Sex and the City star Evan Handler has revealed the second season of And Just Like That… will bring back the spirit of the original show – after Kim Cattrall’s shocking return was announced.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, the actor, 62, who plays Charlotte’s husband Harry Goldenblatt said: ‘The scripts for season two feel more reminiscent to the spirit of Sex in the City than some of season one did.
‘And by that I just mean, it is a romantic and sexual romp that simply involves women of more ethnicities than it did before, women of a higher age than it did before and people of broader gender identity than they did before.
‘And it just is. It is what Sex in the City was, just with that wider group.’
The original Sex and the City ran for six seasons from 1998-2004 and was followed by two movies in 2008 and 2010.
Discussing the backlash to the first season of the reboot – which will drop its second season on June 22 on Max, he added: ‘I don’t know how audiences have responded to it.
Core four: Sex and the City star Evan Handler has revealed the second season of And Just Like That… will bring back the spirit of the original show – after Kim Cattrall’s shocking return was announced (the cast pictured together in SATC season six)
Soulmates: Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, the actor, 62, who plays Charlotte’s husband Harry Goldenblatt said: ‘The scripts for season two feel more reminiscent to the spirit of Sex in the City than some of season one did’
‘I know there was a lot of chatter that was critical of it, but I know from my vantage point that the scripts for season two are, I think, much better and much stronger than season one.
‘My line to people is that Sex in the City is back. I mean, it’s really a return to what I loved about Sex in the City.
‘And what you’re going to see is simply a broader group of individuals, a broader pallet of individuals, a broader swath of humanity represented with all the charm, romance, sex, and humanity of Sex in the City.
‘So I think it’s great. I’m really very excited about this season.’
The actor also weighed in on Cattrall’s return and revealed he had no idea she was reprising her iconic role as Samantha Jones.
He said: ‘I read about Kim coming back in the press just the other day like everybody else. I knew nothing about it. I think it is great for the show.’
Handler has not discussed Samantha’s return yet with Sarah Jessica Parker, showrunner Michael Patrick King or Cattrall, but feels it’s ‘great’ news for fans.
‘If you’re asking me to ascribe motive to anyone, I can’t. No, I can’t do that. I don’t know. I don’t know anybody’s motives for anything. I don’t know my own motives for half the things that I do.
She’s back! The actor also weighed in on Cattrall’s return and revealed he had no idea she was reprising her iconic role as Samantha Jones
Line-up: Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, the actor, 62, who plays Charlotte’s husband Harry Goldenblatt said: ‘The scripts for season two feel more reminiscent to the spirit of Sex in the City than some of season one did (pictured in Sex and the City 2)
‘Sarah Jessica and I go back as colleagues for a long way, but I have no deep relationship. There’s never been any insight of relationships shared with me with any of those ladies.
‘I can’t say what Kim’s desires were or Sarah Jessica’s or Michael Patrick King’s. ‘I think the desire is to make a good show that serves the franchise, that serves the history of it, that serves the fans, that’s what I know as the motives.
Handler spoke before attending The 11th Annual Ed Asner & Friends Celebrity Poker Event, at the CBS Radford Studios in Los Angeles, which raised money for the The Ed Asner Family Center.
Cattrall was convinced to join And Just Like That with a promise of ‘nice career boost and great payday’ by her ‘dear friend’ and producer Darren Star, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed last week.
The iconic actress confirmed her shocking return as Sex And The City’s Samantha Jones for the second season of the spin-off last week – despite her explosive feud with co-star Parker.
According to Variety, Kim will return for only one ‘cliffhanger’ scene, which she shot in New York City, without seeing or speaking with Sarah or their fellow leading ladies Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis.
In the scene, Samantha, who has moved to London, will have a phone conversation with Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw.
The New York Post also revealed that Cattrall’s cameo was so secretive that her name did not even appear on the call sheet for the day, leaving people stunned at her presence.
An insider said said show staffers were ‘definitely shocked, very intrigued on how they’re gonna write this in – and very excited. She said she’d never do it! She said she’d never come back!’
