‘And Just Like That’: Why Cynthia Nixon Thinks Miranda’s Romantic Storyline Makes Sense

Cynthia Nixon in And Just Like That...
Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max

However you feel about Miranda’s romantic storyline in the first season of HBO Max’s Sex and the City revival, And Just Like That…, Cynthia Nixon has pointed out that it’s not actually too surprising, both when it comes to her marriage to Steve (David Eigenberg) and relationship with Che Diaz (Sara Ramírez).

Showrunner Michael Patrick King asked Nixon, who came out in 2004, about her character being queer in the revival, and she was on board, she told Variety. “If we’re trying to do different stuff, and show different worlds, and show different aspects of these characters, why not do that?” she explained.

Sara Ramirez, Cynthia Nixon in And Just Like That...

Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max

But Nixon rejected the initial plan for ending Miranda’s marriage, which could have seen an affair with her professor, Karen Pittman’s Nya Wallace. (Instead, we see the two becoming friends throughout the season after a rocky start.) According to the star, that was “a boundary that I don’t want to see Miranda cross.”

Instead, Miranda became involved with Che, ultimately leading to infidelity and the end of her marriage. And Nixon pointed out that “even though she was only really interested in men, I think that Miranda had many other queer and frankly, lesbianic qualities about her. And I think for a lot of gay women, she — we didn’t have a gay woman! But she was a stand-in for the gay women we didn’t have.”

As for the end of Miranda and Steve’s marriage, something that became a sore point with fans, according to King, she got “married against her will almost.” The first season of the HBO Max revival did show that their relationship wasn’t the strongest even without taking into account Che.

When we last saw these characters, Che ended their podcast when they went to shoot a pilot in Los Angeles, and Miranda took them up on their invitation to join them. She planned to finish the semester’s course work remotely and pulled out of her internship. “Why can’t I choose love over an internship?” she asked Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker). “Am I not allowed to change a little bit or a lot, or change back again if I feel like it? Do I have to follow my own rigid rules until the day I die?” Speaking of change, she had red hair once again when she was on her way to the airport at the end of the finale.

Given where that left the couple, it seems very likely that Miranda and Che will still be together when Season 2 begins. However, we also expect there to be some drama because, after all, this is still the Sex and the City revival. Relationships won’t be easy.

And Just Like That…, Season 2, TBA, HBO Max