The man behind the “Sex and the City” revival is speaking up about the show’s mixed reviews. Michael Patrick King, the co-creator and showrunner of “And Just Like That,” believes time will be kinder to the series than audiences were when it first aired.
The show, which brought back Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon as their beloved characters Carrie, Charlotte, and Miranda, ran for three seasons on Max from 2021 to 2025. While many fans had strong opinions about the new direction, King thinks the series might find a new life years from now.
Michael Patrick King Compares ‘And Just Like That’ to ‘The Comeback’ for Future Success
King recently pointed to another one of his shows as proof that good work sometimes takes years to get recognized. He brought up “The Comeback,” the HBO series starring Lisa Kudrow, which first came out in 2005. People did not like it at first, and the network cancelled it. But years later, audiences changed their minds. HBO even brought the show back in 2014 for a second season.
“If ‘The Comeback’ has taught me anything, it’s that perceptions can change over the years,” King explained to The Guardian. “The Comeback’s first perception was it failed. Then it grew in relevance as the world caught up.”
He believes the same thing will happen with “And Just Like That.” King said, “I think ‘And Just Like That’ will potentially age well.” His point is simple. Sometimes viewers are not ready for a new version of something they love. But after some time passes, they can see it differently.
The Same DNA as ‘Sex and the City’ but for a Different Age
King explained that the revival show has the same core idea as the original “Sex and the City,” but it fights a different battle. The original show from the late 1990s and early 2000s pushed back against the idea that women in their mid-thirties had to be married. The new show fights the idea that women in their mid-fifties have to act a certain way or dress a certain way.
“It has the same DNA as the original Sex and the City, which was society telling 35-year-old women they should be married. In And Just Like That, society was telling 55-year-old women they shouldn’t be wearing tulle,” King said. “I’ve always tried to be excited about writing the individual vs. society.”
He sees both shows as being about women refusing to let society box them in. The age changed, but the fight stayed the same.
The Challenge of Changing Beloved Characters
King admitted that one of the biggest surprises for him was how much fans did not want the characters to grow up. He said he is personally interested in how people change over time. He wants to write about that real life process. But he found out that many viewers want the exact opposite.
“The surprise for me was discovering that fans don’t want their characters to change — they want to see them frozen in the time they fell in love with them,” he said.
This put him in a difficult spot. He could either keep the characters exactly the same and pretend no time had passed, or he could let them age and face new problems. He chose the second option, even knowing it would make some people angry. King added, “That’s a particular dilemma if you’re trying to move things forward.”
King Says Making a Copy of ‘Sex and the City’ Would Have Been a Disaster
The showrunner also defended the creative choices he made with the revival. He said the worst thing he could have done was try to copy the original show exactly. That, in his view, would have been a true failure. Instead, he wanted to break new ground and let the show become its own thing.
“If there was a great disaster, it would have been if And Just Like That tried to be Sex and the City,” King stated. “It’s much better to come back, break it and be a new show… even though you’re going to get hit with, ‘We like the other show better.’ Well, OK — it’s still there.”
His point is clear. The original “Sex and the City” still exists. Fans can watch those episodes anytime they want. The new show tried to do something different for women at a different stage of life. He thinks that was the right call.
How the Series Ended and Why It Stopped
“And Just Like That” finished its run in 2025 after three seasons. King made the choice to end it, not the network. He told Entertainment Weekly at the time that he felt the show had said everything it needed to say. “We did everything we wanted to do fully for that expression of the individual versus society,” he explained. He also said that each of the main relationships ended in a place where viewers could imagine the rest for themselves.
King shared that he personally told Sarah Jessica Parker it was time to stop. He recalled, “I said to her, ‘I think it’s time to stop.’ And she said, ‘Then we stop.’” Parker, who played Carrie Bradshaw for nearly three decades, agreed with his decision.
What Critics and Fans Said During the Show’s Run
The show earned a lot of criticism during its time on the air. Some reviewers said the first season felt too forced and tried too hard to be modern. Others pointed to the absence of Kim Cattrall’s character Samantha Jones as a major loss. Cattrall herself seemed to agree with some of the unhappy fans. After a fan wrote that Samantha “carried the entire franchise,” Cattrall subtly liked or engaged with the comment, showing she shared that view.
Yet not everyone hated it. Some reviews of the third season said the show started to find its footing. One critic wrote that the show finally began to feel like it knew what it wanted to be. Others said the third season toned down some of the more awkward moments from earlier episodes and let the characters just be themselves again.
But the negative voices were loud. Many fans said the show should have ended years ago. Some called their viewing experience “hate-watching,” meaning they watched only because they could not look away, not because they enjoyed it.
The Future of the Franchise
For now, the world of Carrie, Charlotte, and Miranda is closed. King has moved on to other work. He is currently overseeing the third season of “The Comeback” on HBO, the very show he used as an example of delayed appreciation. That show is getting another chance. Only time will tell if “And Just Like That” gets the same treatment from viewers in the years ahead.
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