As the “Sex and the City” revival series airs, Samantha Jones’ absence looms large.
Within the first five minutes of the premiere episode of “And Just Like That” (now streaming on HBO Max), the show addresses where Kim Cattrall’s beloved character went.
In the opening scene, Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda (Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon) go out to dine together for the first time since the pandemic. At the restaurant, they run into Bitsy Von Muffling (Julie Halston), who asks where “the fourth Musketeer” is.
“Oh, she’s no longer with us,” Charlotte explains. Bitsy looks shocked — as that certainly sounds ominous, especially in the context of talking about the pandemic — so Miranda clarifies, “Oh no, she didn’t die,” while Carrie further explains that Samantha moved to London.
In a later scene, Miranda says, “It is kind of like she’s dead . . . we never even talk about her.”
Carrie, whose sex column burgeoned into her career as a book author, explains that her publicist friend stopped talking to her after Carrie no longer required her p.r. services.
“Well, what is there to say? I told her that, you know, because of what the book business is now, it just didn’t make sense for me to keep her on as a publicist. She said, ‘Fine,’ and then fired me as a friend. I kept leaving her voicemails, asking her to please call me back, so we could talk about this and fix it. Look, I understand that she was upset, but I thought I was more to her than an ATM,” says Carrie.
Miranda and Charlotte discuss how Samantha made a clean break from them, too, not responding to their overtures because, “Her pride got damaged,” as Miranda says.
Understandably, fans are having strong reactions to this explanation for the most dynamic friend’s absence from the “Sex and the City” revival. Fan account @everyoutfitonSATC posted a screenshot of Carrie sending unanswered texts to Samantha, with the caption, “TFW [That feel when] Samantha ghosts you.”
It elicited a flurry of reactions about Samantha’s fate.
“I don’t like the idea of making Sam bad and rude. I don’t,” wrote one commenter. Another said, “I really don’t think Sam would be scorned like that . . . she was so loyal.”
The outrage continued on Twitter, as a fan tweeted, “Put more respect on Samantha Jones. She was the most understanding friend in that group and would never go ghost like that. Lazy-ass writers.”
Another wrote: “The way they’re handling Samantha’s absence is far too much of a parallel for the real life situation and it is CRINGE.”
Indeed, rumors have flown about why Cattrall, 65, is not joining her former co-stars Parker, 56, Nixon, 55, and Davis, 56, in “And Just Like That.”
There’s been speculation for years about tension between Parker and Cattrall, which became public in 2018 after Parker offered a condolence for the death of Cattrall’s brother, to which the Samantha actress responded on Instagram, “I don’t need your love or support at this tragic time @sarahjessicaparker.”
“My Mom asked me today ‘When will that @sarahjessicaparker, that hypocrite, leave you alone?’ ” Cattrall wrote in the caption of the photo. “Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now . . . You are not my family. You are not my friend. So I’m writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your ‘nice girl’ persona.”
Chris Noth, whose character Mr. Big also got a shocking plot development on “And Just Like That,” defended Parker to the Guardian earlier this month.
“I’m very close with [Sarah Jessica Parker] and [Cattrall’s] descriptions of her don’t even come close. I liked her, I thought she was marvelous in the show and some people move on for their own reasons. I don’t know what hers were,” he said. “I just wish that whole thing had never happened because it was sad and uncomfortable.”
When Parker spoke to The Post shortly after Cattrall’s fiery Instagram post in 2018, Parker said, “I don’t have a disagreement with Kim. There’s no catfight. I’ve never said anything publicly, nor would I. I’ve only ever expressed admiration and gratitude for everything she contributed — and I still feel that way.”
“And Just Like That” follows the three friends — sans Samantha — as they navigate life in their 50s alongside a slew of diverse new characters, including nonbinary comedian/podcaster Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez), documentarian Lisa Todd Wexley (Nicole Ari Parker), powerhouse real estate broker Seema Patel (Sarita Choudhury) and law processor Dr. Nya Wallace (Karen Pittman).