In an alternate universe, the iconic Carrie Bradshaw that Sex and the City fans know and lovecould have been played by one of Sarah Jessica Parker’s castmates.
During a new episode of the And Just Like That… The Writers Room podcast, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon revealed they both tried out for the leading part.
Davis, who played Charlotte York and has since reprised her role for the current spinoff, said she was initially told Parker “may not do it,” so she was asked to read for Carrie. And according to the Couples Retreat actress, Carrie was described as having “the body of Heather Locklear and the mind of Dorothy Parker.”
“I was like, ‘That is adorable, but I can’t play that part!’” she said. “Like, ‘Whatcha thinking?’”
Davis said she felt the role of Charlotte, while at the time “underwritten,” was a much better fit. “So I was like, ‘Darren, I can’t play Carrie. I can’t even read for Carrie. I am this other girl whose, like underwritten but I understand her. Okay?’” she recalled, referencing her conversation with series creator Darren Star. “‘So I need to be her.’ And he was like, ‘Oh, okay.’”
Remembering her own audition for the role of Carrie, Nixon — who wound up playing Miranda Hobbes in both the OG series and the And Just Like That… revival show — said: “I auditioned, and they were like, ‘Yeah, not so much.’”
“And I’m usually not so proactive, but … at the time it didn’t seem like there was four women. It seemed like there was seven,” she continued. “It’s a show that shoots in New York, and that never happens. There’s gotta be one of those women I can play. Couldn’t they see me for somebody else?”
That’s when Nixon was asked to read for Miranda. After auditioning for the part multiple times, things went radio silence. She then proceeded to try out for Ally McBeal and , among other projects. And sadly, she didn’t land any of them
But fellow actress Becky Ann Baker offered an inspirational message to Nixon as she sat tight. “[She] said, ‘What it means — all this failing, failing, failing — it means you’re about to get something,’” Nixon recalled.
As fate would have it, Nixon was finally offered Miranda after months in limbo — and a lot of “badgering” from her agent at the time, Emily Gerson Saines.
“She finally cried on the phone,” Nixon said. “She was like, ‘You guys are crazy. This is the person for this part.’”
Executive producer, writer and director Michael Patrick King said he considers the roles that Parker, Nixon and Davis were assigned to be the “essence for the world.”
“The interesting thing about all of it is the random yet specific journey that you were each on before you got these parts,” King continued. “For the world, you are these characters. It’s undeniable that it was you, Kristin, you, Sarah Jessica, and you, Cynthia.”
The fourth and final role of Samantha Jones went to Kim Cattrall, who starred in all six seasons of the HBO series alongside the other three women from 1998 to 2004. All four ladies appeared in Sex and the City’s subsequent big-screen movies in 2008 and 2010, but Cattrall is the only cast member to not sign on as a series regular for its And Just Like That… revival series, which sees the gang navigating life in their 50s amid a changing world.
However, Cattrall’s surprise cameo in the upcoming second season of And Just Like That… was recently confirmed.
Season 2 of And Just Like That… premieres Thursday on Max.
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