SPOILER ALERT! This story contains plot points from the series finale of And Just Like That on HBO Max.
Carrie Bradshaw’s second chapter in the Big City finally came to an end Aug. 14, with the Sarah Jessica Parker character realizing that marriage wasn’t in the cards, and it was more than okay to have an absurdly large brownstone all to herself.
Carrie’s circle of friends also received some tidy goodbyes, though Cynthia Nixon’s Miranda had to wade through literal shit (way to drop it like it’s hot, Epcot) after having to accept that her son Brady was about to become a dad.
Here, co-creator Michael Patrick King reflects on the comedy’s final season, why Miranda was required to literally shovel shit, and whether another movie is in the cards for Carrie and her clan.
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DEADLINE Is this the ending you wanted?
MICHAEL PATRICK KING Yes. I wouldn’t have stopped. The ending told us to stop when we were writing, and that sentence, the woman realized she was not alone. She was on her own. It was so important for me to hear, and it just sort of appeared. I was like, well, that’s the ending, especially since it is a response and a callback to Carrie at the end of Sex and the City when she says, “the most significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And then if you find someone to love, love you, love, that’s fabulous.” She’s saying that voiceover while Mr. Big is calling to say, “I’m coming to town.” So the growth and the evolution and the resonance of her saying a new version of that when maybe no one is coming is the most significant addition we could add to this whole Carrie Bradshaw universe. I knew then that I wanted her to stop there because I believe that’s her message to everyone who’s been watching for many, many years. It’s for the women who have someone or the people who have someone. More importantly, it’s for the people who don’t have someone. If you can feel good about the life you create, it’s great.
DEADLINE And the other characters?
We ended all the other characters in this, I guess, projection of a happy ending. Miranda and Joy are back together, even though they have to clean up some shit every now and then. Harry and Charlotte are back in bed, which is so important because everything else in their relationship works as well. Even [Harry and Charlotte’s nonbinary child] Rock ends by saying, “I’m going to be a lot of different people in my life.” Seema is saying she doesn’t miss the gluten, but she’s really saying is, “I don’t miss the idea of a marriage binding people together.” And then Lisa is recommitting to Herbert by saying, I’m here. Even though there was no real split, there was an emotional doubling down on who they are. So yeah, that’s where we felt it should stop. It felt so real to me that I went to Sarah Jessica and said, “I think this is it. This is where we stopped for Carrie.” And she said, “then we stop.” Luckily we’re at a place like HBO Max where they go, “we think you did an amazing story. You got them all where they need to be.”
DEADLINE The show has always gotten so much attention, this season notwithstanding. What has that been like for you?
MPK Well, I do the very clever thing of saying, what if you gave a party and nobody came? Everybody works really hard and you want it to be reflected back. It becoming a press piñata that’s a party game was maybe something unexpected. But beyond everything that people have printed, there are people who have been watching it for many years. So there’s this great back and forth between all the noise of how they would do it differently or what they like or don’t like. And then there’s just appreciation for the fact that they’re seeing characters who went from 35 to 59. Trust me, you don’t write for nothing, for no reaction. I mean, if you did that, you’d be a poet. I want a reaction to the work we all do. It’s a double-edged sword. Yes, they’re watching. And guess what? Yes, they’re watching.
DEADLINE Why the poo in Miranda’s toilet? And not to get too down and dirty, but what served as your poop? Babe Ruths?
MPK It was silicone poop. And it was a one-take poop. We didn’t have to do it twice. Sex and the City and And Just Like That has always dealt with a lot of relationship shit. This was a manifestation of how shit backs up and you have to deal with it. And also, we’ve always done high-low on the show. We’ve always done couture and comedy. We also had this highly elevated Victor Garber character trapped [in the apartment], and plot-wise, I wanted him to leave. But Carrie Bradshaw is hard to leave unless you’re humiliated and don’t want to be there. Otherwise, it was the symbolic version of having to deal with a lot of doo doo in relationships and it backs up if you don’t.
DEADLINE There was something very special about the way Carrie talked to Seema about marriage at the wedding dress fashion show.
MPK That killed me. It’s on the line where Seema says, “why did you want to get married?” And Carrie says, “because it meant I was chosen.” It resonates all the way back to Carrie Bradshaw [in Sex and the City] when she was someone who felt she needed to be chosen. And here she is at the end, choosing herself. I mean, that’s it. That resonance and the fashion show and the idea of looking at marriage and the shiny part of it versus the depressing parts that Lisa and Charlotte are dealing with … even with all the ups and downs and average things that have happened, Carrie Bradshaw and these characters have always felt things and experienced things that maybe you haven’t seen vocalized on television. Maybe you’ve seen ’em in life, but not this way.
DEADLINE So in your mind, does Lisa end up getting Michelle Obama to narrate her documentary?
MPK Yes! Now we’re at the point of fan fiction. What do I want to have happen? I think the documentary that we’ve shown is legitimate enough and important enough from the writers in the room to make Michelle Obama say, “oh, that’s an interesting thing.” So yes, she does it. Let’s do more fan fiction. Does Miranda finally win over [the mother of Brady’s child] Mamma Mia? Yes.
DEADLINE Really?
MPK Yeah. Because there is a line where Carrie says, “I think you won her over.” And Miranda says, “yeah, I won the battle. Lost the war.” Miranda’s going to make that happen. And apparently Joy’s going to overcome her family stuff to be right there with her. And then the very last thing Rock says in the series is, “I’m going to be a lot of different people in my life.” I mean, what could be more evolved than the youngest character in the show saying there’s a lot of people you can be?
DEADLINE So can we expect And Just Like That movie?
MPK Look, I closed the book. Here’s the sound of the book. Boom! And happily, there was no dust that came out of it. It was very alive, very active, very in the moment. It wasn’t pulled off an old shelf. I chose it because it means something was alive. We took a show that’s 27 years old and made it so alive that people had to have conversations about it.