Actress Sarah Jessica Parker on the end of And Just Like That... and Carrie Bradshaw's legacy
But while shooting the final episode of And Just Like That..., the three-season HBO Max show that premiered in 2021 and followed three of the four main characters from seminal TV series Sex And The City (1998 to 2004) into middle age, she could not help herself.
'Carrie's not weepy,' the American actress said, speaking of her character Carrie Bradshaw, the dizzy, fizzy, feelings-forward, fashion-very-forward sex columnist she has played off and on since 1998. 'She is sentimental, but she's not an insipid, treacly person. But it was really hard.'
The final episode, which premiered on HBO Max on Aug 14, finds Carrie at home, once again in tulle, grooving to American R&B singer Barry White, strong enough to stand on her own in high heels. This was, in its way, a happy ending, but Parker still had complicated feelings about saying goodbye.
'I don't know what it means yet, and I'm not sure I will for some time,' the 60-year-old said, speaking by phone the day before the finale aired. She was gracious – even when asked about the show's more awkward moments – and appropriately wistful.
Sarah Jessica Parker in And Just Like That... 3.
PHOTO: MAX
And Just Like That... was not an unqualified success. Four new main characters were introduced, all people of colour, but they seemed often like accessories to the main characters rather than protagonists in their own right.
Its tone, like some of Carrie's more outre outfits, was often all over the place. The series opened with Carrie's husband Big (Chris Noth) dying of a Peloton-induced heart attack. This meant that the first season was largely a grief-com, though the subsequent seasons had more bounce and pop. And while the revival centred on middle-age women, it did not always know how to generate a story for them. The final plotline for Kristin Davis' Charlotte involved renovating her hallway.
Top stories
Swipe. Select. Stay informed.
Singapore Two China Eastern Airlines planes involved in runway incursion at Changi Airport in Aug 2024
Life Local indie theatre The Projector to cease operations on Aug 19 after a decade
Singapore 'I vaped when I woke up until I slept': More youth vaping to cope with stress, say social workers
Asia Singaporean man sentenced to 72 years' jail in Malaysia for murdering wife and stepson
Singapore 4 days' jail for former pre-school teacher who kicked and bruised pupil's shin
Life Disrupted sleep, steroid psychosis: How chronic sinus condition affected one S'pore hawker's life
World Trump's art of the 'peace' deal for Ukraine and Russia
But the show remained a conversation starter, even if a lot of those conversations were about the show as a quintessential hate watch. And plenty of those hate watchers were sorry to see it go.
The decision to end And Just Like That..., Parker said, was one she and American director-writer-producer Michael Patrick King (Sex And The City; The Comeback, 2005 to present), the series' showrunner, had arrived at together. 'Because that's where the story ended,' she said.
Parker also discussed Carrie's legacy and whether she and on-off boyfriend Aidan (John Corbett) could have made it all the way. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Actress Sarah Jessica Parker in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris during a photo call for And Just Like That... in May.
PHOTO: AFP
Having played Carrie for all this time, how has she changed?
She's wiser. She's much more comfortable with the questions that had been uncomfortable. She had, after the loss of a husband, a sort of nobility that I didn't know she would possess. She carries her years with her, and it doesn't mean that she's cynical, ruined, bitter or angry. She is still spirited, enthusiastic and curious.
You once said she had made the hardest, worst and best decisions. What are the worst?
The most obvious would probably be having an affair. That was not good judgment. She wasn't financially responsible, and she probably made some bad decisions about men in her life and what she expected from them. But I don't think that makes her a person not worth loving and caring about.
And what was a great decision?
Countless times she was the kind of friend she needed to be. The way she devoted herself to people she cared about. Also, her career. Sometimes, it's overlooked that she was a writer.
When And Just Like That... was announced, Michael Patrick King insisted that it would include four new main characters, all women of colour. Was it successful in this?
(From left) Actresses Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sarita Choudhury and Nicole Ari Parker during a photo call for And Just Like That... in Paris in May.
PHOTO: AFP
Working with Sarita (Choudhury), Nicole (Ari Parker) and Karen (Pittman), it was thrilling, and it was rich with new energy and excitement. Those stories, in particular Sarita's and Nicole's, added a lot and stood on their own.
Michael doesn't just throw people in and pretend that the audience is supposed to know them and care about them. He takes laser-like care in building those people and having them become important in front of everybody's eyes in real time. So, I think it was a huge success.
