'Friendships Fade': How HBO Max's 'Sex And The City' Revival Plans To Explain Samantha's Absence

Last month, Sex and the City fans went wild when it was announced that stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon would be reprising their respective roles as Carrie Bradshaw, Charlotte York and Miranda Hobbes in a new HBO Max original series.

However, fans couldn’t help but notice that  Kim Cattrall — who played sex-positive PR hotshot Samantha Jones — would not be returning. Many wondered how the series could even go forward without one of the core four ladies.

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HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys tried to explain how the series plans to tackle the tricky plot twist.

“They’re not trying to say that these characters are reliving their 30s,” she emphasizes to TVLine. “It is very much a story about women in their 50s, and they are dealing with things that people deal with in their 50s.” 

To that end, “just as in real life, people come into your life, people leave,” she continues. “Friendships fade, and new friendships start. So I think it is all very indicative of the real stages, the actual stages of life… They’re trying to tell an honest story about being a woman in her 50s in New York. So it should all feel somewhat organic, and the friends that you have when you’re 30, you may not have when you’re 50.”

Parker, who is also executive producing the project, recently responded to the many comments on her social media accounts from fans of the show, who are upset about Cattrall’s absence from the reboot. 

“Happy to see you back but will miss Kim/Samantha,” one fan wrote on Instagram, to which SJP replied, “We will too. We loved her so.” 

The 55-year-old mirrored this sentiment in another reply, writing, “She will always be there. And we are so excited.”

On the other hand, Cattrall recently "liked" a tweet that praised the actress' decision not to return.

"I absolutely love Sex and the City and whilst I am saddened that Samantha will not return, I applaud doing what is best for you and think this is [a] great example of putting yourself first," the tweet read. "Well done @KimCattrall."

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It’s no secret that despite playing BFFs on the show, Cattrall and Parker famously feuded for years off-camera. The 64-year-old has also been extremely vocal in the fact that her Sex and the City days are totally behind her.

“Everything is on Google, so I encourage you to Google it, about anything that I’ve said,” Cattrall told the Los Angeles Times earlier this year in reference to her rift with co-star. “I feel that that was then, and when I look at what’s going on around me, I just don’t have any regrets.”

The controversy between the two Emmy-winning actresses has played out in the tabloids for more than a decade, from early rumors of salary disputes to allegations of on-set cliquishness. The famous feud got publicly nasty in 2018, when Parker sent condolences to Cattrall after the death of her brother. 

Instead of accepting her words, her former co-star shot back, “Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now,” adding: “Let me make this VERY clear. (If I haven’t already) You are not my family. You are not my friend.”

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Sex and the City originally ran for six seasons on HBO from 1998-2004. The show had two feature films in 2008 and 2010, but the third movie never saw the light of day, rumored to be because Cattrall was holding out.

In 2013, The Carrie Diaries launched on the CW, which was a prequel about a young Carrie Bradshaw, who was played by Anna Sophia Robb. 

Production of And Just Like That will begin filming in New York in the spring.