Sex and the City Reboot May Be Happening on HBO Max!

Fans of Sex and the City may be getting exactly what they didn’t ask for: another reboot. Sources behind the

Sex and the City Reboot

Fans of Sex and the City may be getting exactly what they didn’t ask for: another reboot. Sources behind the scenes say that it appears Sex and the City producers are close to a deal on an HBO Max reboot of the popular 90’s heart comedy, but with one glaring absence: Kim Cattrall. Do fans want another reboot? Will they accept a Samantha-less show? Here’s what we know about the reboot, and what we don’t know. 

What We Know About the Reboot

On Tuesday, December 22nd, buzz exploded across the internet that the infamous and enduing series would be returning. Page Six reported, “A well-placed industry insider exclusively tells Page Six that the hit franchise will return to the small screen, with a limited series reboot coming to HBO Max, and would include all the original stars — except Kim Cattrall, who has repeatedly said she is not interested in returning.

Last September, Sarah Jessica Parker, who was also a producer on the HBO show, told Entertainment Tonight that she’d be interested in doing “some episodes of Sex and the City,’ but, ‘I wouldn’t call it a reboot, I would call it a ‘revisit.”

Parker — channeling her SATC character, “couldn’t help but wonder” – adding, ‘I’d like to see where all of them are. I’m curious, the world has changed even since the movie… technology and social media.’ Add to that, ‘sexual politics and the #MeToo movement and Time’s Up… I think Carrie Bradshaw would just be so greedy to share her feelings and thoughts.’”

According to insiders, the show will most likely be a limited series, rather than an open-ended return. 

All of the main cast will be returning, except Cattrall. Stylecaster shares, “As for what Cattrall thinks of the Sex and the City reboot, the actress told Women’s Prize for Fiction on Tuesday (the same day the revival news broke) that she feels ‘lucky’ to have played Samantha but has no interest in every playing her again. ‘It was a lot of fun and I loved it and being in new territory is always exciting. I felt like we were,’ she said. ‘Walking away, even if it’s the only thing to do, you always feel, it’s a bit of shame, I think. The taste of shame and you have to let go of that. You don’t want to become that caged bird.’

Cattrall also responded to backlash she received for not wanting to reprise her role as Samantha. ‘I remember getting a lot of grief on social media for not wanting to do a film. It was astonishing some of the things people wrote to me—’I work in a bank and I don’t like this person and I don’t like the hours, but I do it. So you just do it!” Cattrall said. “Give me what I want. I do it. I’m miserable, you be miserable too.”

Cattrall went on to say that she feels ‘lucky’ to have the ‘choice’ not to play Samantha again. ‘I’m lucky enough to have the choice, not that I haven’t worked for it. I have,’ she said. ‘It’s something I feel very lucky to have and I’m very protective of it. I wouldn’t be any good doing something that I really didn’t want to do.’

She continued, ‘I want to use my platform to tell stories about women my age who have gone through loss. Loss is the biggest headache for my ’60s so far, I’ve lost my father. I’ve lost my brother.’”

What kind of a future could a Samantha-free SATC have? That’s hard to guess. 

Here’s What We Don’t Know

Sex and the City original cast

Unfortunately, we don’t know a lot. We don’t know when the show will air, how limited the series will be, or what plot the show will focus on. With one main gal missing, SATC has an uphill battle to draw diehard fans back to the fold.

It’s also hard to imagine the SATC women tackling a lot of modern issues, but the remaining cast is well suited for the challenge.

Fans Are Having Mixed Feelings

Sex and the City cast

To say this announcement was met with mixed reactions is an understatement. Some people are of course thrilled to see their favorite show return, even if it’s just for a short time. Others have concerns. 

On Twitter, fans speculated about how the show could work within the parameters suggested. Some asked if it could be a prequel, but the main cast has aged a little since they first graced the small screen. Others discussed how Samantha could be included without Cattrall appearing, including having her appear as a text-message-only character.

Many fans were skeptical about watching a show without Samantha. It will be a very hard sell that the show can be what it was without one of the four pillars of the OG. On top of skepticism about Samantha’s absence, fans worried about the quality of yet another revisit to the SATC universe. Shows that are rebooted too much or have too many movie revisits often get diluted and careworn over time, and fans are concerned about their favorite outliving it’s quality. 

Per Deadline, “The half-hour show ran for six seasons and 94 episodes on HBO between 1998-2004. It was followed by two feature films in 2008 and 2010. A third movie was on the cards but never progressed. Prequel series The Carrie Diaries launched on The CW in 2013, with AnnaSophia Robb playing a young Carrie Bradshaw, and ran for two seasons.”

It should be noted that part of why the third movie didn’t progress was due to Cattrall’s planned lack of involvement in it. Will the HBO Max reboot suffer the same fate? Time will tell. 

Share: