It’s the end of an era.
On Friday, Sarah Jessica Parker took to social media to confirm that “And Just Like That” is over after three seasons and to say goodbye to Carrie Bradshaw, the character she’s played since “Sex and the City” first premiered in 1998.
In a lengthy Instagram caption, Parker, 60, wrote a poem about Carrie, reading, “She Crossed Streets Avenues Rubicons, so it seemed. She Broke hearts Heels Habits. She Loved Lost Won Tripped Leaped Fell short and into puddles Aged Got wiser.”
Sarah Jessica Parker in “And Just Like That” Season 3, Episode 10. HBO
From left: “Sex and the City” stars Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall and Cynthia Nixon in 2000. Getty Images
Parker continued her ode to her iconic character, writing that Carrie made “the hardest, worst and best decisions, Traveled near and far For the new The vintage Friends and love. Changed homes, time zones, boyfriends, her mind, her shoes, her hair, but never her love and devotion to New York City. She had Dates Drinks Boyfriends A husband and truly great loves and romances.”
Parker also gave a shout-out to Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte, noting “there will never be better friends” — despite her alleged feud with Kim Cattrall.
“Carrie Bradshaw has dominated my professional heartbeat for 27 years. I think I have loved her most of all. I know others have loved her just as I have. Been frustrated, condemned and rooted for her,” she wrote.
“The symphony of all those emotions has been the greatest soundtrack and most consequential companion. Therefore the most sentimental and profound gratitude and lifetime of debt. To you all,” Parker added.
Referring to “And Just Like That” showrunner Michael Patrick King, she wrote, “MPK and I together recognized, as we have in the past, this chapter complete.”
Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon in the latest season of “And Just Like That.” HBO
Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon in “And Just Like That” Season 3, Episode 8. HBO
Michael Patrick King announces the end of the show. AndJustLikeThat/X
The show was “all joy,” she added.
“Adventure, the greatest kind of hard work alongside the most extraordinary talent of 380 that includes all the brilliant actors who joined us. I am better for every single day I spent with you,” she wrote. “It will be forever before I forget. The whole thing. Thank you all. I love you so.” She signed her note, “Rabbit rabbit.”
The show was reportedly not canceled.
“And just like that… the ongoing storytelling of the ‘Sex And The City’ universe is coming to an end,” King wrote in his own statement.
“While I was writing the last episode of ‘And Just Like That…’ season 3, it became clear to me that this might be a wonderful place to stop. Along with Sarah Jessica Parker, Casey Bloys and Sarah Aubrey, we decided to end the popular series this year with a two-part finale and extended the original series order from 10 episodes to 12,” King added.
He alleged that it was the plan all along.
From left: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon in a scene from “And Just Like That.” AP
From left: Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis and Kim Cattrall in “Sex and the City” in 2002. Getty Images
“SJP and I held off announcing the news until now because we didn’t want the word ‘final’ to overshadow the fun of watching the season,” he went on. “It’s with great gratitude we thank all the viewers who have let these characters into their homes and their hearts over these many years.”
Co-stars Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon shared King’s statement to their own Instagram accounts.
“I am profoundly sad,” Davis, 60, added. “I love our whole beautiful cast and crew. 400 artisans working so hard on our show with deep love.”
The original show, which aired for six seasons, followed Carrie Bradshaw and her friends Samantha Jones (Cattrall), Miranda Hobbes (Nixon) and Charlotte York (Davis) through dating adventures in New York City.
The series also spawned two movies in 2008 and 2010, and a spinoff prequel, “The Carrie Diaries,” which aired on The CW from 2013 to 2014.
“And Just Like That” premiered on HBO Max in 2021. Cattrall isn’t in the show, which follows Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte in their 50s. (However, Cattrall made one cameo in Season 2 followed by an off-screen cameo via a text message in Season 3).
From left: Willie Garson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Kim Cattrall and Cynthia Nixon in “Sex And The City” in 2001. Getty Images
Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis in 2010’s “Sex and the City 2.” ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
Despite the show’s meager attempts to nod at Samantha, she was the standout character on “Sex and the City” — and her absence from “And Just Like That” has been awkward.
Parker told The Post in 2018, “I don’t have a disagreement with Kim [Cattrall], there’s no catfight.”
Although King alleged that it was his choice to end the show, ratings were dwindling.
According to data obtained by Forbes, the Season 3 premiere of “And Just Like That” averaged a paltry 429,000 households during the live-plus-three-day viewership window. The Season 2 premiere also didn’t have high viewership numbers, but at around 463,000 households, it had 7% higher viewership than Season 3.
