Salva Mubarak Senior Features Writer

One of the biggest reasons why the 2021 reboot of Sex and the City didn’t work with the show’s true blue fans was the glaring absence of the fourth member of the group Samantha (played by Kim Cattrall), who was arguably one of the most interesting characters on the show, and of course ridiculous plotlines like Big dying out of nowhere and Carrie making out with him instead of calling an ambulance. Did we just give you a spoiler or just save you hours that you would have wasted watching the show? You decide.

In a recent interview, Cattrall spoke about not being a part of And Just Like That, “I was never asked to be part of the reboot. I found out about it like everyone else did—on social media.”

Fans of the show weren’t really surprised with Samantha not being a part of the show, especially after Cattrall had made her discontentment with the treatment of her character in the script of the third SATC movie, which eventually became the plot of the first season of the show, pretty clear. Reportedly, her character’s main storyline involved receiving unsolicited sexual photos from Miranda’s adolescent son. “It’s heartbreaking,” said Cattral, on her character not having a real, meaningful conflict, “Why can’t Samantha, who owns her PR company—maybe she had to sell it because of financial woes? 2008 was tough. Some people are still recovering. She had to sell it to some guy who’s wearing a hoodie, and that’s the dilemma she has. I would have preferred for all of us to have some kind of event to warrant a third film. That didn’t happen.”

It’s also no secret that Cattrall and the rest of the main cast don’t share the best of relationships with each other. The actress has been vocal about not being paid enough, as compared to her co-stars, and had cited that as one of the reasons why she was not keen on doing a seventh season of the show. Later she denied the rumours and claimed she didn’t want to come back because she wanted to start a new chapter of her life where she was happy and at peace, hinting at a toxic environment on set.

According to Cattrall, all these factors led her to stay away from any future SATC projects.

“I was ready...and as difficult as it was, and as scary as it is to stand up and not be bullied by the press or the fans or whomever—to just say, I’m good. I’m on this track. It was so great working with you. I so enjoyed it, but I’m over here.”

So for fans wondering if there’s a chance that bridges could be mended and there’s a chance we’d see Samantha in the second season of AJLT, Cattrall wants you to manage your expectations. “That’s a no,” she said, “It’s powerful to say no.”