I couldn’t help but wonder … is this really the last time we’ll see Carrie Bradshaw?
The Sex and the City revival series, And Just Like That…, came to an end last night after three seasons. The controversial reboot, which premiered on HBO Max in 2021, was hardly perfect — and was often criticized by O.G. SATC fans, even as they continued to tune in.
Still, bidding adieu to Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her besties, Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) and Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon), is bittersweet. The AJLT series finale marks the end of our collective witnessing of these enduring female friendships. It really is the end of an era. Again.
“Farewell to And Just Like That. You were a show that should have never been made but I would’ve watched 20 more seasons of you. Why am I crying?” one fan asked on TikTok, while another declared, “Was AJLT good? No. Did I cry over the ending? Abso-f****ng-lutely. The end of an era.”
One fan mourned on X, “I know the storylines haven’t always been great & some of the additional characters were bizarre, but I’m going to miss the end of my Thursday night Carrie fix, especially after it started getting interesting.”
Ahead of Thursday night’s finale, much of the fandom was left wondering what would happen to our favorite Manolo Blahnik-loving fashionista. Would Bradshaw, who’d broken up with Aidan Shaw (John Corbett) for the third time, remain single? Or would she open herself up to the possibility of love with her downstairs neighbor, Duncan Reeves (Jonathan Cake)?
Writer, director and showrunner of And Just Like That… Michael Patrick King opted for the former: Bradshaw chooses herself. It was an ending — and decision — that King felt was appropriate for a protagonist who’s had her fair share of tumultuous romances over the last 27 years.
“The last line: The Woman realized she wasn’t alone. She was on her own. That’s it,” King recently told Hollywood Reporter. “That is what I wanted to say as an echo and a callback and a response to the finale of Sex and the City.”
Parker, herself, is also proud of where Bradshaw ends up, telling the New York Times in a story published Friday, “She’s wiser. She’s much more comfortable with the questions that had been uncomfortable. She had, after the loss of a husband, a sort of nobility that I didn’t know she would possess. She carries her years with her, and it doesn’t mean that she’s cynical or ruined or bitter or angry. She is still spirited and enthusiastic and curious.”
Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis and Sarah Jessica Parker in And Just Like That… (Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max)
King and Parker aren’t the only ones happy with where we left Bradshaw — plenty of fans are too.
“Watching a woman constantly kind of like, tow the line between being independent and completely codependent, and like, kind of always needing a man to be OK, has been informative to my experience as a woman, I believe,” a loyal Sex and the City viewer said of Bradshaw on TikTok. “Carrie ending up on her own, and being happy and being OK. You guys, I’m not kidding… I’m not looking for a man ever again… Carrie Bradshaw made being single OK.”
Another fan shared a similarly joyous sentiment on X, writing, “I’m glad Carrie is on her own. She doesn’t need a man to be happy. She’s got herself, her friends, her remarkable clothing, her brownstone, and her adorable cat. Sounds like a fabulous life to me.”
Earlier this month, Parker shared an emotional tribute to her onscreen alter ego, whom she began portraying in 1998.
“Carrie Bradshaw has dominated my professional heartbeat for 27 years,” Parker wrote on Instagram. “I think I have loved her most of all. I know others have loved her just as I have. Been frustrated, condemned and rooted for her. The symphony of all those emotions has been the greatest soundtrack and most consequential companion. Therefore the most sentimental and profound gratitude and lifetime of debt. To you all.”
