Sarah Jessica Parker Reveals ‘Consequential Event’ Brings Samantha Back to ‘AJLT’

Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall in Sex and the City
Craig Blankenhorn/©Warner Bros./courtesy Everett Collection

And Just Like That… fans are highly anticipating Kim Cattrall‘s return to the Sex and the City universe, and now Sarah Jessica Parker is opening up about how it all came about.

“It was just an idea that we all discussed, [showrunner] Michael Patrick [King] and I and the studio,” Parker told TVLine, adding that Samantha Jones’s (Cattrall) return comes at a “very opportune moment in a very specific story, in a sort of consequential event in Carrie’s life.”

Jessica Parker didn’t share any further details on what that “consequential event” might be, but fans are already speculating that it might be for a wedding or some other major storyline.

It was confirmed last month that Cattrall would be reprising her role as Samantha for a brief cameo in the second season of And Just Like That. Her appearance is set to be short and was filmed separately from the rest of the cast, so she had no interaction with Jessica Parker or her other former co-stars.

“It’s just this really nice, quick little phone call that just feels so normal, and just is a perfect portrait of the longevity of that friendship, and what it means and the ease in which it exists,” Jessica Parker explained.

King, who serves as the show’s director, writer, and executive producer, said he doesn’t know what happened to make this return come to life. Cattrall previously said she wasn’t interested in appearing in the SATC spin-off series, though her character did feature off-screen in Season 1 in a series of text messages with Jessica Parker’s Carrie.

“I don’t know what happened: some kind of fan magic, some kind of show business magic,” King told TVLine. “I’m surprised by it as well… Something manifested from somewhere, and all of a sudden, I got to have Samantha and Carrie in a scene together.”

King went on to say he was “very unhappy” that the news of Samantha’s return leaked, but he hinted that there are “two more layers” of surprises to come with the popular character’s appearance.

And Just Like That…, Season 2 Premiere, Thursday, June 22, Max