AJLT Stars Say Kim Cattrall's Cameo Fixes Samantha & Carrie's Friendship

Ever since news leaked that Kim Cattrall, who originated the role of Samantha Jones on "Sex and the City," would appear for the briefest of cameos in the revival "And Just Like That, fans have been buzzing about it — and now, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis are here to clarify some small details about the highly anticipated scene.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter after the first two episodes of "And Just Like That" dropped on Max on June 22, Parker, Nixon, and Davis, who returned to the "Sex and the City" universe as Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbes, and Charlotte York-Goldenblatt, said that the cameo actually goes a long way to fixing Carrie and Samantha's broken on-screen friendship.

After Samantha and Carrie agree to meet up via text message in the Season 1 finale, Cattrall's cameo, a phone call between the characters, is the next step. "The friendship is mended," Parker confirms. "They talked about it; you'll see. The friendship [between Carrie and Samantha] is in good shape and I think by the time we get to that phone call that we share [in the finale], the portrait is clear of where they are and who they are."

"When we first started talking about this idea, it's just such an opportune moment in the story and it was really a nod to the 25 years," Parker continued, referencing the 25 year anniversary of the series. "It's just a really sentimental, funny, sweet moment that is timed perfectly for a specific event that's happening in Carrie's life. It's so familiar. So it's really nice, I think."

There's no question that the first season of "And Just Like That" suffered without Cattrall and her performance, and fans weren't thrilled — something Davis addresses directly in the interview, while also acknowledging that the storyline contains real truths about friendship. "It seemed right for the story and for the fans," she said. "Friends might move and not be in your life all the time, and that doesn't mean you're not friends. Sometimes you don't talk to people for a while, but that doesn't mean you can't reconnect. So, that rings true and I felt good about it; I felt like it was the right choice to make."

That said, Davis was disappointed it got spoiled in advance. "I just hope that people aren't disappointed," she continued. "I want the fans to be happy. We all want the fans to be happy. That was on our minds."

Nixon agreed, tying it all back to Parker's comments about the show's anniversary.: "It was really intended as a fun surprise. It's a real bummer that it leaked because I think a lot of the beauty of it was that people wouldn't know it was coming and then [clap] Samantha would just pop up. I think it's a one-time thing, kind of a 25th anniversary nod kind of thing, personally."

After Cattrall chose not to come back for the revival, the showrunners decided that, after Carrie no longer needs a book publicist and her professional relationship with Samantha splinters, the PR maven breaks off their friendship and moves to London. In real life, though, it was even messier than that.

Honestly, breaking down the years-long drama between Cattrall and Parker would take forever, but the gist is that Cattrall clearly feels slighted by Parker on a variety of levels over both the orignal series and repeated requests to do a third film — and beyond that, she viewed it as her choice to leave Samantha Jones in the rearview mirror. (She's also not hurting for work; she currently stars in both "How I Met Your Father" on Hulu and the Netflix original series "Glamorous.") Parker has demurred or declined to address the issue entirely, saying that, essentially, she's sad about the breakdown in communication between the two. In any case, what we know for sure is that Cattrall filmed her "And Just Like That" cameo under strict instructions that she not come into contact with Parker, Davis, Nixon, or showrunner Michael Patrick King.

Fans will have to wait and see what Cattrall's cameo entails, but at the very least, Davis' on-screen husband Evan Handler said it was great... so, there's that.