When And Just Like That... debuted, it became a sensation. It was also frequently described as a hate watch. Do you understand why?
I don't think I have the constitution to have spent a lot of time thinking about that. We always worked incredibly hard to tell stories that were interesting or real. I guess I don't care. And the reason I don't is because it has been so enormously successful, and the connections it has made with audiences have been meaningful.
Did the show change tonally over the seasons?
Oh, yeah. We couldn't just pretend that this catastrophic event hadn't happened in Carrie's life. That's why the second season was so buoyant and necessary. That was a conscious decision to have it feel much more of a souffle.
Are heels still comfortable for you?
Not as comfortable as they were 27 years ago, but I still have a high threshold for whatever they're making me feel. We had more flats than we've had in the past. And they worked, and they were great and right, but there is something about heels.
The last scene of the final episode, in her house, she doesn't take them off. They're significant, the period at the end of the sentence. I didn't want to find a way to have something more sensible or comfortable. I don't see a world in which she is fully recognisable to herself by making comfort a priority.
Sarah Jessica Parker in And Just Like That... 3.
PHOTO: MAX
Did you think that Carrie would end up with Aidan?
No. And I love John Corbett, I adore him. But I did not think she would end up with him. And Michael didn't think that or want that either.
Why end the show now?
Because that's where the story ended. We could have gone on doing coffee shops. There are a million ways to do it that are easy, familiar and fun, but feel exploitative to us. We felt this was the honourable thing to do. It's easy to stay. It's where we're all happy. But you have to be principled when you make these difficult, agonising decisions because there's a lot of people who are affected.
If we caught up with Carrie in another 15 years, what would her life be like?
I think it would be pretty rich, in terms of friendships, culture and travel, and the ways in which the children of her friends are in her life. I feel good about her. I think she's set up pretty well. NYTIMES
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
14 hours ago
- Straits Times
Charlie Brown and Peanuts gang back with TV special Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox NEW YORK – Charlie Brown is not known for his successes. One of American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz's most memorable creations, Charlie is the ultimate clueless kid, never able to kick a football, ace a test or approach his crush , the Little Red-Haired Girl . But in Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical, a new Peanuts animated special, Charlie scores a major triumph. Thinking not so much of himself but of his little sister Sally and of future generations, he devises a plan to save a beloved institution: the Peanuts gang's summer camp. The desire to preserve a cherished institution also inspired the creative team behind the production, the first new Peanuts television musical in more than 35 years. The last was Snoopy! The Musical from 1988. With this special, which is available on Apple TV+, the writers aim both to celebrate the legacy of Schulz, who died in 2000 – 2025 is the 75th anniversary of the comic strip – and to take the indelible Peanuts crew in a slightly different direction. 'The thought jumped in my mind – wouldn't it be exciting to see the characters, you know, actually sing and dance?' Craig Schulz said in a joint video interview with Bryan Schulz and Cornelius Uliano, his screenplay collaborators and fellow executive producers. Craig is Charles Schulz's son and Bryan is the cartoonist's grandson. The idea occurred to Craig Schulz while he was home watching movie musicals like Tick, Tick… Boom! (2021) and In The Heights (2021). He felt musical numbers would give this fresh Peanuts offering an extended life. 'You could tell the same story we told without making it be a musical,' Craig Schulz said. 'But when you inject the music aspect into it, it really makes it more enjoyable to watch it over and over and over again.' The Schulzes and Uliano, who have been collaborating for more than a decade on film and TV properties intended to introduce today's viewers to Charles Schulz's sly humour and often poignant wit, are also shifting the audience's focus from Snoopy, the Peanuts strip's spotlight-loving beagle, to its human characters. Although Snoopy plays a pivotal role in the plot – he pitches, naturally, a pup tent at the camp, which is called Cloverhill Ranch – he is not the main character. Geared as much towards nostalgic parents as it is at young viewers, A Summer Musical does not share screenwriters or a setting with Camp Snoopy, the Apple TV+ children's series that debuted in 2024. Instead, the 40-minute special, which is directed by Erik Wiese (Sonic Prime, 2022 to 2024; The Mighty B!, 2008 to 2011), explores the emotions of Sally, who arrives at camp for the first time and hates it (as a young Craig Schulz did) , and those of Charlie, who is embarking on his last summer session and adores the woods and the wild (as Bryan Schulz did) . Depicting Charlie as an experienced camper, the writers have avoided including the kind of 'downbeat Charlie Brown gag' found in many earlier Peanuts specials, Craig Schulz said . In their collaborations, 'we never kind of pull the rug out from under him', he added. Charlie's love of camp and Sally's loathing – a surprising Cloverhill resident finally wins her over to the place's charms – fuel the special's first two musical numbers. Jeff Morrow, a Peanuts productions veteran and this musical's main composer, worked with