'Sex and the City' author Candace Bushnell says she's 'startled' by decisions made in 'And Just Like That'
- Candace Bushnell shared her thoughts about the "Sex and the City" reboot with The New Yorker.
- Bushnell said she was "startled" by some of the creative choices made in the reboot.
"Sex and the City" creator Candace Bushnell recently told The New Yorker she's "startled" by some of the decisions made on "And Just Like That."
In an interview with The New Yorker's Jia Tolentino published Wednesday, Bushnell discussed her thoughts on the "Sex and the City" reboot, which premiered on HBO Max last December. Bushnell wrote the newspaper column and 1996 book that inspired the popular TV series.
"I'm really startled by a lot of the decisions made in the reboot," Bushnell, 63, told The New Yorker. "You know, it's a television product, done with Michael Patrick King and Sarah Jessica Parker, who have both worked with HBO a lot in the past. HBO decided to put this franchise back into their hands for a variety of reasons, and this is what they came up with."
When Tolentino says she gathers that Bushnell doesn't see herself in "And Just Like That," Bushnell responds: "Not at all."
"I mean, Carrie Bradshaw ended up being a quirky woman who married a really rich guy," she adds. "And that's not my story, or any of my friends' stories. But TV has its own logic."
One of the main differences fans noticed in the reboot was the stride towards diversity. In the reboot, actor Sara Ramirez portrayed Che Diaz, a non-binary Irish-Mexican podcast host and comedian. Ramirez's character forms a bond with Miranda Hobbes, played by Cynthia Nixon. The series also cast Karen Pittman as Dr. Nya Wallace.
When asked about the criticism "Sex and the City" has faced over its lack of diversity, Bushnell told The New Yorker "that was how people cast things then."
"Was my own world only white people? No, of course not — that's just not New York," Bushnell said. "But, for the show, that was how people cast things then, it was the way that people in TV were. I don't think anyone was consciously trying to be nasty about it; they just really didn't think."
During the interview, Bushnell also noted that Carrie stopped feeling like her long before "And Just Like That" aired.
Asked by Tolentino at which point she felt that way, Bushnell replied: "When the character of Carrie sleeps with Mr. Big after he's married to somebody else — that's when I felt like the character's becoming something other." Carrie's affair with Mr. Big begins in season three of "Sex and the City," which aired in 2000.
The reboot has much of the original cast reprising their roles, including Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw, Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes, and Kristin Davis as Charlotte York-Goldenblatt. However, Kim Cattrall did not return to play Samantha Jones.
Representatives for Candance Bushnell did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.