Kim Cattrall Returning to ‘Sex and the City’? ‘And Just Like That’ Creator Says It’ll Never Happen
It’s official: Sex and the City revival And Just Like That... will definitely not see the return of beloved character Samantha Jones.
While fans have been wondering if Kim Cattrall will grace them with a cameo in the season finale of And Just Like That... despite the franchise's previous on-set and co-star-related drama, the creator of the revival just squashed any lingering hope of that ever happening.
Speaking to Variety to promote the show's upcoming season finale, showrunner Michael Patrick King revealed that ultimately, there’s no way Cattrall will ever return to the series.
When asked point blank if the door is open for Cattrall to ever come back, King simply responded "no."
"Just like there was no thought that Kim would ever participate in And Just Like That..., because she’s said what she had said," King explained.
"The only place I participate in magical thinking is in fiction. You take people at their word, and you’re a smart producer — you don’t back yourself into a corner. Magically thinking, it’s great to have Samantha. I have no realistic expectation of Kim Cattrall ever appearing again.”
Despite the fact that Kim Cattrall will never appear as Samantha Jones again, the character has made some low-key appearances in And Just Like That…, particularly via text messages sent to character Carrie Bradshaw.
In fact, King said he enjoys the challenge of bringing the character to the screen in ways that make sense for the revival, and even finds it cathartic: “I’m happy to be Samantha. We use it sparingly and well. I love Samantha! I’m happy when she’s in the show. It was important emotionally for everybody. Me and the fans; me and the viewer.”
“You can literally not make an actress play a part," King added.
King’s revelation about Cattrall comes shortly after the actress was spotted allegedly reacting favorably to a shady tweet from a fan who had praised her decision not to return to the series.
“So proud of @KimCattrall for skipping the trashy S&TC reboot and doing @HIMYFonHulu," the fan tweeted.
The writing has long been on the wall regarding Cattrall's future with Sex and the City.
In 2016, King worked on the plot for a potential third Sex and the City film. While the other star actresses were all interested in returning to the world of SATC, Cattrall was ready to leave Samantha behind.
"The idea of the movie was born because I loved writing these characters, and I thought that they were still alive somewhere in my mind. So it wasn’t like, 'Let’s make another blockbuster, woo, let’s try to top ourselves!' It was really, 'I love these characters,’” King explained, sharing that he “loved writing [for] Samantha.”
"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,” he recalled. “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.’”
While Cattrall has indeed said goodbye to Samantha Jones, she is still working in television. She currently plays Sophie in Hulu's How I Met Your Mother spin-off, How I Met Your Father.
The And Just Like That... Season 1 finale streams on HBO Max Thursday (Feb. 3).