And Just Like That: Kim Cattrall Confirms She's Done Playing Samantha

This likely isn't surprising, but Kim Cattrall has absolutely confirmed that after her cameo as Samantha Jones in the second season of "And Just Like That," she won't be returning again.

Speaking to Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager on Today, Cattrall said she's finished with the "Sex and the City" revival after this highly anticipated cameo. "This is as far as I'm going to go," she said to the host. However, she went on to say that she'll always hold Samantha Jones near and dear to her heart: "I don't think I'll ever say goodbye to Samantha. She's like a lot of other characters that I've done over the years. I get very emotionally attached and protective of my characters. She gave me so much, and I'm so appreciative of her."

Cattrall also scored a win by having Patricia Field, the original stylist for "Sex and the City," come back to find her outfit for the cameo. ""One of the things that I wanted was always to have Pat Field style me," Cattrall said. "I said, 'I'm going back.' She said, 'People will be so happy! Make people happy. You're funny!'" Apparently, the duo "got a great freaking outfit" from Bergdorf Goodman, and Cattrall felt a familiar peace: "It felt like dipping my toe back in time and having a wonderful afternoon," Cattrall says. "And then a great martini!"

Cattrall certainly hasn't been shy about saying that Pat Field was a huge part of why she agreed to come back for even a small cameo on "And Just Like That." Notably, Field does not style the series; she's currently working with Cattrall on Netflix's "Glamorous" and original "Sex and the City" showrunner Darren Starr on that same streamer's "Emily in Paris." As Cattrall told the ladies of "The View," when HBO came calling, she insisted on Field.

"It's very interesting to get a call from the head of HBO saying, what can we do? and I went, Hmm. Let me get creative," Cattrall revealed. "And one of those things was to get Pat Field back, because I just thought that if I'm going to come back I gotta come back with that Samantha style, I gotta push it. And we did."

"And Just Like That" showrunner Michael Patrick King was, apparently, on the same wavelength about Samantha's iconic style. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he said, "I know Kim said that she'd hung up the Samantha wardrobe, and then some magic happened behind the scenes because all of a sudden, there was a possibility of it happening. And I think, I don't know, something about the 25th anniversary, the fans have always asked for Samantha and something happened where all of a sudden I was like, 'Well, maybe if it's a possibility, I can come up with a small beautiful little treat.' And that's what happened.

Cattrall's cameo, which was filmed in the utmost secrecy, was initially supposed to be a fun surprise for longtime fans of the show... but at the end of May, the New York Post reported the news, which was then picked up by other networks. Cattrall herself ultimately addressed it a few days after the secret came out on June 1 with an Instagram screenshot of a report, adding a comment simply saying, "Happy Pride."

It's now common knowledge that Cattrall, who is famously not on good terms with her former co-stars — especially Sarah Jessica Parker — filmed the cameo without interacting with Parker, King, Kristin Davis, or Cynthia Nixon. Still, her former on-screen BFFs were excited about the cameo in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "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 said. "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."

Nixon and Davis were happy about the cameo, but wished it had still been a twist for fans. "I just hope that people aren't disappointed," Davis said. "I want the fans to be happy. We all want the fans to be happy. That was on our minds." Nixon seconded her co-star: "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."

So how will "And Just Like That" bring Samantha back after her extremely conspicuous absence in Season 1? After Cattrall declined to return for a whole variety of reasons, the revival explained that, after Carrie (Parker) no longer needed Samantha's PR company for her books, Samantha decided their friendship was over and moved her entire firm to London to start over. Samantha's absence feels heavy, though; as the character who frequently put the "sex" in "Sex and the City," the revival felt somewhat stale without her, so it's a relief that Cattrall is coming back at all.

After Carrie heads to Paris to (illegally) dump her late husband's ashes into the Seine, she sends a text to Samantha, wondering they can get together while she's abroad. She gets a positive response, but the season leaves it at that; we don't know that much about Cattrall's Season 2 cameo, but we do know it's a phone call, presumably between Carrie and Samantha.

"And Just Like That" airs every Thursday on Max, and if you're really jonesing for more Samantha, "Sex and the City" is streaming there in its entirety.