Here’s the Real Reason Samantha Isn’t in ‘And Just Like That’ & Where Kim Cattrall Stands With SJP Now
After she was missing from the Sex and the City reboot, fans had one question: Why is Samantha not in And Just Like That? Well, Kim Cattrall’s feud with Sarah Jessica Parker is just one of many reasons Samantha Jones isn’t in the SATC revival.
And Just Like That—whose full title is And Just Like That…A New Chapter in Sex and the City—is a reboot of HBO’s comedy series, Sex and the City, which ran for six seasons from 1998 to 2004. The show, which was based on Candace Bushnell’s 1997 book of the same title
, followed four women in their 30s and 40s—Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte York (Kristin Davis)—and their sex lives in New York City. The show went on to win four Emmy Awards (including Outstanding Comedy Series in 2001) and release two movies, Sex and the City: The Movie in 2008 and Sex and the City 2 in 2010.
In January 2021, HBO announced that a Sex and the City reboot, titled And Just Like That, was in the works for HBO Max. The reboot sees the return of each of the main cast members—except Cattrall. So why isn’t Samantha in And Just Like That? Read on for the real reason Cattrall and Samantha aren’t in the Sex and the City reboot and whether they could return for a possible future season.
Why is Kim Cattrall not in And Just Like That?
Why is Kim Cattrall not in And Just Like That? In a tweet in 2017, Cattrall—who played Samantha Jones for all six seasons of Sex and the City and two movies—confirmed that she had retired as the character after news broke that a third Sex and the City movie had been canceled. “Woke 2 a @MailOnline (poop emoji) storm! The only ‘DEMAND’ I ever made was that I didn’t want to do a 3rd film….& that was back in 2016,” Cattrall tweeted at the time in response to a Daily Mail article that reported that she would only sign on for Sex and the City 3 if the production studio for the movie, Warner Bros. Pictures, also produced her other projects.
“The only reason this movie isn’t being made is because of Kim Cattrall. Everyone was looking forward to making this movie but Kim made it all about her, always playing the victim,” a source told The Daily Mail at the time. “Kim had the audacity to tell Warner Bros that she would only do this if they made other movies she had in development. Ridiculous. Who does she think she is—George Clooney?” Another source added, “This franchise made her and let’s be frank, it’s all she is really known for. Cast and crew don’t just show up to make a movie, they have to rearrange their lives. People turned down other jobs, were in the process of relocating to New York but she kept stalling and was always unavailable when answers from her were needed.”
In an interview with Piers Morgan in October 2017, Cattrall made it clear that she would never play Samantha again. “Not for me. That was part of turning 60. That was a very clear moment of, how many years do I have left and what do I want to do with it? What haven’t I done? I feel that the show was the best when it was the series and the bonus was the two movies,” she said. She explained that she rejected the offer for a third Sex and the City movie because she wants to move on to a new “chapter” in her life.
“The answer was simply thank you, but no, I’m good,” she said. “This isn’t about more money. It’s not about more scenes. It’s not about any of those things. This is about a clear decision, an empowered decision in my life to end one chapter and start another,” she said. “It’s a great part. I played it past the finish line and then some, and I loved it.” Cattrall also confirmed in the interview that she and Sarah Jessica Parker (who plays Carrie Bradshaw) have “never been friends.” “We’ve been colleagues and, in some ways, it’s a very healthy place to be,” she said at the time. Cattrall also accused SJP of continuing the narrative that she quit Sex and the City because she wanted more money. “This is really where I take to task the people from Sex and the City, and specifically Sarah Jessica Parker,” Cattrall said. “I think she could’ve been nicer. I really think she could’ve been nicer. I don’t know what her issue is.”
That same month, Page Six reported that Cattrall had been on outs with Parker and the rest of the Sex and the City cast well before plans for a third movie. According to the newspaper, there was an incident in season 5 of Sex and the City when Parker rented a house with Nixon and Davis in Atlantic City for a shoot but didn’t include Cattrall. (A spokesperson for HBO told Page Six at the time that Cattrall didn’t stay with her co-stars because her husband was supposed to come.) A source also told Page Six at the time that toward the end of the Sex and the City, Cattrall wasn’t on speaking terms with any of the cast.
In February 2018, Cattrall slammed SJP for an Instagram comment her former co-star made at the time about her brother’s death. “My Mom asked me today ‘When will that @sarahjessicaparker, that hypocrite, leave you alone?’ Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now,” Cattrall wrote on her Instagram at the time. “Let me make this VERY clear. (If I haven’t already) You are not my family. You are not my friend. So I’m writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your ‘nice girl’ persona.”