“And Just Like That” has faced numerous controversies over its three seasons.
Right from the premiere episode, there was fan backlash after the show killed off Carrie’s longtime love, Mr. Big (Chris Noth). He suffered a heart attack following a Peloton ride, after which angry fans flocked to X, formerly Twitter.
One fan wrote: “Me trying to process that Big died in the first ep of ‘Sex and the City’ reboot. Can Carrie never be happy or?? We literally went through 6 seasons and 2 films of pain, drama & happy endings now this?! I’mma pretend this show never existed for my own happiness.”
Sarah Jessica Parker and Chris Noth in “And Just Like That.” Photograph by Craig Blankenhorn
Big’s death prompted the brand’s stock to drop as it scrambled to recover after sexual assault allegations emerged against Noth and Miranda’s plotline of dating the queer nonbinary comedian podcaster, Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez), was swiftly hated by viewers.
On their podcast, Che had a “woke moment” button that they pushed.
“Che diaz single-handedly set back non-binary representation 70 years,” one critic seethed.
Irate fans told The Post that Che was “annoying” and seemed like a “caricature” of a “particularly irritating Twitter account come to life.”
Another fan on Reddit called Che, “insufferably woke” and said, “Parts with Che in them are entirely unwatchable and cringey.” They added, “While I appreciate how the writers are introducing gender-related issues, Che just seems like such a poorly-written, blown-up character who comes across as self-gratifying.”
Ramirez said about Che, “It was absolutely exhausting to bring this person to life,” while Parker told the Guardian in June that she was “shocked” to learn that audiences hated Che.
In Season 1, Miranda helped Carrie after hip surgery when Che visits. Bafflingly, Che and Miranda then have an intimate encounter in the kitchen, leaving a recovering Carrie to struggle when she needs assistance using the bathroom.
Cynthia Nixon and Sara Ramirez as Miranda and Che in “And Just Like That.” MAX
Ryan Bailey, LA-based host of the podcast “So Bad It’s Good With Ryan Bailey,” told The Post he was horrified by that scene. “What did I just see?” he said of the hot-and-heavy sequence. “To have somebody [get intimate with] a character that we grew up with, in front of Carrie … is just so extreme.”
“There’s so many lines that are being crossed. It’s wild,” he added.
Che wasn’t the only reason the show got backlash for attempting to go “woke.”
Other cultural commentators criticized “And Just Like That” for attempting to diversify the “SATC” cast by replacing Kim Catrall’s Samantha with several women of color – including Lisa Todd Wexley (Nicole Ari Parker), Diaz and Seema Patel (Sarita Choudhury) – without making the new cast members interesting in their own right.
Comedian Bobby Lee, who played Carrie’s podcast-co-host, recently told Entertainment Weekly that he wasn’t asked to return for Season 3 because, “Some of the woke elements of the show, they got rid of, and I think I was a part of that.”
Then, Ramirez, who uses they/them pronouns, was reportedly fired between the second and third season. The actor, 49, implied that they were being fired from the series because of their pro-Palestinian politics, including their participation in several pro-Palestinian marches.
Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis in end of the second season of “And Just Like That.” MAX
However, a source told The Daily Mail in 2024: “Sara was not fired because they support Palestine…Sara was fired because Che brought nothing to the show anymore.”
The show kept shedding characters, too. Karen Pittman, a new addition to the friend group in “And Just Like That,” left the show after Season 2. Her departure was due to “scheduling conflicts.” Nevertheless, it wasn’t a good look for a show that needed a morale boost.
Fans have also been quick to point out the sloppy writing. Season 3 had what appeared to be a major blunder, where Lisa’s father seemed to die twice.
“My father died this afternoon,” Parker’s character said in an episode. “He had a stroke out of nowhere.” The “Silent Mode” episode also included his funeral.
Observant viewers were quick to point out that in Season 1, Lisa also talked about her dad dying.
Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis and Sarah Jessica Parker in “And Just Like That.” HBO
HBO waved it off as one of the references being her “stepfather,” but it still left frustrated fans enraged.
“Not And Just Like That killing Lisa Tod Wexley’s father twice! @HBO Do you even care? Please pay attention!” someone wrote via X.
“Did ChatGPT write these episodes?” another viewer joked.
A third simply pleaded: “Cancel ‘And Just Like That’ [please put] us outta our misery.”
The finale of “And Just Like That” will air Aug. 14 on HBO Max.
