And Just Like That Showrunner Always Knew Aidan Would Return To Carrie

Fans have known for a while that John Corbett would make yet another return to the "Sex and the City" cinematic universe as love interest Aidan Shaw... and apparently, showrunner Michael Patrick King was on the same page all along.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about the second season of "...And Just Like That," the "Sex and the City" revival that brings Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte York-Goldenblatt (Kristin Davis), and Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) back to the small screen, King said he knew Aidan would be back eventually, and that he's thrilled to bring Corbett back into the fold.

This is partly because, according to King, he knew he'd kill off Carrie's husband John "Mr. Big" Preston (Chris Noth) more or less immediately in Season 1 — which he did by giving the iconic character a heart attack on a Peleton bike. "I personally knew I was killing Big in season 1 [of And Just Like That]," King told EW.

"I knew that when I started and I felt very strongly about that," he continued. " Istarted season 2 knowing I was bringing Aidan back, and I felt very strongly about that. How, when he shows up, what happens is all part of the great fun and puzzle of writing a series, to somehow give people what they're expecting and yet find ways to have people grow and still be that person."

Parker, who was interviewed alongside King for EW, had nothing but glowing things to say about Corbett's return as Aidan. "I love him and he is so special and he has made Aidan ever more special than he was on paper, which was pretty wonderful," she explained, adding some trivia about the fact that Aidan Shaw was never meant to be a long-running character. "He was meant to be there, I think, for three episodes [of 'Sex and the City'] or something and ended up staying, how many years?" Parker revealed. "He's just a really lovely presence. He's easy and he listens, and it's not that the work is easy, it's just that he has this really easy quality on set and a wonderful kind of nature in front of a camera. It's wonderful to be in his company again."

Judging from early photos of the second season of "...And Just Like That," Carrie and Aidan will pick up where they left off, particularly now that Big is out of the picture. On-set photos showed the two locked in a passionate kiss, which had some fans divided, but clearly, Carrie is giving her long lost love another go. As far as Parker is concerned, having Corbett back is, clearly, a win-win.

To say Carrie and Aidan had a rocky relationship during the original run of "Sex and the City" would be underselling it. The two first met in Season 3 when Carrie splurged on a chair from Aidan, a furniture designer, and when they started dating, Carrie was surprised at how wholesome and kind Aidan was — a far cry from Big, who filled Carrie's life with endless stress and drama. Carrie wasn't innocent in that drama, though, and at the end of Season 3, she cheats on Aidan with a married Big, breaking his heart.

Though they try again in the show's fourth season, it's beyond clear that, in the aftermath of her affair, Aidan simply doesn't trust Carrie. Even after he proposes to her and she accepts, the issue of Big still looms, well, large; Aidan starts pressuring Carrie to get married sooner than she wants to, and in the end, it's clear that Carrie isn't really ready for marriage, but felt she had to say yes to Aidan. The two part ways again, seemingly for good, and Carrie even has to buy her apartment back from Aidan. She runs into him much later in the show, during its sixth and final season, where she sees Aidan with a baby, at which point he reveals that he's married... and it certainly seems like it's the end of the road for the pair.

Fans who counted Aidan out at the ending of the series, though, were proven wrong — despite the fact that Big and Carrie literally get married at the end of the first "Sex and the City" movie. In the second one, 2010's "Sex and the City 2," Carrie worries that her marriage to Big is growing stale because he's happy to just sit home and watch their enormous television, and so she jets off to Abu Dhabi with the girls after he suggests that maybe they take two days off a week from one another to recharge.

This suggestion doesn't sit well with Carrie in the first place, but it all gets a lot more complicated when Aidan shows up in Abu Dhabi — and even though he's still married and now has three children, the two end up kissing after they meet up for dinner. Carrie and Big end up working it out and Aidan is back out of the picture, but now that Big is gone on "...And Just Like That," the door is open for Aidan once again, and we know there's definitely going to be more kissing.

"...And Just Like That" — and Aidan Shaw — both return on June 22, 2023 on Max.