Given Kim Cattrall’s absence from the forthcoming Sex and the City sequel series, fans have been riffling through the shredded lining of their Louis Vuittons searching for clues as to how And Just Like That … plans to dispatch the beloved Sam Jones. One popular theory suggests Cattrall’s iconic character might have a reoccurrence of breast cancer, which she was diagnosed with in Sex and the City’s sixth season. In a new interview with TVLine, however, HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys hints that the reason we won’t be seeing the Fab Four’s filthiest member is simply a matter of friendship and time.
“They’re not trying to say that these characters are reliving their 30s. It is very much a story about women in their 50s, and they are dealing with things that people deal with in their 50s,†Bloys says of the new show. As such, “just as in real life, people come into your life, people leave.†Explains Bloys, “Friendships fade, and new friendships start. So I think it is all very indicative of the real stages, the actual stages of life … They’re trying to tell an honest story about being a woman in her 50s in New York. So it should all feel somewhat organic, and the friends that you have when you’re 30, you may not have when you’re 50.â€
Chalking up Samantha’s omission to a natural drifting apart is a much less tragic narrative choice (and it leaves the door open for a cameo!), but still. It’s sad to know the woman who once declared, “Men, babies, doesn’t matter. We’re soulmates†is hypothetically out there in Manhattan right now, returning a broken vibrator to the Sharper Image, with a whole new set of fabulous gals.