According to Kristin Davis’s Sex and the City character Charlotte York, everyone has two great loves in their life. And in season 2 of And Just Like That…, Carrie Bradshaw ( Sarah Jessica Parker) reconnects with her second great love, Aidan Shaw ( John Corbett), following the death of her husband Mr. Big ( Chris Noth).
“It’s great to be in [John’s] company again,” Parker, 58, tells outlet. “I’ve been pretty public about how much I love him and how easy he is to work with, how skilled he is at what he does. He makes it look easy, but it’s real work.”
The two-time Emmy winner adds that Corbett, 62, “cares a great deal” about his work. “He always just makes Aidan grow from the page in a way that only he can do,” Parker explains. “It just felt really comfortable and happy.”
Parker can’t say much about how Carrie and Aidan’s paths cross, but she teases that her character spends “the back end of the season is in his company.”
She assures, “I think the story’s great.”
Writer and director Michael Patrick King always envisioned bringing back Aidan for And Just Like That… season 2.
“When I knew we were going to do season 2, the first thought I had for story for Carrie was the word ‘Aidan,’” King, 68, tells outlet. “I just know it’s important to her. It’s also important to the audience because they have feelings about Aidan. And it’s exciting from a writing point of view, because half the audience was [for] Aidan, half the audience was team Big.”
Big dying unexpectedly after having a heart attack during a Peloton ride in season 1 meant Carrie would be on the search for love once more.
“I believe that the show is a lot about growing, discovering who you are at every age,” King says. “As we said famously on the series, you have two great loves, so this is the other. I found it hard to believe that Aidan wouldn’t pop into Carrie’s mind, so I wrote that.”
King acknowledges that Carrie and Aidan have a “complicated past” — see: breaking off an engagement and kissing in Abu Dhabi while Carrie was married to Big in the second movie — so “it brings it back a loaded situation” when he returns.
“When they see each other after they haven’t seen each other for 14 years, haven’t been in a relationship for 23, it’s not the same, because they’re not the same,” King says. “It’s a new story.”
Parker felt like Carrie handled the grief of losing her husband in an authentic way, even if she might’ve been “ill-equipped to deal with” it after a career as a romance columnist.
“I like that we got to tell the story the way we got to tell it, that we weren’t trying to rush through it, that Carrie was approaching it in the same way she always does when it comes to emotions that are important,” the mom of three says.
Parker didn’t mind portraying a grief-stricken Carrie.
“It was, for me, really nice to not be afraid of sitting in the thing that’s uncomfortable and sad,” she says to outlet. “Carrie is able to find a spot in her body for that grief and also pursue joy — the two aren’t mutually exclusive. You’re not betraying this memory by wanting joy and happiness again.”.
And Just Like That… season 2 premieres Thursday on Max.
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