‘And Just Like That…' stars share how the show finds its voice in embracing this messy truth in season 3

New York Post

4 days ago

'She's messy. It can be messy. But it's real.'
So says Cynthia Nixon — not just of Miranda Hobbes, the character she's embodied for almost three decades, but of the show itself. 'And Just Like That…', HBO's 'Sex and the City' revival, has come into its own in season three: less preoccupied with pleasing everyone, and more interested in telling the truth.
Truth, in this case, looks like complexity. Women in their fifties with evolving identities.
8 (L-R) Nicole Ari Parker, Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Sarita Choudhury attend the 'And Just Like That' Season Three photocall at Hotel Napoleon on May 29, 2025, in Paris, France.
Getty Images
Not frozen in time, but changing, reckoning, reliving.
Queerness that's joyful but not polished. Grief without melodrama. A pirate shirt with a bleach hole that somehow becomes a talisman of power.
At its glittering European premiere this week, Nixon and costar Sarah Jessica Parker, flanked by Kristin Davis and Sarita Choudhury, spoke candidly with The Associated Press about how the show has evolved into something deeper, rawer, and more reflective of who they are now.
A voice returns
Season three marks the return of Carrie Bradshaw's iconic internal monologue — the voiceover that once defined 'Sex and the City.' That rhythmic intimacy is back, and not by accident.
'We've always loved the voiceover,' Parker said. 'It's a rhythm — it's part of the DNA.'
For Parker, it mirrors Carrie's emotional clarity.
8 Cynthia Nixon, left, and Sarah Jessica Parker from the series 'And Just Like That.'
AP
The character who once floated through Manhattan chasing shoes and column deadlines is now grounded in reinvention, loss, and cautious hope. She's grown up and she's no longer hiding it.
'She doesn't burst into tears or stomp out of the room anymore,' Parker said. 'She asks smart, patient questions. That's not effort — that's just her nature now.'
'People seem surprised that she is mature,' Parker added. 'But that's just basic developmental stuff — hopefully, simply by living, we get better at things. It's not surprising. It's just real.'
8 'And Just Like That…', HBO's 'Sex and the City' revival, has come into its own in season three, according to reports.
Craig Blankenhorn
Warts and all
If Carrie is the compass, Miranda is the seismic shift.
Miranda's arc — which now includes a late-in-life queer awakening — may be the show's most radical contribution to television.
And for Nixon, who publicly came out as queer while still playing a straight character in the original 'Sex and the City,' that evolution is deeply personal.
'There's never a 'too late' moment. Miranda comes to queerness at 55. That doesn't mean everything that came before was wrong. It just means this is her now. And it's messy. It can be messy. But it's real.'
That embrace of imperfection lies at the core of Nixon's philosophy — and the show's power.
On television, where characters linger in our lives for years, there's a unique intimacy and empathy that develops.
'Television puts someone in your living room, week after week. They're imperfect, they make you laugh, and eventually you say, 'I know that person. They're my friend.' That's more powerful than one mythic, perfect film. That's where the change happens.'
That change includes how queerness is portrayed.
Nixon recalled how earlier generations of LGBTQ+ characters were forced to be flawless, or two-dimensional, to justify their screen time.
'There was a time when gay people on screen had to be saints or martyrs,' she said. 'Now, we can be characters like Miranda, who've had rich, fulfilling heterosexual lives and now stumble upon queerness, and not in a tidy way. There's collateral damage. That's important.'
That depth, Nixon said, comes not just from character, but from the format.
Unlike film, which requires resolution in two hours, television lets people grow — and falter — in real time.
And Miranda's transformation isn't just personal. It's political.
8 'There's never a 'too late' moment. Miranda comes to queerness at 55. That doesn't mean everything that came before was wrong. It just means this is her now. And it's messy. It can be messy. But it's real,' Nixon (pictured) said of her character.
HBO
In Season 3, she's seen retraining in human rights law, joining protest movements, and wrestling with systemic questions, mirroring Nixon's own off-screen life. In 2018, the actor ran for governor of New York on a progressive platform, bringing her activism directly into the public arena. That convergence isn't accidental, she says.
'On long-running shows, if the writers are smart, they start to weave in the actor,' Nixon said. 'When I started, Miranda and I were very different. But now we've grown closer. We're almost the same person — in temperament, in values.'
8 Season three marks the return of Carrie Bradshaw's iconic internal monologue — the voiceover that once defined 'Sex and the City,' done by Sarah Jessica Parker.
HBO
8 'We've always loved the voiceover,' Parker said. 'It's a rhythm — it's part of the DNA.'
MAX
Season three narrows its scope, pulling focus back to the emotional cores of Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte. Several side characters are gone, including Che Diaz, and what remains is a cleaner, more character-driven story.
'I think one of the great things about our show is we show women in their 50s whose lives are very dramatic and dynamic,' Nixon said. 'You get to this age and there's a lot going on — if you choose to keep moving forward.'
Friends, friction, and freedom
Kristin Davis, who plays Charlotte, noted that those life shifts come fast and often overlap.
'She really starts to unravel,' Davis said. 'But the joy is her friends are there.'
Sarita Choudhury, who plays real estate powerhouse Seema, echoed that sense of late-blooming autonomy.
'She's feeling that, if you have your own business, your own apartment, your own way, you get to say what you want,' Choudhury said. 'There's power in that.'
It's a subtle rebuke to the long-held media narrative that midlife is a decline.
Not just fashion — declaration
Fashion, as ever, is present — but now it feels more personal than aspirational. Parker described insisting on wearing a ripped vintage Vivienne Westwood shirt with a bleach hole in a key scene.
'It had to be in an important scene. It meant something,' she said.
Even the show's iconic heels, still clacking through New York's brownstone-lined streets, feel louder this season. They're not just accessories. They're declarations.
And yes, Carrie is writing again, though not her usual musings.
A 'historical romance' project, mentioned only briefly on screen so far, hints at the show's comfort with poking fun at itself and its heroine's occasionally pretentious flair.
8 'Sex And The City' first aired in June 1998 on HBO.
Getty Images
8 Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sarita Choudhury and Nicole Ari Parker attend the 'And Just Like That' Season Three – Premiere at Le Lido on May 28, 2025 in Paris, France.
WireImage
If early reviews are right, it might be one of the season's most enjoyably ludicrous storylines.
'And Just Like That…' is a show that's learned to walk — loudly — into its next chapter.
'You're better today than you were ten years ago,' Parker said. 'That's not just Carrie — that's everyone.'