After a longstanding feud between her and Sarah Jessica Parker, it seemed certain Kim Cattrall's Samantha Jones would never appear on "Sex and the City" sequel series "And Just Like That..." -- until the head of HBO asked her, "What can we do?"
In perhaps the biggest shocker of the year for "Sex and the City" fans, it's been confirmed that Kim Cattrall will be returning to her iconic Samantha Jones role for sequel series "And Just Like That..."
She had previously been adamant for years that she had no interest in returning to the long-running franchise and has made no secret of the ongoing animosity between her and series star Sarah Jessica Parker. And yet, the creators never closed the door.
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View StoryFrom the beginning of "And Just Like That..." it was established that Samantha was abroad, and we "saw" her via text exchanges she shared with Parker's Carrie Bradshaw. In other words, the opportunity for her return was baked into the narrative.
Even so, neither Cattrall nor the show's creators nor HBO were holding out much hope that it would happen. But not much hope is no hope, so when the head of HBO called her and asked her, "What can we do?" Cattrall was intrigued.
Chatting about the surprise cameo that's no longer a surprise, Cattrall told the ladies of "The View" that she tried to get "creative" in framing a response to this question.
"And one of those things was to get Pat Field back because I just thought that if I'm going to come back, I gotta come back with that Samantha Style," she said. "I gotta push it. And we did."
Patricia Field was the stylist for the women through the run of the original series, as well as the two films. But she notably did not come back for this sequel series ... until now. She has already been working with Cattrall on her other series, "Glamorous."
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View StoryAs reported by Variety last month, Cattrall filmed her cameo appearance -- which will reportedly be a phone conversation with Parker -- while in New York on March 22. She was styled by Field and all alone.
Despite returning to this world, Cattrall will not share the screen with any of her former co-stars, which also include Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon. She also reportedly did not see or speak with showrunner Michael Patrick King. But it's a step.
Cattrall's initial departure from "SATC" had to do with a proposed third film for the franchise. She felt the script wasn't up to snuff, per an interview with Variety in 2022. "I would have preferred for all of us to have some kind of event to warrant a third film," she said. "That didn't happen."
Both Parker and King had said when developing "And Just Like That...," which they did without approaching Cattrall, that they couldn't envision her ever returning to the role. Luckily for fans, Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content, decided to take a chance and reach out. That initiative paid off.
Fans will have to wait a bit to see Cattrall, though, as her appearance is scheduled for the Season 2 finale in August. The new season kicked off Thursday, June 22 on Max.