And Just Like That...

Lore & Background

Development for the series began in December 2020, following the cancellation of a third film adaptation. It was given a straight-to-series order in January 2021 by HBO Max. Casting announcements were made throughout 2021 and filming started in July 2021 in New York City. The first season was billed as a one-off miniseries, and its finale was released on February 3, 2022. However, a second season was announced in March 2022; it premiered on June 22, 2023. In August 2023, the series was renewed for a third season. As of October 2023, no premiere date, finale date, or final-season status has been confirmed for the third season.

Reader's Guide

And Just Like That... received mixed to negative reviews, with many critics deeming it unnecessary and inferior to the original Sex and the City series. Despite this, the series concluded the Sex and the City franchise after three seasons. The series featured main cast members Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis reprising their roles, alongside new characters such as Che Diaz played by Sara Ramirez. Notable guest appearances included Kim Cattrall returning as Samantha Jones in the second-season finale. The series addressed the absence of Willie Garson, who died after filming his scenes for the first three episodes, by explaining his character's absence via a letter in episode four. The series also edited out Chris Noth from a fantasy sequence in the season finale after sexual assault allegations were brought against him.

Did You Know?

• The series was developed after a third Sex and the City film was cancelled.
• Willie Garson died on September 21, 2021, after filming his scenes for the first three episodes.
• Kim Cattrall returned as Samantha Jones for a cameo in the second-season finale despite her ongoing feud with Sarah Jessica Parker.

From Cancelled Film to Streaming Series

The road to And Just Like That... was far from linear. By late 2016, industry reports indicated a script for a third Sex and the City feature had received approval, yet Sarah Jessica Parker publicly confirmed in September 2017 that the movie would never be made. She described the abandoned material as a beautiful, funny, and heartbreaking story that audiences would never get to experience. The project's demise was further complicated by Kim Cattrall's refusal to reprise Samantha Jones, citing objections to planned plot points that included Mr. Big's death and a subplot involving Miranda's fourteen-year-old son. Cattrall later characterized her exit as simply having gone past the finish line with the character. Rather than letting the material die, the screenplay was reworked by December 2020 into a miniseries revival for HBO Max, with Cattrall's role deliberately left out. The platform issued a ten-episode straight-to-series order in January 2021, assembled a writing team that included Samantha Irby, Rachna Fruchbom, Keli Goff, Julie Rottenberg, and Elisa Zuritsky, and began principal photography in New York City in July 2021. The finished product premiered on December 9, 2021.

Aging in Manhattan: The Thematic Core

And Just Like That... sets its story eleven years after the 2010 film Sex and the City 2, and that temporal gap is the engine driving every episode. Where the original franchise celebrated the exuberant freedom of New York in one's thirties, this revival forces Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte to confront the considerably messier landscape of their fifties. Friendship is no longer a backdrop for spontaneous adventures; it becomes a structure that must be actively maintained against the pull of family duties, career reinvention, and the quiet grief of lost years. Carrie Bradshaw, now also carrying the surname Preston, navigates a life that no longer resembles the young columnist she once was. Miranda and Charlotte wrestle with the particular anxieties of motherhood, identity beyond professional achievement, and whether bonds forged decades ago can survive the slow erosion of time. Developed by Michael Patrick King and rooted in Darren Star's original creation—which itself grew out of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book—the series treats this generational transition not as a simple sequel but as a fundamental re-examination of what the original franchise promised.

An Expanding Ensemble Across Three Seasons

The casting architecture of And Just Like That... balances continuity with deliberate renewal. Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis anchor the show as Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte, while familiar presences like Mario Cantone, David Eigenberg, and Willie Garson (season one only) provide a bridge to the original series. The most conspicuous absence remains Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones, a decision made in direct response to her earlier statements about leaving the franchise behind. As the series moved forward, the ensemble broadened significantly. Season two brought in John Corbett as Aidan Shaw, Sara Ramirez as Che Diaz, and the Wexley family, while season three added Dolly Wells as Joy and Sebastiano Pigazzi as Giuseppe. Guest appearances stretched from Broadway icons such as Patti LuPone and André De Shields to cultural figures like Gloria Steinem and Sam Smith, and even included a season-two cameo by Cattrall herself. The final season, expanded from ten to twelve episodes, served as the definitive curtain-call for the entire Sex and the City franchise.

Critical Reception and Franchise Closure

The critical response to And Just Like That... was predominantly lukewarm to negative, with many reviewers labeling the series both unnecessary and a clear step below the quality of the original Sex and the City. Critics questioned whether the premise still had stories to tell after nearly three decades of adaptations. Despite that reception, HBO Max committed to a second season in March 2022, which premiered on June 22, 2023, and a third season was confirmed in August 2023. That final season, whose last episode aired on August 14, 2025, was announced to be the series' conclusion that same month. In a notable production adjustment, the season was expanded from its originally planned ten episodes to twelve, giving the writers additional room to resolve the threads of a franchise that had spanned from Bushnell's original newspaper column through a groundbreaking HBO series, two feature films, and finally this streaming-era send-off. The series thus closed a chapter that had been unfolding since the 1980s.

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