And Just Like That Mocks Your Samantha’s Death Theories
Sex and the City’s sequel series hasn’t killed off Samantha in light of Kim Cattrall’s absence, but the show cleverly mocks such fan theories.
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Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for And Just Like That episodes 1 & 2.
Samantha Jones certainly isn’t dead in And Just Like That as once suspected, with the series cleverly mocking early fan theories that speculated about her death. The And Just Like That’s first few episodes are spent bringing viewers up to date on the lives of its characters after a decade-long gap. While also giving insight to Carrie and Big’s marriage, Charlotte’s teenage daughters, and Miranda’s new career venture, the Sex and the City revival almost immediately answers where Kim Cattrall’s Samantha Jones is in the sequel series. While she’s not dead, Miranda quips that she may as well be.
Upon the news that Kim Cattrall would definitively not be returning for And Just Like That (or any other Sex and the City reboot), many wondered how the series would address her iconic character’s absence. Samantha was an integral and ever-enjoyable aspect of Sex and the City who happened to be the only main character who remained single by the end of the movies, so she wouldn’t be an easy figure to write out. Early on, audiences theorized that the Sex and the City revival would kill off Samantha Jones so as to dissuade any notion that she could return in the future or make a cameo. However, And Just Like That reveals that she’s not dead, but not without making fun of the theories that suspected so.
And Just Like That’s opening scene has Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte meet up for lunch at a restaurant, with the first heartbreaking line of the series being “Carrie, party of three” instead of “four.” The women then run into original series character Bitsy von Muffling who asks where their fourth friend is. Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte are made visibly uncomfortable by the question, with Charlotte stumbling to respond that “Samantha isn’t with us anymore.” Like fans, Bitsy takes the wording to indicate Samantha’s untimely death, only for Charlotte to clarify that Sex and the City’s original character isn’t dead, she’s just not physically with them anymore in New York or, frankly, as friends. This was And Just Like That’s way of quickly addressing the elephant in the room, while cleverly mocking fan theories on killing off Samantha.
Instead of leading with Samantha’s death, And Just Like That writes out Kim Cattrall’s character in another, slightly more controversial manner. Continuing the commentary on the series not actually killing her off, Miranda remarks that “it is kinda like [Samantha] is dead,” mentioning that she never responds to them and they hardly ever talk about her. And Just Like That explains that Samantha moved to London for work after a fallout with Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw, clarifying that Carrie decided she couldn’t keep Samantha on as her book publicist any longer, so Samantha “fired” her as a friend and moved away. Without actually writing in the death of Samantha Jones, her lack of a presence, bad blood, and uncharacteristically disloyal manner of breaking off her friendships with Sex and the City’s characters may as well be the same as killing her off.
While And Just Like That’s behind-the-scenes tension made many theorize about Samantha being written out of the series, Sex and the City’s revival hit audiences with a different, more unexpected major character death. And Just Like That episode 1 ends with the heartbreaking death of Sex and the City’s Mr. Big, otherwise known as Carrie’s husband John James Preston, after he suffered a heart attack. While Big often shifted between lovable boyfriend and villain for how poorly he treated Carrie in the original series, And Just Like That had just spent its first episode proving how committed, loving, and doting of a husband Big had become over the years before killing him off. Big’s death also happens to be the first moment in And Just Like That when Samantha being alive is actually felt, as she sends Carrie flowers as condolences. Now, And Just Like That will be adjusting to the absence of two major Sex and the City characters – one who has actually passed on, and one who the series suggests may just as well have.
Jordan Williams is a Movie/TV Feature Senior Staff Writer for Screen Rant. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 2020 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Media Studies. Jordan is based in Seattle, Washington and enjoys exploring the natural beauty the PNW has to offer. She runs on coffee and classic movies, taking pride in having watched every film on AFI’s 100 Greatest Films list and every Best Picture Oscar winner.
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