songwriters Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner to create Best Time Ever. It is an upbeat ode that begins with Charlie singing and builds to a powerful – and, to Sally, overpowering – full camp chorus. Their subsequent song for Sally, A Place Like This, details her every complaint. Both numbers mix pop with jazz, which has been the signature Peanuts sound ever since Vince Guaraldi composed the score in 1965 for A Charlie Brown Christmas, the first and much revered Peanuts special. The music takes on a different quality, however, after the campers learn of plans to shutter Cloverhill because of diminishing attendance. Singer-songwriter Ben Folds , the special's music supervisor, wrote three additional numbers, two of which are lyrical ballads. In the producers' own quest to maintain the Peanuts legacy, they have insisted on digital animation that matches Charles Schulz's drawings, and on casting adolescents and children for the young characters' voices, rather than adults who are trying to sound young. 'There're certain qualities in each voice and each character that we're looking for, and that all goes back to the original Christmas special,' Bryan Schulz said. 'That's kind of the template, the gold standard.' Not surprisingly, the producers have often encountered young people who are completely unfamiliar with the original Peanuts comic strip. Craig Schulz recalled that during a project years ago, none of the voice cast had ever read it. But by the end of filming, all the actors had delved into the history and become attached to the characters. He wants the musical's viewers to feel the same way. 'They discovered a whole world they never knew existed,' he said of the cast. 'That's what we always hope. Once you discover that world, it's hard to leave it.' NYTIMES Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical is available on Apple TV+.
Straits Times
15 hours ago
- Straits Times
At The Movies: Together's love story gets under your skin, risky thriller Girl On Edge skates by
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox (From left) Dave Franco and Alison Brie in Together. Together (M18) 91 minutes, opens on Aug 21 ★★★☆☆ The story: American husband-and-wife actors Dave Franco and Alison Brie star as unhappy partners Tim and Millie, whose relationship is infected by a supernatural force. Tim and Millie, now in their 30s , have been together a decade and are beginning to question if it is merely out of habit. A move upstate to the countryside widens their rift as schoolteacher Millie settles into her posting in the local town and befriends a solicitous colleague (Damon Herriman), while her unemployed musician boyfriend continues to dream of rock stardom. No need for couples counselling, though, because Together is an American body horror with its own prescription for commitment issues, courtesy of Australian writer-director Michael Shanks. During a rainy-day hike near their new home, the two fall into a mysterious cave where they drink from a sinkhole. Thereafter, Tim is inexplicably, uncontrollably attached to Millie emotionally and physically. They start to fuse in disgusting ways , flesh on flesh and bones cracking, however much they try to resist in their appalled confusion. A sex scene is excruciating. Will they have to resort to a chainsaw? Shanks' feature debut is less frightening than squeamish in its tactile application of prosthetics and digital effects. It is also unexpectedly a humorous co-dependency metaphor, dulled only by the generic business of a sinister religious cult and Tim's family history of mental illness. It runs riot actualising all the idioms about lifelong connection, two becoming one, too close for comfort and whatever else, even as Franco and Brie prove each other's better halves in their comic interplay and their understanding of the profound romance that is this macabre fantasy. Hot take: The Sundance Film Festival 2025's audience favourite is a funny-revolting love story that gets under the skin. Girl On Edge (PG13) 111 minutes, opens on Aug 21 ★★★☆☆ Zhang Zifeng in Girl On Edge. PHOTO: SHAW ORGANISATION The story: A figure skater training for the world championships cracks under the pressure of her coach, who is also her tiger mum. Jiang Ning (Zhang Zifeng), the teen heroine of the Chinese psychological thriller Girl On Edge, bleeds and bruises for her sport. She crashes practising her axels, pulls herself back up, then falls again and again to the excoriation of Wang Shuang (Ma Yili), a former skater projecting the disappointment of her failed career onto her daughter. Into their dysfunctional relationship enters Zhong Ling (Ding Xiangyuan), a rink attendant of Jiang's age, who free skates alone after hours for the joy of it. The girl is a natural. She is Jiang's only friend, but when her raw talent catches Wang's eye and Wang offers to mentor her, she turns a dreaded rival for Jiang's championship glory and maternal affection. The resemblance to Hollywood star Natalie Portman's 2010 Oscar-winning ballet phantasmagoria Black Swan betrays what is really happening. For the still unenlightened, there is a third act to over-explain the plot twists via replays and flashbacks. The narrative is inelegant. Nevertheless, writer-director Zhou Jinghao shows ambition and is unafraid to take risks for his feature debut, which premiered at the Directors' Fortnight sidebar of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. And Chinese actress Zhang (Sister, 2021) commits fully to her difficult starring role of obsession and paranoia. The skating scenes are at once mesmeric and full of tension, with amplified sound design of blades cutting into the ice like Jiang's fracturing psyche. Hot take: Top scores for the technical execution and performances, although there will be no medals for the tortuous tale on the madness of artistic perfection.
