Imagine Sex and the City without Sarah Jessica Parker. Heck, imagine Sarah Jessica Parker without Sex and the City. It almost happened: the actress — currently starring in the spinoff of said iconic series, And Just Like That — recently admitted that she actually tried to get out of playing the role that arguably made her career (second only to that time she played the titular Annie as a child on Broadway, but let’s be real: we all know her as Carrie, not Annie).
On the latest episode of the Are You a Charlotte? Podcast, hosted by none other than Charlotte York herself, Kristin Davis, Parker was on as a guest and confessed that she really did not want to do television and tried her damnedest to get HBO to let her out of her contract after the show was picked up to series. In her words: “I panicked. When the show was picked up, I was like, ‘I can’t be on a TV show! I don’t think I’m suited for that life.'”
Explaining herself further, she went on:
“I think that it was the idea of doing the same thing over and over and over again. I think I’d always been lucky that I got to be on a television series and then it was over. Like, I met great people, had a great experience, worked with great actors, great directors, thought the stories were interesting, wanted to do the shows, and they had shorter lives, maybe one or two seasons. And then I moved on, and I would do a play, or I’d do some readings, and then I’d do a part in a movie, and then I’d do, you know, a movie of the week. And I just kind of bounced around, and I really thought, ‘That is the goal. The journeyman is the goal. You want to be moving.’ So the idea of a television series meant that I couldn’t do all those things.”
She was desperate for that life, she said, going on to add that she told her agent that she would “give my services to HBO to fulfill my contract. So, any movies, I’ll do for X number of years.” Thankfully for her and us all, her agent and the head of HBO at the time (Chris Albrecht) talked her off the ledge. And from there on out, all she could see was the possibility and beauty of the project:
“It went from being this kind of oppressive idea to this one with endless possibilities. And the first day we started shooting as a series, the location was up the street from my house. I remember thinking, ‘I can walk to work. I’m not driving on to a lot. I’m not getting on a freeway and hoping I get myself there.’ And I walked up to the location and I never looked back.”
‘Sex and the City’ Was An Iconic Show For Very Good Reasons
The rest, as they say, is history. Sex and the City went on to run for six seasons, two movies, and now the spinoff/sequel series. The show’s original run won seven Emmys — two of which were awarded to Parker for her acting on the show. The series also starred Davis as Charlotte York, Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes, and Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones. And now you can see all of them (minus Cattrall, of course) once more when the third season of And Just Like That premieres on May 29, 2025 on HBO Max (yes, it’s called that again).
Source:
EW
