Despite receiving a mixed response during its run, And Just Like That… may eventually be reassessed more kindly, according to co-creator Michael Patrick King.
The revival series, which aired from 2021 to 2025, brought back familiar faces from Sex and the City, following Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda as they navigated life and relationships in their 50s. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon reprised their iconic roles.
While the show drew criticism from both reviewers and sections of the fanbase, even inspiring a wave of "hate-watching", "hate-watching", King remains optimistic about its long-term reception. Drawing a comparison to his earlier work The Comeback, he pointed out how opinions can evolve over time.
“If The Comeback has taught me anything, it’s that perceptions can change over the years,” King said in an interview with The Guardian. “The Comeback’s first perception was it failed. Then it grew in relevance as the world caught up. I think And Just Like That… will potentially age well.”
He also highlighted the thematic continuity between the revival and its predecessor, noting how both explore women pushing back against societal expectations at different stages of life. “It has the same DNA as the original Sex and the City, which was society telling 35-year-old women they should be married. In And Just Like That, society was telling 55-year-old women they shouldn’t be wearing tulle. I’ve always tried to be excited about writing the individual vs. society.”
Reflecting on audience reactions, King acknowledged that evolving beloved characters can be a tricky proposition. “I’m interested in how characters change. The surprise for me was discovering that fans don’t want their characters to change – they want to see them frozen in the time they fell in love with them,” he said. “If there was a great disaster, it would have been if And Just Like That… tried to be Sex and the City. It’s much better to come back, break it and be a new show… even though you’re going to get hit with, ‘We like the other show better.’ Well, OK — it’s still there.”
Meanwhile, King is currently revisiting another of his projects, with the third season of The Comeback, starring Lisa Kudrow, now airing on HBO.
