Sex and the City Stars Kim Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker have been feuding for years, squashing fans hompes of Samantha’s return in Season 3 of And Just Like That.Season 3 of the Sex and the City spinoff series And Just Like That premieres on May 29, just days before the 27th anniversary of the HBO series that changed television forever. The smash hit comedy romance series stars Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw, Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones, Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes, and Kristin Davis as Charlotte York. Six seasons, two movies, and one reboot later, fans are still invested in the lives of the iconic characters created by Darren Star and Michael Patrick King.
A huge part of the show’s lore is the years-long behind-the-scenes feud between stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall. The battle between the two actresses may stem from the fact that the show’s lead, Sarah Jessica, was given an executive producer credit and earned more money per episode than the other three stars. On top of that, Sarah Jessica had an iron-clad no nudity clause, which meant the other women had to do the heavy lifting when it came to the show’s graphic sex scenes, especially Kim’s character, the sex-positive fan favorite Samantha.
Tensions were kept under wraps for most of the show’s run, which ended after six seasons in 2004. At the Emmys that year, Kim did not sit with her co-stars, who all shared a table. After the event, Kim said, “Are we the best of friends? No. We’re professional actresses. We have our own separate lives,” fueling rumors of a falling-out between her and her co-stars. In an appearance on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, she admitted money was part of the reason the show came to an end. “I felt after six years it was time for all of us to participate in the financial windfall of Sex and the City,” she said. “When they didn’t seem keen on that, I thought it was time to move on.” After Kim refused to settle for what she was being offered, The Telegraph reported that members of the crew claimed the other women were not happy with her and “wouldn’t even sit with [Kim] at mealtimes.”
Kim explained the four-year gap between the series finale and the first movie in 2008. She said, “Four years ago, I was going through a painful public divorce, the series was coming to an end, and my father was diagnosed with dementia. I felt it was time to be with my real family. A year-and-a-half ago, when I was sent the script, I was ready and strong enough to revisit Samantha. In some ways, I’m glad we waited. The script and the experience of making the movie were the best possible reunion.” In November 2009, when ELLE asked SJP about rumors that Kim didn’t get along with the other cast members, she gave a rather diplomatic response: “I don’t think anybody wants to believe that I love Kim. I adore her. I wouldn’t have done the movie without her. Didn’t and wouldn’t.”
Kim spoke to the Daily Mail about the statement, keeping a calculated neutral tone: “I think Sarah was right: People don’t want to believe that we get on. They have too much invested in the idea of two strong, successful women fighting with each other. It makes for juicy gossip and copy.” “The truth of us being friends and getting along and happily doing our jobs together is nowhere near as newsworthy,” she continued. “I think Sarah is fantastic. She is a born leader, and she guides the crew and the cast in such a strong but gentle way. She and I are sick of this. It’s exhausting talking about it, and a real bore.” Sex and the City 2 premiered in 2010 to mostly negative reviews. When it came to a potential third film, rumors swirled that Kim was demanding that the studio produce her other projects in exchange for her participation in the movie, which reportedly included a sexual storyline between Samantha and Miranda’s teenaged son Brady.
In 2016, Kim tweeted that the only “demand” she made was not to do the movie.
In 2017, Sarah Jessica confirmed to Extra TV that Sex and the City 3 had been officially canned. “It’s over. We’re not doing it… I’m disappointed. We had this beautiful, funny, heartbreaking, joyful, very relatable script and story. It’s not just disappointing that we don’t get to tell the story and have that experience, but I think more so for that audience that has been so vocal about wanting another movie.” That same year, Kim appeared on an episode of Piers Morgan’s Life Stories and confirmed that she had no interest in ever returning to the franchise. “We’ve never been friends – we’ve been colleagues. And in some ways that’s a very healthy place to be, as you have a clear line between your professional life, and your personal, too.”
“This is really where I take to task the people from Sex and the City, and specifically Sarah Jessica Parker,” she said. “I think she could’ve been nicer. I really think she could’ve been nicer. I don’t know what her issue is.” The feud between Kim and SJP boiled over and spilled even further into the public eye in early 2018, when Kim’s brother passed away. Sarah Jessica commented on Kim’s post about her beloved brother: “Dearest Kim, my love and condolences to you and yours and Godspeed to your beloved brother. Xx,” which was not received well by Kim. In a separate post, Kim posted the text: “I don’t need your love or support at this tragic time @sarahjessicaparker,” with the savage caption that broke the internet: “My Mom asked me today ‘When will that @sarahjessicaparker, that hypocrite, leave you alone?’ Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now. Let me make this VERY clear. (If I haven’t already) You are not my family. You are not my friend. So I’m writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your ‘nice girl’ persona.”
Jason Lewis, who played Samantha’s boyfriend Smith Jerrod in the series, spoke about the rift on Los Angeles news station KTLA 5. “We haven’t fallen out, but I’ve made no secret of the fact I love Sarah and she was only ever great to me, so I think the way she was treated was unfair,” he said. ‘I’m all about being nice, so if you can’t say something nice, don’t say it.” When asked if he was team Sarah Jessica in the situation, he replied: “I might just have to say yeah. What a gracious lady. She was always so good to me.” When the SATC reboot series And Just Like That was announced in 2021, nobody was surprised to learn that Kim was not planning on reprising her role as Samantha. In an interview with the New Yorker, Sarah Jessica explained Samantha’s absence, simply stating, “We felt like it had been made clear by [Kim] that this was not a character she wanted to revisit.”
The show premiered in December 2021, with Samantha’s absence explained by revealing that she moved to London for work and cut off all communication with the women after Carrie fired her as her publicist. Fans breathed a sigh of relief that Samantha wasn’t killed off in the first episode like Mr. Big, leaving the door open for her potential return. Kim did make a brief cameo in the Season 2 finale of And Just Like That, which was filmed separately from the other cast members. Her onscreen cameo kicked off rumors that she would be returning for Season 3, which she quickly shut down on X, formerly Twitter: “Aw that’s so kind but I’m not [kiss emoji].”When asked if she would want Kim to return to the show, Sarah Jessica said, “I don’t think I would, because I think there’s just too much public history of feelings on her part that she’s shared,” adding, “I haven’t participated in or read articles, although people are inclined to let me know.”
