Kim Cattrall kindly shut down rumors of her return to the Sex and the City franchise with one sentence.
“Aw that’s so kind but I’m not,” she said on Sunday, July 21, in response to an Elle headline that stated “It Looks Like Samantha Jones Will Be Back For ‘And Just Like That…’ Season 3 After All.”
Rumors have been circling that Cattrall, 67, would return for the revival series, which follows the SATC ladies Carrie, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, Charlotte, played by Kristin Davis, and Miranda, played by Cynthia Nixon, as they navigate life and love in New York in their 50s.
Cattrall played the sexually empowered publicist Samantha Jones for the original HBO show’s six-season run from 1998 to 2004, as well as the feature adaptations that hit theaters in 2008 and 2010.
Following 2010’s movie Sex and the City 2, Cattrall declined to do a third film and was not asked to return for And Just Like That. She did, however, surprise fans by making a brief cameo as Samantha at the end of the show’s second season last year. When news broke of her season 2 cameo, Cattrall clarified that she had no plans to reprise the role of Samantha in a larger capacity.
“This is as far as I’m going to go,” she told Today in 2023.
But, she added, “I don’t think I’ll ever say goodbye to Samantha. She’s like a lot of other characters that I’ve done over the years. I get very emotionally attached and protective of my characters. She gave me so much, and I’m so appreciative of her.”
The actress previously opened up about not wanting to be part of the new show, telling Variety in May 2022 that she didn’t like how her character was represented in the script for the never-produced third movie. She called the portrayal “heartbreaking” and said that it turned her off from reprising her role as Samantha.
Cattrall also spoke about the difficulties of playing a character for multiple decades, as the first season of Sex and the City premiered in 1998.
“Everything has to grow, or it dies. I felt that when the series ended, I thought that’s smart. We’re not repeating ourselves,” she told the outlet. “And then the movie to end all the loose ends. And then there’s another movie. And then there’s another movie?”
In person, Cattrall — who was born in Liverpool, England, and grew up in British Columbia — doesn’t sound or move like Samantha. A self-described serial monogamist, she recently celebrated her six-year anniversary with her partner Russell Thomas, 53.