Samantha Jones stans, your time has come. Kim Cattrall's character – the best character (sorry, it's true) from Sex and the City – will appear on season two of And Just Like That… and not just in text form.
Yep, Kim Cattrall is coming back.
Variety reported on Wednesday 31 May that the fan-favourite character will make her return in the season two finale — but only for one scene. It explained: “Cattrall’s appearance as Samantha will not be a continuation of the character for now.” (Sad.) Cattrall filmed her scene — a phone call with Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie Bradshaw — in New York on 22 March.
If you couldn't help but wonder how this happened, well, same. Because…let's review all the reasons this wasn't supposed to be possible.
During the original run of the series (1998–2004), there was reportedly tension between Kim and SJP. SJP and the other two main cast members, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis, were apparently pretty close, and Kim was left out (reports differ on exactly how this played out). It probably didn't help that, while Carrie was the star, Samantha was the fan favourite. (Chris Noth has said that SJP was great on set… though Chris has since been accused of sexual misconduct, so he's not the best endorsement).
The SATC gals are back again!
Anyway, the group managed to pull it together for two movies (the first of which notably had Samantha in Los Angeles for much of the action, necessitating less on-set time with SJP and Kim together), with Kim reportedly holding up plans for a third because… well, depending on who you ask, either she wanted more money or she just didn't want to do it.
Then Cattrall's brother passed away, SJP reached out, and Kim reportedly shut her down, perhaps the most public “evidence” of their feud.
By the time And Just Like That… rolled around, Kim was steadfast in her claim that she was simply done playing Samantha, and it was believable. She and SJP both agreed that given Kim's public stance, there was no point even reaching out about the reboot. Two decades is a long time to stick with one character, and she had other projects in the works, like How I Met Your Father.
For her part, SJP never seemed all that interested in bringing Kim back, but left the door open…for Samantha. “There’s a very distinct line between Samantha and Kim,” she said. “Samantha’s not gone. Samantha’s present, and I think was handled with such respect and elegance. She wasn’t villainised. She was a human being who had feelings about a relationship, so I think we found a way to address it, which was necessary and important for people that loved her.”
On the show her absence is explained by a move to Europe, though she's still able to occasionally interact with Carrie via text message and, once, by sending flowers. Best of both worlds?
Stay tuned… season two will debut on 22 June.
This story was originally published by GLAMOUR (US).
