Sarah Jessica Parker Once Shared She Was Against Blake Lively’s Potential ‘Sex and the City’ Prequel
Sarah Jessica Parker has recently returned to the Sex and the City franchise with the Max sequel And Just Like That. But years prior, there were talks of a potential prequel to the series starring Blake Lively.
Sarah Jessica Parker didn’t like the idea of a ‘Sex and the City’ prequel
Even after the Sex and the City series ended, the property itself continued to thrive. The television show spawned two successful theatrical releases, and soon afterwards there were rumblings of a prequel series being developed. But there weren’t too many Sex and the City alums that favored the idea. Sex and the City director Michael Patrick King, who had strong ties to the show, was firmly against the concept.
“The idea of going backwards and making [Carrie] less evolved … is something that I don’t even imagine doing,” King once told the Los Angeles Times.
Likewise, actor Bridget Moynahan, who had a guest spot on the show, had similar feelings.
“I think they should leave Sex and the City alone,” she said. “If you want to do something with Blake Lively and Emma Roberts and all these wonderful young actresses, then just come up with your own material and leave Sex and the City as it is.”
The television show’s own star in Parker had her own reservations about the prequel.
“I was like, ‘Wha-a-a-a-t?’” Parker said in a separate LA Times interview.
Parker’s thoughts weren’t unlike Moynahan’s, as she also believed younger actors would be better off doing new content.
“I don’t begrudge any 21-year-old the opportunity to tell their stories. They prove to us on an everyday basis that they’re interesting. Even their narcissism is interesting. Even their inertia is interesting. Even their tonal speech patterns are interesting. But I don’t think we can pretend to go back,” she said. “It’s creating two histories. It’s like, ‘Oh I didn’t know that about Carrie Bradshaw.’”
Sarah Jessica Parker felt ‘The Carrie Diaries’ was odd
Despite reservations, a Sex and the City prequel would later become a reality. The short-lived series aired on The CW network, starring AnnaSophia Robb as the new Carrie Bradshaw. Parker’s feelings towards The Carrie Diaries were similar to the feelings she had when Lively was rumored to do the project.
“You know, I think it’s one of those tests of your generosity,” Parker once told The Edit (via Entertainment Weekly). “[AnnaSophia] is a lovely girl and I want her to feel good about, but it’s… odd.”
But author Candace Bushnell, who inspired the series, supported the prequel.
“The reality is, that’s showbiz,” Bushnell said in an interview with The Daily Beast (via Page Six). “Sarah Jessica’s first part was somebody else’s part. She played Annie on Broadway. She understands how these things work.”
Bushnell would continue to urge others to give the prequel a chance. Especially since she felt Parker’s days as Carrie Bradshaw might have been over.
“Look, Sarah Jessica Parker is 47. I think with the second movie, Carrie Bradshaw couldn’t be an ingenue anymore,” she said. “But I think they were stuck doing what the audience wanted.”
Why Sarah Jessica Parker was so curious to revisit ‘Sex and the City’ characters
The Carrie Diaries lasted for two seasons on The CW before its cancellation. Still, that didn’t mark the end of the iconic franchise. A sequel series, And Just Like That, premiered on Max in 2021 with Parker reprising her role as Carrie. In 2019, Parker spoke with Entertainment Tonight about why she’d suddenly gotten so interested in exploring the Sex and the City world again.
“I’d like to see where all of them are,” she said. “I’m curious, the world has changed even since the movie. I mean, the world has changed so much, technology and social media.”
She also wanted to see how Sex and the City characters would respond to some of the changes in today’s political climate.
“They never — which is maybe a virtue too because I would have complicated things even more — so those characters never talked about social media, which I think would be really interesting and just also sexual politics and the #MeToo movement and Time’s Up has really steered conversations about sexual politics, and I think Carrie Bradshaw would just be so greedy to share her feelings and thoughts,” she said.