While Cattrall has said that money wasn’t the sole reason she decided to retire as Samantha, she has expressed her dissatisfaction with how much she’s been paid on Sex in the City in the past. In an interview on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross in 2004, Cattrall hinted that the pay disparity on Sex and the City between her and SJP was part of the reason she decided to “move on” from the show. “I felt after six years it was time for all of us to participate in the financial windfall of Sex and the City,” she said at the time. “When they didn’t seem keen on that I thought it was time to move on.”
A source told The New York Post in 2017 that some of the Sex and the City crew didn’t think it was fair that Parker was the highest-paid when Samantha was the favorite character for most viewers. “There was a disparity between what Sarah got and what the other girls got. Everyone loved Kim’s character, people related to her—and [Kim’s] salary wasn’t showing that,” the insider said. According to Bustle, Cattrall asked to be paid $1 million per episode for Sex and the City season 7. The request was rejected, which may explain why the series ended after season 6.
As for the films, Cattrall also earned less than SJP. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Cattrall made $7 million for the first film and $10 million for the second, which was about half of what SJP made. (Cattrall did, however, make more than co-stars Davis and Nixon). In 2017, Variety also reported that Cattrall initially didn’t sign on for the first film but did so after she was offered a raise.
Why is Samantha not in And Just Like That?
Why is Samantha not in And Just Like That? During the premiere of And Just Like That, Bitsy Von Muffling, a character from Sex and the City, runs into Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda at a restaurant and asks why Samantha wasn’t with them. Carrie and Miranda explain that Samantha moved to London for a job. The viewers learn in a conversation between Carrie and Miranda later in the episode that Carrie hired Samantha to be her publicist for her books, but let her go when the publishing industry went took a turn for the worse. Samantha took the move as a hit to her “ego” and “fired” Carrie as a friend (in Carrie’s own words.) She also cut off Miranda and Charlotte and moved to London. Carrie and Miranda also confirmed that they’ve reached out to Samantha since their fallout but she hasn’t returned their texts or calls. After Big dies at the end of the first episode, Samantha sends Carrie flowers at Big’s funeral. Carrie later texts Samantha to thank her.
The Daily Mail confirmed in November 2021 that Samantha wasn’t killed off in And Just Like That and had a fallout with Carrie. “We get into her absence very quickly,” a source told the newspaper at the time. “Viewers will learn that Samantha and Carrie have fallen out over Carrie firing Samantha as her publicist and that they no longer talk. This effectively ends their personal relationship. You’ll see as the series progresses over the 10 episodes that Carrie misses her friend and wants to repair the relationship. In the words of Oscar Wilde, life imitates art.”
The insider explained that And Just Like That decided to not kill off Samantha in case Cattrall wanted to return for the reboot for season 2. “We’ll announce eventually that the show will have a second season. This isn’t a one-off, this will be a series,” the insider said. “It will be quite a while between the first and second series as Sarah Jessica Parker has a busy schedule and we have a lot of work to do to get Kim Cattrall back.” The source continued, “We all miss Kim and we hope she comes back for the second season—the door will never close on her, she is an important part of the franchise…On set, Kim has been missed by everyone. The cast and crew love her and hope she returns.”
Michael Patrick King, the executive producer of And Just Like That and Sex and the City, also told The Hollywood Reporter in December 2021 that he’s open to a second season of the reboot. “Everything I do, I always end,” he said. “I always leave a finished something. … So, there are no crazy cliffhangers here. I’m just telling a story to see what it is.” He continued, “But of course, there’s interest [in doing more]. Everybody loves everything, in theory.” He also told Emmy magazine in November 2021 that there’s also the possibility of more And Just Like That seasons. “As we were working, it always felt like the beginning. It didn’t feel like a beginning, middle and an end,” he said. “So I think it’s possible to keep going—if we have enough good stories.”
And Just Like That is available to stream on HBO Max. Here’s how to watch it for free.
Watch 'And Just Like That'
Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell by Amy Sohn
'Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell' by Amy Sohn
For more about And Just Like That and Sex and the City, read HBO’s official companion book, Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell. The book, written by dating columnist and screenwriter Amy Sohn, is filled with behind-the-scenes secrets from Sex and the City‘s six seasons and details on the real-life stories that inspired the show’s shocking episodes. The book also includes 750 full-color photographs from filming the series, as well as an introduction written by none other than Sarah Jessica Parker. With fun facts on how many dates Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda really went on to never-been-told secrets about Carrie’s most outrageous (and fabulous) outfits, Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell is a must-read for any SATC superfan.
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