‘Sex and the City’ sequel seeks ‘slow burn of a love affair’ with fans
Michael Patrick King wants the record to show that “Sex and the City” had a “slow burn of a love affair” with viewers on its way to becoming, eventually, an adored success.
The executive producer’s motive: that his HBO Max sequel, “And Just Like That...,” get a chance to prove itself. After its two-episode debut last week, the remaining eight are arriving on consecutive Thursdays.
“You’ve seen a couple of episodes of our show; you’ve seen six seasons” of the original 1998-2004 comedy about 30-something friends in New York City, said King, who was a writer, director and executive producer on “Sex and the City.”
“I feel confident in coming back with these actresses — Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon — because I knew they could play whatever it was we and the writers came up with,” he said.
A “bold story line” intended to grab audience attention gave King confidence that the sequel was a good idea. Spoiler alert: That daring encompasses a major plot twist in episode one and its fallout, addressed below.
King, interviewed the day after the show debuted, could be forgiven a certain defensiveness. Critics, and some viewers, took issue with its dark tone as it revisited
its characters in their 50s, in contrast to its frisky predecessor.
Viewers got much to lament and chew on in the debut episodes. Samantha, played by Kim Cattrall in “Sex and the City,” is in the sequel in name only. Willie Garson, part of both series (and the films) as Stanford, was lost to pancreatic cancer after taping part of the sequel. And in this version, diversity gets a place at the table.
Garson’s death in September hit his castmates hard.
“That I almost can’t talk about, except to say you get through it because you must. But it’s enormously painful,” Sarah Jessica Parker said, calling him “my close friend for over three decades.”
Nixon recalled Garson as a warm and funny person and a “bright light on the show,” while Davis said she hopes that fans “laugh and enjoy him in these first three episodes, that’s what he lived for.”