‘And Just Like That’ Ending With Season 3

‘And Just Like That’ Ending With Season 3

And Just Like That — Carrie’s story is coming to an end.

The Sex and the City revival series is ending with the currently airing third season. The news comes as the series, which has been dropping weekly, heads into its final two episodes, with the finale releasing on Aug. 14.

Writer-director and And Just Like That showrunner Michael Patrick King announced the news on HBO Max‘s socials Friday:

“And just like that… the ongoing storytelling of the Sex And The City universe is coming to an end. While I was writing the last episode of And Just Like That season three, it became clear to me that this might be a wonderful place to stop. Along with Sarah Jessica Parker, Casey Bloys and Sarah Aubrey, we decided to end the popular series this year with a two-part finale and extended the original series order from 10 episodes to 12. SJP and I held off announcing the news until now because we didn’t want the word ‘final’ to overshadow the fun of watching the season. It’s with great gratitude we thank all the viewers who have let these characters into their homes and their hearts over these many years.”

After the news broke, Parker bid an emotional farewell to the character she’s played for nearly 30 years, sharing a montage of photos and a poem about Carrie on her Instagram account.

“Carrie Bradshaw has dominated my professional heartbeat for 27 years. I think I have loved her most of all,” Parker wrote. “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.”

Echoing King’s comments, Parker indicated that the two had made a mutual decision to end the revival.

“MPK and I together recognized, as we have in the past, this chapter complete,” she said.

She also called her work on And Just Like That in particular a “joy, adventure, the greatest kind of hard work” and praised the cast and crew behind the series, “the most extraordinary talent of 380 that includes all the brilliant actors who joined us.”

And Just Like That revived the iconic HBO series that ran from 1998 to 2004. Sex and the City ran for six seasons and spawned a franchise with its subsequent two films. The original has been enjoying a streaming resurgence on HBO Max and Netflix.

The revival series launched in 2021 with the death of Carrie’s longtime love Big, played by Chris Noth, with the actor facing a number of sexual misconduct allegations around the time of the series premiere. The first season followed Carrie through her grief, while also reuniting three of the original foursome with Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) also returning; all three stars executive produce the series alongside King.

Davis shared King’s letter announcing the end of And Just Like That, writing on Instagram, “I am profoundly sad. I love our whole beautiful cast and crew. 400 artisans working so hard on our show with deep love. And to our loyal fans, we love you forever and ever.”

Kim Cattrall famously did not reprise her role onscreen as Samantha, though she made a buzzy cameo in season two and the writers have kept her friendship with the girls alive via text messages with Carrie.

The third season, which launched in May of this year, has proved to be the most hot-take season yet. Viewers have been vocally “hate-watching” the season, taking to TikTok and social media to express both their criticism for certain storylines, while also making it clear they will always continue to tune in each week. The trend has sparked think pieces from The Washington Post, New York Times and here at The Hollywood Reporter.

A source recently told THR that And Just Like That has continued to perform in viewership as expected, proving that the majority of fans partaking in the online discourse have indeed been tuning in.

After reuniting Carrie with her other longtime love, Aidan (John Corbett) in season two, the currently airing third season followed the pair as they embarked on a long-distance relationship before ultimately calling it quits during the July 24 episode. This week’s episode saw Carrie move on from the beloved romance, which the writers had teased to THR when confirming that Carrie’s chapter with Aidan was indeed over.

“It feels pretty permanent,” longtime franchise writer Elisa Zuritsky said, in conversation with Julie Rottenberg, about Carrie and Aidan. “But, you know, life is long. Who knows? But, frankly, I don’t think any of us were ready for Carrie to ride off in the sunset with anyone, yet.”

In addition to Carrie’s season three journey, Charlotte and Miranda have dealt with serious storylines around love, addiction and health, as the writers have also expanded the ensemble to focus on LTW (Nicole Ari Parker) and Seema (Sarita Choudhury) following the season two exits of Che (Sara Ramírez) and Nya (Karen Pittman).

When speaking to THR at the beginning of the season, as King had indicated in his statement, he and Parker weren’t quite ready to reveal the news and had expressed being open to doing a fourth season. When asked how long the series could go, King had said at the time, “I’m actually in season 27 because I’ve been writing this since the beginning of Sex in the City, and every season I tie everything up with a nice bow, and then if occasions happen, we untie the bow and there they all are again. So it’s all tied up, we’ll see what happens.”

And Just Like That was developed and executive produced by King alongside executive producers John Melfi, Parker, Davis, Nixon, Rottenberg, Zuritsky and Susan Fales-Hill. The HBO series Sex and the City was created by Darren Star and based on the book Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell.

So, how will it all end? Will New York City’s most famous single writer stay single? We can’t help but wonder (and we’ll be tuning in).

10:19 a.m. This story has been updated with reactions from Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis.