… too easy and predictable.
Yeah. They would do far better to write the drama into the show. Imagine if at the end of the first episode, Carrie looked dead to camera and said “I’m sorry Samantha. I took you for granted. You were right to ghost me.” That would be cool.
I don’t wish them ill will; I just know I won’t watch.
Goodness, I am glad the show will be back and I will be watching. Even if just for the fashion. I am soooo tired of this storyline of the feud between Kim and SJP. Who knows what happened. I like them all and was never on board with throwing daggers at SJP. I am sure all four women will be fine and will do more projects, as I enjoy watching all of them!
I think SJP wasn’t nice to Kim, but I too am looking forward to some high-fashion escapist entertainment. I’m not expecting the magic of the original’s start, but I’m curious and I want to see some gorgeous fashion. The star of the second movie, IMHO, was the APARTMENT Big & Carrie were going to move into. I loved it so much, I’d have done anything to make it work!
Yeah I don’t think Kim is innocent in all of this even though that’s the narrative that’s popular around here.
Kim could be the biggest diva in the world and attacking her negotiation style and turning down 3rd film through anonymous leaks – which happened for movies 1 and 2 as well too – would still be underhanded.
SJP was all over the talk shows and magazines whinging that the 3rd film was dead, around the time Cattrall was grieving for her brother. She had Andy Cohen in a blonde wig making fun of the Sam character; again getting someone else to do the dirty work because she’s such a “nice girl.” Then Michael Patrick King went on some podcast about “pay parity” and basically calling out Kim for wanting parity.
A cast and crew happy to throw a valuable member of the team like the bus so publicly really does stand out. To this day SJP claims she’s never participated in any catfight. Hello, you never said a word in Kim’s defence when all those mean stories were leaked.
Hence Kim’s “toxic” culture comments are quite compelling.
She (and the other 2 were) was paid around 10% ($350K) of Parker’s salary of $3.2m for each episode. Pay for movies had the same outrageous inequality. You can look all this up.
I never watched the show consistently; only saw bits here and there. But I just don’t understand why there was such a huge discrepancy in pay when it was and still is obvious from online comments that SJP had little to negative appeal for the vast majority of viewers and everyone loved Kim’s embodiment of Samantha.
And sorry, SJP has had a similar movie career to Jen Aniston – basically can’t headline a film (I quite like Aniston but that’s the truth) – so don’t try to justify your greedy pay-cheque situation by claiming you were some big movie star. Ensemble cast; band together and share the wealth.
P.S. Anyone seen Parker doing her shoe-store-promotion days? She wears the most horrendous outfits. There was one where she was wearing joggers with knee high socks and silvery buckle heels. She was only ever a fashion icon when someone else was choosing the outfits.
Looking back now, knowing the inner-workings, I am more sensitive to the ways in which Sam/Kim was degraded. That horrible plotline about her weight gain in the first film, for example. No way that didn’t affect her personally. She added so much charisma to the show, and livened up the other characters, it will not be the same without her. And yet, if they kill her off, they are somehow managing to continue the humiliation.
And that doesn’t fall directly on SJP, the writers and producers and director were apparently all okay with it. Like, who okays a storyline where Samantha was going to seduce a teenager? What a bunch.
“the series can now further explore its other characters” more room for Carrie’s storyline, I guess. Also, if they break up Steve and Miranda I will riot.
I’ve Team Cattrall through all of this. Frankly I could see Sam having moved and not being close with the women anymore but I’m sure because of the cancer storyline they will kill her off. The reality is often times as we get older our priorities change and so do our friendships. Many of us have friends we never thought would no longer be in our lives only to see just that happen. I know it’s TV but if we are being real about female relationships sometimes people just grow apart. They could let Sam be off somewhere else being fabulous but I’m sure that’s not how it will go.
Completely agree. I used to be quite shy and fearful even through my 20s. Now that I’m mid 30s I’m much more assertive and in charge of my own life. I had to cut a few friends who still wanted (and expected) me to be a mild pushover. Sorry, I grew up!
Good lord, I wish they would let the dead horse that is this series die.
The second SATC movie was absolutely ridiculous and they absolutely massacred Samantha’s character. The horse was dead before that film was made.
I mean, the magic is gone. Kim Cattrall is gone. The other characters are interesting, i mean besides Carrie who became this increasingly narcissistic, annoying, selfish flake as the years wore on… But like, this was an ensemble cast. There was a dynamic. This just feels like clinging.
I mean what the HELL. I loved this show. Let it LIE now please.
I don’t know what Bushnell’s original work was like, but the tv show that came out of it was racist and misogynistic. If I hated white women and wanted to portray them in the worst possible light, this is the show I would make. As a woman, this show offends me.
I think it’s odd Bushnell said that “Kim is 64 years old and has 10 good reasons to not want to do it.” I don’t understand how her being 64 years old has a thing to do with it. If you’re older, you don’t have to do what you don’t want to do anymore? Or she doesn’t fit the sexpot image anymore? Or just she has so many other things in her life now? I’m curious why she said that.
Yeah, that made me scratch my head too. Are the 10 good reasons supposed to be years? If so, that’s a pretty shady comment.
I took it as a follow-up to her comment about Kim being a “grown adult woman,” not some naive teen. Meaning Kim is perfectly capable of making her own decisions and Candace respects that.
If Samantha’s absence is character-driven and not plot driven, then it will be fine.
Plot driven: Killing Samantha off, and that brings the other 3 together.
I don’t think the other 3 would’ve drifted off from each other. Miranda & Charlotte would’ve stayed bonded because of their kids and Carrie would be happy to be cool auntie to all of the kids. Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte would be each other’s sounding boards because of their marriages and home life.
Samantha would’ve grown tired of hearing about Brady’s games and Lily and Rose’s recitals. She would’ve grown tired of hearing Carrie whining about Big every other day. Samantha would still want to have fun while the other 3 would say why they couldn’t go out because it’s a school night or Harry this, Big that or Steve the other. And when they did go out, the other 3 would chatter away about their husbands, their children, their children’s schools, what the teacher said, the bitch at the PTA etc. Samantha would’ve gotten tired of that.
Samantha’s life would’ve grown incompatible with the other 3’s lives. They would’ve grown apart and Samantha would’ve come around less and less until she stopped coming around at all. That happens to many women and it’s a relatable story to explore.
They grew apart from Samantha, she’s living life but living it with new friends who are in the same space with her. Carrie, Miranda & Charlotte are not in the same space with Sam and that’s ok. Happens to a lot of women …tell that story, instead of “Sam died and we’re coming together for her funeral.”
If “grooming and seducing Brady” was Samantha’s plot for SATC3, I don’t blame Kim for walking. That’s vile.
They wanted Samantha to molest a teenager? No wonder she burned that bridge… that is horrifying especially.
Good for Kim Cattrall escaping this mess.
Pointing out Kim is 64 yrs old was a LOW blow. It’s not relevant, that was said out of hate. That really makes me sick, I won’t be watching any of this crap now.