Enemies: In the cameo scene, Samantha, who has moved to London, will have a phone conversation with Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw (pictured together in 2008)
Confirmed! Season 2 of And Just Like That… will return June 22 on HBO Max
Phenomenon: SATC has become one of the most iconic television shows of all time
It was claimed her scene was filmed in a town car in a parking garage near Silvercup Studios in Queens.
Sex And The City designer Patricia Field, who is not the costume designer for AJLT, returned to dress Cattrall for the scene. AJLT’s second season will premiere on June 22 on Max.
Samantha did feature in AJLT season one – but only over text message as Carrie repeatedly messaged her to try and repair their friendship. AJLT saw Carrie claim Samantha had cut her off and moved to London – due to fury at the writer firing her as a publicist – in a storyline Cattrall slammed for being inauthentic to the character.
The explosive reveal will both delight and shock fans of SATC as Cattrall has previously refused to ever reprise her fan-favorite role as the man-hungry publicist – having last played the character in much derided 2010 film, Sex and the City 2.
Now, a source close to the actress has revealed exactly what convinced Kim to sign up for a cameo on the sequel – which she admitted last year that she was ‘never asked to be a part of’.
Fury: The feud escalated in 2018 when Cattrall blasted Parker for talking about Kim’s brother Christopher, who was found dead in Canada, in a TV interview
Ended: Cattrall told Parker she was ‘not her friend’ and slammed her
According to the well-placed insider, fans of the show can thank show creator Darren, 61, for Samantha’s upcoming return, with the source revealing that he was the one who convinced Kim that she needed to give the character a proper goodbye.
Kim’s decision to join the And Just Like That cast, even for just a short time, marks a big U-turn for the actress – who had previously insisted that she had no desire to be a part of the sequel in any way.
‘What made her finally fold to do it now? It was her connection with her dear friend Darren Star, who created Sex that kept asking her to be a part of the show that finally convinced her to do it,’ the insider shared.
‘Kim decided if she was ever going to button up the character and then not be asked about it again, she should do it now.
‘She is doing it for her friend Darren first. But she is also doing it as she realizes it will be a nice career boost and a great payday above all of that.
‘She got to an understanding with Darren that she needed an amazing send-off and they figured it out.
‘Everything has now fallen into place, Kim still can’t believe she was convinced to do it, but she is going to do it and let the scene speak for itself.
‘Sex And The City gave Kim so much, so she is giving the appropriate swan song and Kim hopes everyone is happy with the results.’
However, Kim’s return to the franchise has done little to change her frosty relationship with Sarah, 58, the source explained – revealing that while the two women have come to ‘an understanding’, there is likely no chance they will ever be friends in the future.
Kim’s abrupt about face was also motivated by the fact that another project she had previously been a part of – the Fox series Filthy Rich – was canceled, despite her high hopes that it would ‘have taken her to another level in her career’, the source went on.
‘Kim was really excited to work with [filmmaker] Tate Taylor on Filthy Rich and she really thought that was going to be her next big project and a show that she believed would have taken her to another level in her storied career as she still believes that the show should still be on TV,’ the source shared.
‘The show was being done right around the same time as And Just Like That and she knew she was going to be asked about it all the time and asked to be a part of that, but she didn’t want to do it with her issues with Sarah.
‘She was done. She loved her time playing Samantha, but she wanted to move on.’
Interestingly, the decision to bring Samantha Jones back into the And Just Like That picture sits very much at odds with Sarah’s own thoughts about it – with the actress insisting in February last year that she would not be ‘OK’ with Kim returning to the fold in light of everything her former co-star had said about their broken relationship.
‘My colleagues aren’t my friends’: The actress addressed her connection with her former co-stars and said they had a ‘professional’ relationship
‘I don’t think I would [be OK with Kim returning], because I think there’s just too much public history of feelings on her part that she’s shared,’ she told Variety at the time.
‘I haven’t participated in or read articles, although people are inclined to let me know.’
Sarah also confirmed that Kim had not been asked to be a part of the sequel series, explaining that the show’s creators made the decision to move ahead without her after she turned down the opportunity to do a third Sex and the City movie.
‘We didn’t go to Kim for this, you know,’ she said. ‘After we didn’t do the movie and the studio couldn’t meet what she wanted to do, we have to hear her and listen to her and what was important to her.’
