Don’t Expect to See Samantha Jones in Season Two of And Just Like That...

While this weeks marks the end of season one of And Just Like That..., speculation on what’s to come next is in full swing. There have been reports of continuing the series, but as of now, nothing official has been confirmed. Considering the success of the reboot (its HBO Max’s most popular original series ever), it seems a second season is imminent. Now, comes the conversations around what we want to see if Carrie, Charlotte, and Miranda return once again. Or, more accurately, who we want to see, and the answer is obvious: TV’s top PR specialist, Samantha Jones.

Kim Cattrall denounced the role of Samantha years ago, so her absence from AJLT wasn’t too shocking. Still, the writers very much kept her alive in the first season— engaging in texts with Carrie and often coming up in conversation—seemingly leaving the door open for Cattrall’s possible return. As Michael Patrick King, the executive producer, writer and director of AJLT, starts to think about season two, however, it seems like he’s not getting his hopes up when it comes to nabbing Cattrall.

When asked by Variety if the door is open for Cattrall to return, King wasted no time. “No,” he said. “Just like there was no thought that Kim would ever participate in And Just Like That, because she’s said what she had said.” Back when there were talks of a third Sex and the City film, reports came out that Cattrall turned it down. She later spoke out and said she felt “empowered” by the decision.

“You take people at their word,” King said. “I have no realistic expectation of Kim Cattrall ever appearing again.”

Still, King admitted he loves writing Samantha, so there’s a chance her presence will still hang over season two. “It’s kind of magical that all of a sudden on a text, Samantha makes a Samantha joke. And you feel like she’s there again,” he said.

As for who will fill the uniquely-shaped Samantha hole in our hearts if AJLT does ever return, King didn’t mention, but we can assume that Nicole Ari Parker’s Lisa Todd Wexley and Sarita Choudhury’s Seema Patel will continue to play into the story in their own Samantha-esque ways. In the end, it seems like the real loss of AJLT wasn’t Mr. Big like the writers originally assumed, but Samantha Jones, PR.