SATC fans react to Kim Cattrall’s return amid decades long co-star feud
Kim Cattrall – better known to Sex and the City (SATC) fans as the iconic Samantha Jones – is returning to screens for the And Just Like That spin-off. According to Variety, Cattrall was able to shoot her scene without speaking to the rest of the cast.
It makes sense that Cattrall’s return was so quick, seeing as the infamous feud between her and Sarah Jessica Parker has never really died down. Her decision not to reprise her role as Samantha originally led to a public fallout, and by the looks of it, the tension is still there. “It’s a great wisdom to know when enough is enough,” said Cattrall to Variety in a 2022 interview. “I also didn’t want to compromise what the show was to me. The way forward seemed clear.”
Cynthia Nixon (Miranda), Kristin Davis (Charlotte), and Parker (Carrie) all returned to season one of the show, with the storyline saying that Samantha had moved away to London following a group disagreement (a bit too close to home?). In this new scene, she will have a phone conversation with Parker, meaning Cattrall does not have to see or speak to any of her fellow cast members on set.
“I was never asked to be part of the reboot,” added Cattrall. “I made my feelings clear after the possible third movie, so I found out about it like everyone else did – on social media.” After six seasons of the successful show and two feature-length movies, her decision to step down was supported by fans. It was in 2017 that she publicly spoke out to Piers Morgan and said that she thinks Parker “could’ve been nicer. I don’t know what her issue is.”
Parker was reportedly “heartbroken” by these comments. “We did not ask her to be part of this because she made it clear that that wasn’t something she wanted to pursue, and it no longer felt comfortable for us, and so it didn’t occur to us,” said Parker to Variety. “That’s not ‘slamming’ her, it’s just learning.”
The rift in this friendship doesn’t seem to be mending anytime soon, and it’s safe to say fans aren’t mad about it. If anything, they feel this just adds to the SATC on and off-screen drama. “Samantha would be proud,” says one Twitter fan, referring to Cattrall’s decision to return for a lump sum and a short phone call scene.
Others are reviewing her decision to quickly return as iconic, stating that: “Kim Cattrall will get paid to do a bit she already said she didn’t need — but avoid working with the other parties involved, give fans something to cherish, and get journalists/reps to stop asking her about it…while still being the buzz of the town. An icon if I ever knew one.”
Cattrall is currently starring in a film with Robert De Niro called About My Father, and will soon hit Netflix screens as a make-up mogul in the drama Glamorous – set to premiere on the 22nd of June. And Just Like That, Samantha is back.