Straits Times
a day ago
- Straits Times
‘I almost became a widow': Actress Ada Choi says husband Max Zhang had a heart attack in Singapore
Ada Choi and Max Zhang married in 2008 and have three children aged five to 14. Hong Kong actress Ada Choi revealed that her husband, Chinese actor Max Zhang, suffered a heart attack while the family was vacationing in Singapore. Zhang previously disclosed in the first episode of Chinese reality show Call Me By Fire 2025, released on Aug 9, that he almost died while he was overseas with his family on April 17. 'I felt pain, had difficulty breathing and was covered in cold sweat,' Zhang told Korean-American singer-actor Lee Seung-hyun on the show about the incident. 'I could not say anything at that time and felt like I was falling into an abyss.' Zhang and Choi, both 51, married in 2008 and have three children aged five to 14. He is known for starring in martial arts films such as SPL II: A Time For Consequences (2015) and Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (2018). Zhang recalled that Choi and their children were about 10m away, and were about to board a duck boat for a tour. 'I told myself I couldn't die here as I was overseas,' he said. 'I held on and told myself not to collapse.' He saw a doctor soon after he returned to Hong Kong. The doctor told him he could have died during the heart attack, Zhang said. Choi was asked about the incident while attending the lensing ceremony for TV drama Behind The Queens on Aug 17. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore What led to Changi Airport runway incident involving 2 China Eastern Airlines planes in Aug 2024 Singapore FairPrice apologises after woman finds worm in salmon bought from Bedok North outlet Singapore CPIB nabs 9 suspects for alleged match-fixing in national basketball league Singapore Live Singapore-raised seafood on sale at 3 Giant supermarkets from Aug 19 Singapore Singapore seals carbon credit deal with Thailand, its first South-east Asian partner Asia Singaporean man sentenced to 72 years' jail in Malaysia for murdering wife and stepson Singapore Court to assess if teen who advertised vapes for sale on WhatsApp can receive probation 'He experienced two episodes of discomfort in March and went to see a doctor, who performed an electrocardiogram test,' Choi said. 'The report showed that he was fine.' She said the family then travelled to Singapore in April. 'He suddenly couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't speak and h ad to sit down. I left him behind and proceeded with the duck tour, thinking he had caught a cold.' Choi said she realised later that something was wrong when she returned and saw his face turning pale, although he said he felt fine after a while. 'While we chatted the next morning, he said tearfully that at the moment the day before, he was looking at the four of us and felt like he was about to pass out and might never see us again. He had to get back up and he did,' she recounted. 'He cried while he was talking and I had never seen him like that before.' Choi accompanied her husband for the health screening in Hong Kong. A computed tomography scan found that about 80 per cent of his blood vessels were blocked, and he had to undergo an angioplasty to insert stents immediately. 'I felt so apologetic when I learnt about his condition and cried on my knees , wondering how I could be such a wife,' Choi said. 'Knowing that we could be separated forever in an instant, I hugged him. I would have gone crazy if something had happened to him.' She said the whole family has grown closer as a result of this incident and now pays more attention to exercise, adding that Zhang has also cut down on oily food. 'We have to count our blessings,' Choi said. 'I almost became a widow, and he almost died in a foreign land.'
