Sarah Jessica Parker Opens Up About Carrie Bradshaw’s Return in Vogue’s December Issue

This question can be taken literally, as in, how many archives of Anna Sui slips, Prada clutches, and DVF wrap dresses does one need to keep, in one separate bedroom, no less, on this journey we call life? But there’s also a bigger and more symbolic issue here, of course. Do changes in our modern circumstances—political, social, environmental—make the question of revisiting Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte moot? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to let them go? “In the spring of 2020, I spoke with Michael Patrick about creating a podcast about behind-the-scenes creation sex and city,Parker, who had been sitting in one of Carrie’s old chairs in her living room, told me. “And we talked about what we were missing in a pandemic: joy, community, shared experiences. The world of Carrie and her friends has always been about coming home, and I feel like we need it now.” I told Parker how, when I moved to the United States from Israel two decades ago to go on to graduate school, where I didn’t know anyone, one of the first things I bought was a complete DVD set. SATC, because it reminds me to watch it with my girlfriend in Tel Aviv. “Sex and the city always about the friendship that sustains you,” Parker said, nodding. “That, and the promise and potential this city has.” When I spoke to Kristin Davis, she was even more daring. “People are like, ‘Why should they come back?’ and it really annoys me. Are women’s lives now unattractive? Nobody ever asks, ‘Why do you do this violent remake over and over again?’ To me it shows our reluctance to sit back and watch women’s lives evolve over time.”

Parker is aware, however, that in 2021, a show where a group of wealthy white women parade around the Upper East Side carrying handfuls of luxury-emporium shopping bags is not going to reflect where New York is now—post-COVID, post-BLM. (“The incredible lack of diversity was the show’s weakness, the first time,” Nixon told me.) It was important for Parker and King to diversify the cast as well as the writers’ space. Black actors Nicole Ari Parker and Karen Pittman have been brought in, as have Sara Ramírez, who is Mexican and non-binary American, and Sarita Choudhury, who is of British and Bengali-Indian descent. “We have absolutely no interest in tokenism,” said Sarah Jessica. “You can’t bring people to the show and not leave the camera with them! All of these characters are gifts to us.” When I spoke to Ramírez, they confirmed Parker’s views. “Sarah Jessica came to this project with intention and care. I played a complicated queer character who was smart and funny and sexy and dynamic,” they said. “I am a big fan Sex and the city back in the day,” said Samantha Irby, a new staff writer on the show, who is black. “But there were moments where I was like, If there was a black writer in the room, this might have played out differently. Of course, a lot has changed in the span of 20 years. Approaching black and brown people on this show, it was important to me to make them feel real and not just interfere. That said, this is not meant to be a sermon. I never wanted to write a nagging show, where watching it was like taking your medicine.” (Parker, too, tries to reassure this, promising the series won’t skimp on frivolity: “We’re well aware of people’s affection for certain things that have to do with the show. It’s like perfume: you have beautiful packaging and bottles, and then you drink the juice.”) When I caught Nicole Ari Parker on the phone, she said, “The writers are very skilled at having the characters, whether they’re colorful or not, acknowledge the novelty they’re experiencing. But it all fits into the same favorite tune of the show. The clothes alone deserve to die.” He laughed.“And let me tell you, there’s still a lot of sex in this version Sex and the city.”