The truth about Samantha and the SATC sequel

It was great to see Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte back together again in the Sex And The City sequel, but until the last episode, we were all hoping to see Samantha Jones suddenly pop up on the screen with her blonde hair and witty banter. Instead, we had to make do with a handful of text messages. Then came the confirmation of a second season of And Just Like That and we started wondering again: will Kim Cattrall return to play the most beloved pr in TV series history?

"Absolutely not."  

Cattrall's words to Variety leave no room for doubt. Considering the feud with Sarah Jessica Parker and the social diatribe between the two former colleagues, our hopes were already low, but after the latest statements of the English-born actress, we can pull out the tissues and say goodbye to Samantha forever. In fact, there was never even a chance that this long-awaited comeback could happen. The reason? No one ever asked Kim to reprise her role on the new HBO Max show. 

"I was never asked to be part of the reboot. I made my feelings clear after the possible third movie, so I found out about it like everyone else did - on social media."

She added that she didn't watch a single episode of the sequel, despite the fact that she still loves the OG show and Samantha.

"Parts of her are with me. I played her, and I loved her. I turned it down three times. I didn’t think I could do it. At 42, I really didn’t think I could pull it off. I’d never done a series before, the more you play the character, like in theater, the more you add to it and change. [...] Can you imagine going back to a job you did 25 years ago? And the job didn’t get easier; it got more complicated in the sense of how are you going to progress with these characters? Everything has to grow, or it dies. I felt that when the series ended, I thought that’s smart. We’re not repeating ourselves. And then the movie to end all the loose ends. And then there’s another movie. And then there’s another movie?"

The actress, who is now working on other sets, explained the real reason why she left the Sex and the City franchise. She pointed out that she said no to the third film in 2017 because of the banality of the script, which became the basis for AJLT's story. In the planned script for the feature film Samantha would have found herself involved in a "heartbreaking" story with unwanted photos of Miranda's son Brady's penis. Cattrall hoped for a different take on her character:

"Why can’t Samantha, who owns her PR company — maybe she had to sell it because of financial woes? I mean that’s a scenario that was kind of off the top of one of my reps’ heads, and I thought that’s a great idea. That’s a conflict. Instead of an underage boy’s …."

Well, it's hard to blame her. Her biggest takeaway? That she is missed. 

"How does I feel that they are continuing the character without me? It’s odd, isn’t it? I don’t know how to feel about it. It’s so finite for me, so it doesn’t continue.  [...] Everything has to grow, or it dies. It’s a great wisdom to know when enough is enough. I also didn’t want to compromise what the show was to me. The way forward seemed clear. Everything in me went, "I’m done." And you can’t go against that feeling. I don’t ever want to be on a set and not want to be there. [...] It's powerful to say no."

The message is clear. Goodbye Samatha!