Samantha Will Return—Sort of—For Season 2 of ‘And Just Like That…’

Kim Cattrall’s Samantha Jones was always one of the very best parts of Sex and the City, so of course writers for And Just Like That… refused to let a little thing like an epic, multi-year feud get in the way of her return. Despite chalking the character’s absence up to a friend breakup and a move to London, Carrie still exchanged texts with her during the reboot’s first season, and they even met up for an off-screen hang in the series finale.

I thought the Samantha stuff might just be a short-term way to bridge the gap between the original show and the reboot and would fall off between seasons like an umbilical stump. But I was wrong: It looks like we’re in for more Zombie Samantha text action in Season 2.

In an interview with Variety Tuesday, showrunner Michael Patrick King revealed that the text messages will continue—but he didn’t give away much more than that. “My goal is to bring all the characters into the mix together, so that they’re not so much on separate runways,” King said.

He also painted a picture of how that season finale Carrie-Samantha meet-up might have gone. “So, I think there was some champagne. I think there was a grownup back and forth, and a love affair that they realized that something’s more important than being afraid to heal,” he told Variety. “To me, they had a great night and things became resolved.”

Still, it’s hard to imagine that we’ll be seeing too much more than text bubbles from Ms. Jones, however, as the unpleasantness between Cattrall and series lead Sarah Jessica Parker appears to still be going strong. I say “unpleasantness” because, according to SJP, the words “fight,” “dispute,” “spat,” and “argument” are all off the table.

“It’s so painful for people to keep talking about this ‘catfight’—a fight, a fight, a fight. I’ve never uttered fighting words in my life about anybody that I’ve worked with ever,” Parker told the Hollywood Reporter last week. “There is not a ‘fight’ going on. There has been no public dispute or spat or conversations or allegations made by me or anybody on my behalf.”

“There has been one person talking,” she added.

Though Cattrall has definitely seemed more inclined than Parker to air out her side of things, that’s kind of debatable. In February, SJP made it clear that not only was Cattrall not invited back for AJLT, she also wasn’t welcome to rejoin the series. When Variety asked if Parker would “be OK” with Cattrall appearing on the show again, SJP said, “I don’t think I would, because I think there’s just too much public history of feelings on her part that she’s shared. I haven’t participated in or read articles, although people are inclined to let me know.”

Fighting words? Maybe not. But feuding words? Kinda sounds like it.

If And Just Like That… insists on resurrecting Samantha, they could at least mix it up a bit. Why keep it to text messages? There are so many ways the character could be featured in the series without Cattrall stepping foot on set. Samantha and Carrie could have Zoom chats over a very, very bad Wi-Fi connection. They could shout back and forth at each other from opposite banks of the Thames. Samantha could undergo another chemical peel mishap and appear on the show covered in bandages. The options for Zombie Samantha are endless!