Here’s why Kim Cattrall isn’t returning for new ‘Sex and the City’ series

Sex and the City fans rejoiced at the news that Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis have agreed to star in a 10-episode series on HBO Max called And Just Like That detailing their characters from the iconic series, but a key figure is missing: Kim Cattrall’s Samantha.

It’s been announced that Cattrall will not return for the reboot, with Samantha’s absence explained because she had “drifted away” from Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte.

It shouldn’t come as too big a surprise, after the disaster that was the SATC 2 movie, Cattrall was always open about the fact that she wouldn’t do another film, but chances are, it’s more than likely due to the fact that she has never seen eye-to-eye with her former co-star Sarah Jessica Parker (SJP).

Cattrall has been clear in the past that she no longer wants to be involved in Sex and the City amid a public falling out with co-star SJP. It was confirmed in 2004 that all was not exactly as rosy on set as the series had depicted.

In an interview on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in 2004, Kim revealed that a pay dispute was a factor in the show ending. “I felt after six years it was time for all of us to participate in the financial windfall of Sex and the City. When they didn’t seem keen on that I thought it was time to move on.”

SJP tried to publically downplay any drama saying, “When you’re on set, you’re working 90-hour weeks, you’re never home, you’re exhausted. There are times when all of us have been sensitive, and sometimes feelings get hurt. But I don’t have any regrets about how I’ve treated people,” she said, adding in another interview some years later, “These were my sisters, these were people that I grew to love and admire.”

“Never been friends”

However, in 2017, in an interview with Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, Kim revealed she and Sarah had “never been friends” while making the series. When asked if the third Sex and the City movie was canned because of ‘diva’ demands (as was the rumour at the time), she responded: “We’ve never been friends. We’ve been colleagues and in some ways, it’s a very healthy place to be because then you have a clear line between your professional life and relationship and your personal.”

She also rejected her being branded a “diva”, adding that it was SJP that drove the issue.

“This is really where I take to task the people from Sex and the City and specifically Sarah Jessica Parker, is that I think she could have been nicer. I really think she could have been nicer. I don’t know what her issue is,” she said. ‘The thing that still bothers me is this feeling of being in some way made to be the baddie. I never asked for any money, I never asked for any projects, to be thought of as some kind of diva is absolutely ridiculous.”

Then in February 2018, SJP responded to the comments, saying that she was “heartbroken” over Cattrall’s comments.

“[I’m] Just…heartbroken,’ she told Andy Cohen. “I mean that whole week, you and I spoke about it … I found it really upsetting because that’s, you know, that’s not the way I recall our experience.”

“So…it’s sad…I always think that what ties us together is this singular experience is the thing. It was a professional experience but it became personal because it was years and years of our lives. So I’m hoping that that sort of eclipses anything that’s been recently spoken.”

Nice Girl vs The Badie

Around a week later, the sad news broke that the brother of Cattrall had been found dead after going missing from his home in Alberta, Canada.

SJP wrote on an Instagram post: “Dearest Kim, my love and condolences to you and yours and Godspeed to your beloved brother. Xx.”

To which Cattrall, presumably seething from the apparent hypocrisy of it all, responded with…

Being fair to Cattrall, SJP has generally always depicted herself as the “nice one” in rumours of any feuds, leaving Cattrell to be branded the diva who makes unfair demands, so one can understand her response made in a time of grief. And we have no idea what really went on during the filming of SATC.

Soon after, SJP insisted there was “no catfight” between the two over the third SATC movie.

Speaking to Vulture, she said: “I’d just like to remind everybody that there is no catfight. I have never uttered an unkind, unsupportive, unfriendly word, so I would love to redefine it. I’ve always held Kim’s work in high regard and always appreciative of her contributions. If she chooses not to do the third movie, there’s not a lot I can do to change her mind and we must respect it.” She added: “I’ve never fought with someone publicly in my life, nor would I.”

Just Like That

After a commenter noticed that Parker did not “tag” Cattrall in her announcement of the reboot on Instagram, as Cattrall isn’t appearing in it, another commenter wrote: “They dislike each other”.

Parker then replied to the user, writing: “No. I don’t dislike her. I’ve never said that. Never would. Samantha isn’t part of this story. But she will always be part of us. No matter where we are or what we do.”

While Cattrall has not commented directly on the reboot but she has liked a number of Tweets lamenting her absence and one that praises Cattrall for “putting herself first”.

Other cast and crew

SATC costume designer Patricia Field announced that she also would not be returning, citing scheduling conflicts with Darren Starr’s latest project, Netflix’s Emily in Paris. yes, you read that right. However, we think the real reason might be related to the Cattrall issue, you can find out more here.

In other news, everyone’s favourite carpenter (unless you’re a Sentimental in the City fan) Aidan will return, as will Mr Big. This comes despite rumours that actor Chris Noth (Big) would not return and instead Carrie’s husband would be indicted for a white-collar crime in the opening episode and she would leave him. However, it seems like someone just got the pilot for And Just Like That confused with The Good Wife pilot.

New ‘shade’? 

Last week, SJP, shared a photo on Instagram of herself cuddled up to her original costars, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis, along with Nicole Ari Parker — one of several new additions to the cast. The photograph of the original lineup had fans in the comments speculating whether Nicole — who is set to play a new character, Lisa Todd Wexley — might be stepping in as the fourth member of the iconic girl gang.

Coincidently, around the same time, Cattrall posted a short video of herself cuddling up to a dog named Pixel, whom she is set to star alongside in her new project Sensitive Skin, accompanied by the caption “When your co-star is a real dog.”

Naturally, fans were quick to put two and two together and began gathering in the comments section to speculate whether the caption was a subtle dig at the rift between the pair.

We can only speculate, but what does remain clear is that the fallout between the two looks set to stay put.