Seal of approval. Cynthia Nixon defended the way And Just Like That handled the absence of Kim Cattrall and her character, Samantha Jones.
“I thought it was great,” the Gilded Age star, 55, confessed during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen on Thursday, January 27. “I have to say, I love how we addressed it head-on in the first minute.”
Cattrall, 65, was the only one of Sex and the City‘s four leading ladies to not take part in the HBO Max spinoff series. During the December 2021 premiere, it was revealed that Samantha moved to London after a falling out with Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), who fired Samantha as her book publicist.
While many fans were confused about the fight and the ladies’ current relationship with Samantha, Nixon thought the And Just Like That writers handled the tricky situation perfectly, noting that the loss of Samantha provides additional “layers” to the ways the characters interact with one another and the rest of their social circle.
“Like, there’s the thing you tell Bitsy von Muffling, and then there’s the way you talk about it amongst each other,” Nixon said.
Most of all, the Ratched alum is happy that And Just Like That left the door open for Cattrall to potentially return one day. “I felt like the flowers [Samantha sent to Carrie] at [Big’s] funeral were just [so special], and I love how we keep checking in with her from time to time,” Nixon said. “I love that.”
While Cattrall, who is currently starring on Hulu’s How I Met Your Father, has not publicly commented on her decision to skip the SATC revival, showrunner Michael Patrick King told Us Weekly and other reporters in December 2021 that he never planned for Samantha to appear.
“And Just Like That was never, ever intended to be including Kim Cattrall because she decided she didn’t wanna play Samantha many, many years ago,” he explained at the time. “I didn’t want to pretend that there … wasn’t an absence. I wanted to reflect the reality of the fact that there was one not joining. Story wise, I came up with the idea that Samantha’s in London because we didn’t want to kill her. We love Samantha. That’s ridiculous.”
One month later, a source told Us that Cattrall “doesn’t regret” leaving her Sex and the City character behind. After years of speculation about a feud between her and Parker, 56, and amid costar Chris Noth‘s sexual assault scandal. (The actor has continued to deny the multiple allegations against him.)
“[Kim] is happier where she is in life now,” the insider said, adding that the Emmy nominee “turned down” a major payday for the HBO Max series. “[Her life is] drama-free.”
However, fans believe the Filthy Rich alum has subtly shared her disapproval the revival by “liking” tweets from fans critiquing And Just Like That — including one pointed comment from earlier this month that praised her new Hulu series instead.
“So proud of @KimCattrall for skipping the trashy S&TC reboot and doing @HIMYFonHulu. She’s wonderful, and so is @HilaryDuff 
,” a Twitter user wrote on January 18. “If you have 48 minutes to spare, go ahead and watch the first two episodes … I may even rewatch them before next week. Challenge accepted!”
New episodes of And Just Like That debut on HBO Max every Thursday