‘And Just Like That’ Writers Break Silence Over Series Finale Backlash

The And Just Like That writers have seen the negative online fan reaction to the show’s series finale.

“I think it speaks to the fact that no one wants to say goodbye to Carrie Bradshaw,” writer and executive producer Julie Rottenberg told TVLine in an interview published on Wednesday, August 20. “And we share that, the bittersweet moment of seeing her and knowing she’s not going to be around every Thursday night at 9 p.m.”

In fact, Rottenberg said she takes the backlash to the show as a compliment. “We should have been worried if there weren’t a cacophony of responses to the fact that this was the end,” she said. “We know better than anyone you can’t please all the people all of the time, but we felt like we had to do right by them, and leave all of those characters in a good place, and then say adieu.”

Rottenberg’s fellow writer and executive producer, Elisa Zuritsky, admitted, “I doomscroll with the best of them, and I’ve stopped to read enough headlines that my algorithm sends me.” At the same time, Zuritsky said she gets the opposite kinds of reactions to the show when interacting with fans in person.

“Sometimes it will surprise me and stun me and sort of wake me up a little bit when I interact with the world of people who I see face-to-face in life, a lot of whom are not on the same algorithms that I’m on, who are really quite passionate about loving the show and actually have no idea,” she explained. “All they know is, these beloved characters are back, and they’re really happy to see them again.”

Craig Blankenhorn / HBO Max

AJLT wrapped up its three-season run on HBO Max on August 14. While the show ended on a happy note for most of the main characters, many fans were disappointed to see Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) end the series single after over 25 years of navigating the ups and downs of romances on TV and in film.

“Of all the possible endings of the three seasons, this one definitely rings the most true for me,” Zuritsky said of the finale, which was written by showrunner Michael Patrick King and executive producer Susan Fales-Hill. “As a fan of the show and as a fifty-something woman in the world. I think it’s sort of extra poignant and feels authentic to [Carrie’s] character that she would reach this moment.”

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Zuritsky added, “She’s decided that she’d rather be on her own than in a not-ideal partnership and, like so many women we know, are really quite happy in their own space, in their own home, in their own friendships. … I feel really gratified that that’s the grace note for now, that she feels really full, and fully realized, and like a happy person living a happy life and a grateful person in the world that she created for herself.”

Rottenberg also addressed criticism that the finale didn’t feature a scene between Carrie, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and Charlotte (Kristin Davis). “[That’s] a Michael Patrick King question,” she said. “I think the idea is the whole series is based on the strength of those friendships. So even if you’re not in the same room… we have those bonds, and we feel the support and strength of those friendships. I think that the feeling was those bonds are stronger than anything, and they’re there even when they’re not there, those friends.”

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