The premiere of 'And Just Like That' ends on a major twist, but 'Sex and the City' writers seemingly planned on doing this storyline years ago
- Warning: Major spoilers for the "Sex and the City" revival "And Just Like That" premiere ahead.
- "And Just Like That" premiered on Thursday, bringing back Carrie, Charlotte, and Miranda.
The long-awaited "Sex and the City" revival "And Just Like That" finally premiered on Thursday, December 9, and many fans already want to turn back time.
HBO Max debuted the first two episodes of the 10-episode series, and one major twist is already sending shockwaves through the fandom.
Warning: There are spoilers ahead for the premiere of "And Just Like That." Turn back now if you don't want to know what happens.
Mr. Big (Chris Noth), aka John James Preston, the husband of Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), is dead.
He dies of a sudden heart attack in his bathroom after a Peloton workout as he starts a shower. Mr. Big's scenes are woven in between shots of Carrie, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), and their families watching Charlotte's daughter, Lilly (Cathy Ang), playing Mozart at a piano recital.
Carrie returns home to find John dying outside of the shower. She's initially shocked as she takes in the scene — and then runs to him, screaming his name. She holds him in her arms crying as her blue wedding shoes lay abandoned in the shower, soaked.
In case there was any doubt about what was happening, Carrie confirms the awful truth for us in dialogue at the end of the episode, invoking the show's title: "And just like that... Big died."
Noth played Carrie's love interest for six seasons on "Sex and the City" before finally becoming her husband at the end of the first movie, after initially leaving her at the altar. By the end of the second film, the two seemed set to live happily ever after.
While Mr. Big's death was a big moment, it wasn't completely unforeseen
This plot point was actually leaked months ago. OK Magazine reported in July 2021 that an anonymous source wrote in to Hollywood gossip Instagram account Deuxmoi claiming that Big would die of a heart attack at the end of the season premiere, "leaving Carrie a single lady once again in NYC."
In August, the Daily Mail separately reported that sources had told them there'd be "a major 'Sex and the City' character" killed off in the first episode of the revival.
"It is going to be a big death," the unnamed source told the Daily Mail, prompting speculation that they were referring to Mr. Big. The source wouldn't confirm whether it was him, noting that Kim Cattrall's Samantha Jones, who wouldn't be appearing in the new show, was also a "clear candidate" for being killed off.
Rumors about the writers intending to kill off Big date all the way back to 2018, when entertainment journalist James Andrew Miller said on his "Origins" podcast" that sources close to Cattrall had told him a version of the script for the unmade "Sex and the City 3" movie killed off Big, claiming that's why Cattrall wasn't interested in reprising the character.
"People close to Kim believe that the script for the movie didn't have a lot to offer the character of Samantha," Miller said, according to Vanity Fair. "They point to the fact that it calls for Mr. Big to die of a heart attack in the shower relatively early on, making the remainder of the movie more about how Carrie recovers from Big's death than about the relationships between the four women."
At the time, Noth denied the rumor, telling The Sun that it "was all a lie" and "there's no way he was dying" in the third movie.
But lo and behold, Mr. Big has died after all. It's unclear whether Noth will reprise his role via flashbacks at a future point in "And Just Like That," or if this is the last we'll ever see of Noth in this role.
You can stream the first two episodes of "And Just Like That" now on HBO Max.