Why ‘panicked' Sarah Jessica Parker begged agents to leave ‘Sex and the City'

New York Post

16-05-2025

We couldn't help but wonder, what led Sarah Jessica Parker to almost walk away?
Well, the actress, 60, recently revealed she 'panicked' at the idea of 'committing' to 'Sex and the City' while on the 'Are You a Charlotte?' podcast, hosted by her 'Sex and the City' co-star Kristin Davis.
Despite already filming the 1998 pilot where Parker played the fashionable and single writer Carrie Bradshaw, she was still unsure if she wanted to do it. The star called shooting that first episode 'lovely,' but she 'forgot all about it' until she was walking in New York City and a producer told her she watched the pilot and it was 'really good.'
8 'Sex and The City' Season 1 Episode 1.
HBO
'Then I went on with my day, and when the show was picked up, I panicked,' Parker recounted. 'I was like, I can't be on a TV show. I don't think I'm suited for that life.'
While the 'Hocus Pocus' vet had done television before – including series 'Equal Justice,' 'A Year in the Life' and 'Square Pegs' – she admitted the small screen 'also kind of depressed me.'
'I think that it was the idea of doing the same thing over and over and over again,' Parker explained.
8 Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw.
HBO
'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,' she continued about past television experiences. '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,' added Parker.
Now, the New York City native realized it was the wrong way of thinking and actors 'can still do [other] things on their hiatuses.'
8 Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in the pilot.
HBO
Back then, she ran to her agent and asked 'Can you get me out of this?'
'I said, 'I will give my services to HBO to fulfill my contract,' she recalled negotiating. 'So, any movies, I'll do for X number of years.'
Her agent, meanwhile, didn't think she had anything to worry about.
8 Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis of 'Sex and the City' pose for a portrait.
Getty Images
8 'Sex And The City,' Season 2.
Getty Images
'He said, 'It can be wonderful. It can be great.' And the beauty of HBO [at the time] was that it was kind of an unknown species … and [former HBO chairman] Chris Albrecht said, 'Do it for a year, and if you don't want to do it anymore, we don't do it.''
'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.'
The cult classic – which also starred Kim Cattrall (Samantha), Kristin Davis (Charlotte), and Cynthia Nixon (Miranda) – ended up running for six seasons from 1998 to 2004.
8 Sarah Jessica Parker stars in 'Sex In The City.'
Getty Images
The show garnered seven Emmy Awards – with two Best Actress awards for Parker. Following the show there was the 2008 movie 'Sex and the City' and 'Sex and the City 2' in 2010.
17 years after the original series went off air, MAX came back with a spinoff 'And Just Like That….' which debuted in 2021.
The show is set to returns for Season 3 on May 29 on Max. Fans can expect familiar and new faces arriving in the Big Apple this season.
8 Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon.
Getty Images
According to Entertainment Weekly, Patti LuPone is joining the spinoff, and although her role is top secret, executive producer Michael Patrick King told the outlet that she'll have 'an arc on our show this season.'
King gushed about the third installment: 'It's a lot of 'new' within the familiar, but even the familiar characters are going through new things.'
'It's more than Carrie that has a new apartment. Miranda has a new apartment. We feel that there's a lot of newness in the world right now, especially for these characters. We wanted to tell new stories and put them through new obstacles.'
8 'Sex and The City' Season 1 Episode 1.
HBO
Other new cast members include Rosie O'Donnell, Logan Marshall Green and 'Law & Order' actress Mehcad Brooks.
The show will continue to follow the close knit group of girls from 'Sex and the City' – now through life in their 50s. Notably, Cattrall's Samantha is visibly absent from the show, despite a brief cameo in Season 2.
There has long been a rumored feud between Cattrall, 68, and Parker, but the 'Divorce' alum has denied claims over the years.
In fact, Parker told The Post in 2018: 'I don't have a disagreement with Kim, there's no catfight … I've only ever expressed admiration and gratitude for everything she contributed — and I still feel that way.'