Much to the dismay of many die-hard “Sex and the City” fans, Kim Cattrall is not appearing on the revival — and was never even on the radar for it.
The show’s original showrunner Michael Patrick King — who’s also executive producing the “And Just Like That…” spinoff — said the new series was only supposed to revolve around three main characters: Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbes and Charlotte York.
Cattrall portrayed the sexually liberated publicist Samantha Jones on the entire premium cable run of “Sex and the City” and its subsequent two movies. The 65-year-old British actress has famously sworn off reprising her character.
“It never was on the radar as four because Kim Cattrall, for whatever reason, didn’t want to play Samantha anymore while we were doing the [third] movie,” King recently revealed.
While a script was created for a proposed third film, Cattrall — with a long-simmering riff with “Sex and the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker — reportedly told producers to count her out.
“I can’t. My heart isn’t in it anymore,” she wrote on Instagram in 2017, replying to a user who asked her to “find a way” to make the follow-up to 2010′s critically panned “Sex and the City 2.”
“I’ve moved on. 61 isn’t 53 or 41,” she added.
Plans for the third film never materialized.
And King understood that it was unlikely that any future “Sex and the City” project would feature Cattrall.
“I never thought, ‘Oh, there’s a hole I have to fill,’” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “Samantha doesn’t not exist in their lives. [And Just Like That...] was born of these three characters: What’s their life, and who can I bring in to inform it?”
Although HBO Max released a full trailer this week for the 10-part limited series —featuring new and familiar characters — plotlines have been kept under wraps.
“And Just Like That...” starring Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis will launch with two episodes Dec. 9, with the next eight being released each subsequent Thursday through February 2022.
———
