And Just Like That: No, Mr. Big Won't Return To Series - Even In Flashbacks

When "And Just Like That" kicked off its run on HBO, it famously killed off John "Mr. Big" Preston — played in both this and the original series by Chris Noth — and according to the stars of the revival, the actor will not be returning in any way, shape, or form.

Sarah Jessica Parker, who plays Noth's bereaved on-screen widow Carrie Bradshaw, told The Hollywood Reporter — alongside her co-stars Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis, who play Miranda Hobbes and Charlotte York-Goldenblatt — that Noth won't be back, primarily because they want the show to be about Carrie's journey moving forward.

"I don't think you need to [see him]," Parker told THR. "He played such a profound role in her life and obviously in the audience's feelings, I don't think we need to remind them with imagery. We tend to be reminded in our own lives every day of things that are important to us without seeing a photograph or film clip. Books can remind us; music, sounds, cross streets, food, a restaurant, a museum, flowers at a kiosk. I think that's the way we mostly live when we are recalling somebody; it's moments when we don't expect."

As Parker put it, the bigger story here is Carrie finding herself again in a very real way: "I have friends who have coincidentally lost their husbands in the very recent past ... But as you move on and you integrate this loss in your body somewhere, you find joy again; and you feel bad about being joyful again, and then you're more comfortable being joyful and happy."

In the Season 1 premiere of "And Just Like That," Carrie and Big are happier tha we've probably ever seen them, considering how dramatic their relationship was throughout both the original series and first two films (remember the time he left her at the altar?!). That doesn't last long, though; at the end of the episode, Big has a cardiac event while exercising on his Peloton, and Carrie comes home too late to save him, with him dying in her arms.

Ultimately, real-life allegations of sexual assault were leveled against Noth — which he has denied — and as a result, a flashback appearance in the season finale never came to pass. It was confirmed in January of 2022, that Noth's previously filmed flashback appearance had been "scrubbed" from the February finale, and what ended up happening is that Carrie takes Big's ashes to Paris to scatter them in the Seine, just off the bridge where they reunited in the "Sex and the City" series finale. (It's illegal to dispose of human remains in the Seine, but whatever.) Though Noth would have originally appeared as a sort of ghostly figure to Carrie in that moment, she ended up scattering solo.

Putting the Big of it all aside, Nixon, Parker, and Davis were clear about one thing: Season 2 of "And Just Like That" takes a lighter tone as Carrie works her way out of the very deepest moments of her grief.

"It doesn't mean that it's not there or it won't show you itself," Parker said to THR, "but it's very different this season the way Carrie experiences that loss. She's able to be much more circumspect about it, talk about it. We have to touch on it, because it would otherwise be as if she's ignoring a truth. But it doesn't dominate in the same way. I think it's a much more buoyant season."

"Carrie has got a little time out from Big's death and our characters and I think our whole company has found their footing, so we can really dive right in," Nixon says. "This season is lighter, it's more joyful."

This is good to hear, because while it was understandable that Carrie's grief would take center stage throughout Season 1, it was difficult for fans to watch their beloved Carrie suffer in this way. Not only is she finding joy in Season 2, she's also finding new love in a post-Big world.

Even before Season 2 kicked off, Carrie starts moving on from Big — after a few disastrous dates (including one that straight-up ends in vomit), she kisses her podcast producer Franklyn (Ivan Hernandez) at the very end of the season, and the two open Season 2 casually involved. When he wants a real relationship, though, Carrie just isn't ready for anything bigger than a fling, and the two part ways amiably early in Season 2.

There's definitely more to come for Carrie's love life in Season 2, though — Aidan Shaw, John Corbett's long-running character from the original series who was frequently presented as a romantic rival to and reasonable alternative to Big, is set to return, and on-set photos show the two locked in a passionate embrace. It's not that Carrie doesn't still mourn losing Big, but she's able to see things a little differently now. In a sweet moment in the Season 2 premiere, when faced with a fashion emergency, Carrie even wears the Vivienne Westwood dress from her failed wedding to Big to the Met Gala, imbuing it with new meaning and new memories — perfectly illustrating her journey of moving forward.

"And Just Like That" streams new episodes every Thursday on Max.