How Will Aidan Shaw Return in ‘And Just Like That’? 3 Theories

Aidan Shaw is coming to And Just Like That… John Corbett will reprise his role as Carrie Bradshaw’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) furniture designer ex in Season 2 of the HBO Max original, and Sex and the City fans are torn about it. One the one hand, Aidan was a lovely character and Carrie’s best ex (though not without his flaws — the smoking ultimatum? Ew). On the other hand, Aidan likely wouldn’t say Carrie is his best ex.

Carrie let her unresolved feelings about Mr. Big (Chris Noth) seep into her healthy (or at least healthier) relationship with Aidan, leading to her cheating on Aidan with Big. Carrie eventually saw Aidan again two times later in the series and in the second Sex and the City movie, all chance encounters. With Big’s death sending shockwaves in the And Just Like That… series premiere, viewers wondered if Carrie would happen upon Aidan again. Now, she will.

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According to Deadline, Aidan and Carrie will reunite in a “substantial, multi-episode arc” in Season 2. And this likely wouldn’t happen if the show hadn’t decided to kill off Big. Executive producer Michael Patrick King told Deadline in February that Aidan didn’t appear in And Just Like That… Season 1 because “it really just felt like this was a lot for Carrie.”

“This season was a lot. We wanted to get her through [Big’s death] and into the light — the last episode is called, ‘Seeing the Light.’ We wanted to get her out,” he said. “[Aidan’s return] is a big storyline that everybody at home wrote that we had never intended.”

Season 1 ended with Carrie sharing a heated kiss in an elevator with her podcast producer after struggling to date again following Big’s death. Heading into Season 2, she seems ready to connect with her dating life again. Whether she and Aidan will reconnect platonically or romantically, only time will tell. And truthfully, after the way the show did Miranda and Steve’s relationship dirty, we’d rather not begin to speculate on that just yet (the emotional investment — it’s too much!). But we are intrigued about how Aidan will reappear.

Here, we’ve compiled three theories about how Aidan will be reintroduced in And Just Like That… Season 2.

Through Steve/At His Bar

Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max/Courtesy Everett Collection

In Sex and the City, Aidan was a silent partner in Steve’s bar, Scout, which he still owns in And Just Like That… With Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Steve (David Eigenberg) co-parenting Brady and figuring out their separation, it seems highly unlikely that Steve will be absent from the second installment of the show. Plus, Episode 9 showed Carrie comforting Steve during a charity event following the split with Miranda, establishing their continued friendship.

While Steve and Carrie will likely see each other less moving forward, it’s easy to imagine Carrie ending up at Scout one night. A variety of reasons could bring her there: the bar is hosting a special event that Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte (Kristin Davis), and Harry (Evan Handler) attend to support; Steve wants some Miranda advice and invites Carrie to Scout to talk; Carrie’s in the neighborhood having a bad day, realizes she’s right by the bar, and heads there for a drink and a break. And in all of these scenarios, Aidan could easily be at the bar at the same time.

Steve could even have a birthday party and invite his buddy along. Imagine the lunchtime convos between the girls as Carrie preps to see her ex again ahead of the party.

Through a Chance Encounter

Randomly running into Aidan is kind of Sex and the City‘s thing. Miranda and Carrie stumbled across Steve and Aidan not long after their breakups in Season 3 Episode 18. But to their awkward horror, the guys were on a double date. Imagine it’s decades later, and Carrie and Miranda have an intense moment of déjà vu when something exactly like this scenario happens all over again.

Carrie saw Aidan again in the Season 6 premiere when she was trying to run away from Berger (pre-Post-It). But it was out of the frying pan and into the fire, as she turned one corner to find Aidan with baby Tate in tow. And then, in Sex and the City 2, Carrie bumped into Aidan in the least likely of places: Abu Dhabi. There, she learned Aidan and his wife, Kathy, had two more children, Homer and Wyatt.

Will And Just Like That… love making Carrie run into her ex as much as Sex and the City did? History, as they say, repeats. Perhaps Aidan’s kids go to school with Brady or one of Charlotte’s kids and they all end up at the same school function. (Although, the last time Carrie went to a school event for her friends’ kids, her husband died… so TBD on that.) Or maybe Lily, Rock, or Brady are friends with Tate, Homer, or Wyatt. Stranger things have happened in this universe.

Carrie Buys Aidan’s Furniture for Her New Apartment

Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max/Courtesy Everett Collection

Carrie’s apartment hunt after Big’s death was a multiple-episode ordeal in Season 1. Perhaps she’ll have settled into her new home, or resettled into her and Big’s place in Season 2 and will be looking for a redesign. Picture this: Carrie’s interior decorator buys a piece of furniture that catches her eye. She asks about it, and it turns out to be one of Aidan’s designs, making a flood of Aidan memories come rushing back.

Carrie’s curiosity prompts her to look Aidan up on social media, and after much debate about it with Charlotte and Miranda, probably with some Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez) input, Carries slides into his DMs just to see what happens.

How do you think And Just Like That… will stage Aidan’s return? Let us know in the comments, below.

And Just Like That…, Streaming now, HBO Max