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It is finally June. Summer is here. It’s Pride Month. And, perhaps most meaningful of all, it is nearly And Just Like That… time.
The Max series, a continuation of the Sex and the City TV show and films, premieres June 22, which means that June 22 is now officially among the holiest and most hallowed of holidays. Some people worship the day that Jesus was resurrected. I observe the second coming of Che Diaz.
With the Season 2 premiere of the series rapidly approaching—and yet, still so cruelly far away—Max teased fans this week with a new trailer, which was followed by a reported, tantalizing bombshell: Kim Cattrall, who played Samantha in the original series, will appear in the Season 2 finale, after famously being vocal about her lack of interest in ever returning to the character.
This is huge news! How do I properly contextualize it? I already made one Jesus reference—though, to those for whom Sex and the City is tantamount to religion, it wouldn’t be an outlandish comparison. Who needs a Holy Trinity when you have the Fab Four: Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and, now, Samantha once again.
Now, brace yourself for this, and promise to hear me out: I hate that this is happening! I’m not happy that Samantha is coming back, at least in this way.
For context, Cattrall announced in 2016 that she would not play Samantha again, as she felt that plans for the character in a proposed third film weren’t up to par. Then, in the ensuing years, she made comments about Parker that were portrayed in headlines as a “feud” between the actresses. When the first season of And Just Like That… premiered, both Parker and Michael Patrick King, the series’ showrunner, said there was likely no scenario in which Cattrall or Samantha would return.
Everything about the behind-the-scenes drama and the (misogynistic) way it was covered was quite ugly, and that the reports and comments were dredged up incessantly in relation to the show was rather unpleasant. Would we ever know peace from the Samantha chatter?
Apparently not. According to Variety, Samantha will appear just briefly in the Season 2 finale of And Just Like That… Cattrall already filmed the scene, which will see Samantha speaking on the phone to Carrie. Apparently, Cattrall shot her cameo “without seeing or speaking with the stars of the series,” and Sex and the City costume designer Patricia Field, who has not been a part of And Just Like That…, dressed her.
In the Season 1 finale of And Just Like That…, Carrie texted Samantha about possibly reconciling and meeting up. Their phone conversation suggests that the two characters are still smoothing over their rocky relationship, but it’s certainly not a meeting!
This is such a let-down, to me. It’s not worth it!
After all of this controversy and negativity, Samantha coming back at all seems odd. But if you’re gonna do it, then do it iconically! Samantha appearing for a brief phone conversation, without sharing the screen with any of her former friends, feels deeply unsatisfying!
There’s a pettiness to this—not filming with anyone; bringing back Fields just to dress yourself—that the small part of me who loves mess is enjoying. And maybe the pettiness is earned; I don’t know these people personally or have some indisputable account of their history together. But if Samantha is going to come back, it should be far more spectacular than this. There should be fanfare! It should be an event! Have a cosmo with the girls. Gossip with them over a fabulous brunch. Why make a cameo in something so small?
Generally speaking, I thought there was a certain, poignant loveliness to how And Just Like That… addressed Samantha’s character: She and the girls grew apart, which was triggered by a misunderstanding and solidified with time. For all the indignities that there were in the show’s first season—we are a population forever bonded by surviving the episode in which Carrie pisses herself, while Che fingerbangs Miranda in the kitchen—there was admirable dignity to how the show explored how aging and time affects friendships.
I liked that in small, spontaneous moments, Carrie would text Samantha, the way a person messages a friend they are estranged from, but with whom you still share a rich history. It was nice to know that Samantha still exists in the Sex and the City universe, and I felt the series did a nice job of honoring the character, her legacy, and fans’ attachment to her. Maybe Cattrall was never going to come back, but at least we had those moments.
There’s no sign of Samantha in the new Season 2 trailer that came out this week. There is a sight that’s perhaps even more shocking: Carrie Bradshaw cooking. There promises to be enough Che-Miranda content to terrorize or delight, depending on your view of that particular relationship. And there’s actual footage of a former Sex and the City cast member making a triumphant return—and he’s actually sharing the frame with Parker, too.
John Corbett is back as Aidan, a treat for the Sex and the City fans who always felt that Aidan was Carrie’s soulmate, not that monster, Mr. Big. “Sitting here with you, it’s like 10 years, just…” he says, snapping his fingers. Here’s hoping Carrie’s conversation with Samantha is half as pleasant as that reunion seems.
