And Just Like That stars on real-life friendship and beauty of a women-led show
The women of Sex and the City (SATC) are back for And Just Like That (AJLT) Season 2 and their circle of friends has just gotten bigger and more diverse.
The STAR got to interview the cast additions, particularly the actors portraying Season 1’s fan favorites and “most polarizing” character, as they reprised their roles in the follow-up season of the SATC reboot.
AJLT Season 2 shows how Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) and Kristin Davis (Charlotte York) — now in their 50s — navigate lives, romances and even newfound friendships in New York City.
There’s Seema Patel (played by Sarita Choudhury), the glamorous real estate agent who was hired to sell the apartment Carrie once shared with her late husband Mr. Big (Chris Noth) in Season 1.
Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez), the self-described “queer non-binary Mexican Irish diva,” whom Miranda fell in love with and ran away with in Season 1, leaving her husband Steve Brady (David Eigenberg) and New York.
Dr. Nya Wallace (Karen Pittman) is Miranda’s law professor, whose fertility issues in the first season will be further explored in the new one.
Sarita, Sara and Karen spoke at length about what they thought of their characters’ journey in both seasons.
‘Lots of love and maybe sex’
“When you see the second season, even you will feel relaxed seeing us because we don’t have to be introduced anymore,” began Sarita.
“Seema feels like that. She feels secure in her friendship with Carrie. She’s secure in her work. So Season 2 for me is really finding love in the most fun and silly, but maybe real way ever. There’s a lot of love and maybe sex,” she said of what to expect from AJLT.
Interestingly, when she first read the scenes of the now-fan favorite Seema, she harbored some doubts. “I thought, wait, I don’t think I can play a character who is so unapologetic, she doesn’t care, she just moves and moves, and I was thinking, I haven’t done that before,” she said, adding that it “took a lot of practice to find how to do it.”
Having been “used to dramas and war zones” in past projects, she didn’t expect she’d be having so much fun on AJLT. “I didn’t expect that because doing comedy is a lot of work in a weird way… Now, I feel I’m finally enjoying… When I joined Sarah Jessica, Cynthia and Kristin, they all seemed so relaxed with comedy, I was like wow, one day… And now I feel that.”
She also shared how vastly different her onscreen persona is from who she is off screen.
“I kinda worry that she’s creeping into my life…Well, not worried but like, I see it. Like, I don’t think Sarita would have worn something like this (glamorous outfit). I think she’s entering me,” she joked. “In the daytime, I wear jeans and sneakers, go on my bike, I read a lot, and at the same time, I’m very opinionated and very social. But that part, I’ve taken an ice and put it in Seema.
“If I’m in a situation where I don’t agree with something publicly, I won’t say anything. I’m a little scared of confrontation. With Seema, she doesn’t care. So, we’re different in that way,” she said.
Conveying messy, human stuff
Sara, on the other hand, acknowledged that Che Diaz was the most discussed if not the most divisive character last season.
“As an artist and as an actor, part of my process is to maintain some healthy boundaries in letting in any outside opinions that are not really helpful,” said Sara, who like Che Diaz, identifies as non-binary and uses the pronouns them/they, of how they took on the reactions, including the backlash, to their character.
They said that they could understand why fans were upset over their relationship with Cynthia. “I couldn’t escape knowing that the character had a very polarizing impact that got people talking,” they said.
“We succeeded in our goal which was to get people talking and even as an actor, when I was offered the role, I loved Steve and Miranda, and I loved David, the actor who plays Steve. I was upset that Steve and Miranda were not going to work out.
“But as a storyteller, I was so excited to play a role that could come in and push people to their own edges.”
In Season 2, Che gets pushed to their own edges as they deal with the pressures of making a semi-autobiographical sitcom and struggle with body issues such as internalized fat phobia.
“We all grew up with trauma, conditioning, their system’s at play that impact how we behave and how we show up, especially with how we are assigned at birth, right? So Che has their own journey around their own conditioning that shows up, including internalized fat phobia that comes out well,” they said.
“As an actor, have I dealt with, in the real world, internalized fat phobia? Absolutely! Did I grow up on diets that I was forced to by caretakers? Absolutely! Did that impact how I move in the world? Absolutely! So that’s part of my conditioning as a human being but to be able to unpack those correlations before I got into those scenes was really helpful for me because there was an opportunity for healing around that,” they reflected.
“As an actor, you’re putting on someone else’s life. When I was done with that scene, (I realized) wow, there’s a long way to go for so many of us to just stop hating our bodies, you know, and signing up for something that is so unrealistic for so many of us. But it’s very real.”
One thing’s for sure, they were curious and challenged to convey the “messy human stuff” that Che goes through in AJLT.
“I actually appreciate that we’re uncovering more about Che as a complex, messy human being. And if the women get to be complex, messy, likable and unlikable, you bet Che is going to be as well,” they said.
Nurturing self
For Karen’s Dr. Nya Wallace, Season 2 will feature more of the fertility arc, a reality she said in this day and age, as “there are a million ways for us to explore what it looks like to be a mother with a child.”
“What’s fascinating though is that there’s still so much guilt and taboo around being a woman in the world that decides I’m not interested, I don’t want to have children and what does that life look like? I think it’s very specific for women of color and the writer’s room for Season 1 really wanted to explore what that looks like,” Karen noted.
In Season 2, according to Karen, audiences will see Nya navigate “around all the shifts and changes that happen in her relationship” as she comes to a decision that “instead of nurturing a child, I’m gonna nurture myself.”
The actress finds it “still revolutionary” nowadays for a woman to decide that for herself.
“I think it’s important for us to talk about it,” Karen opined.
“But I also think it’s important for us to explore it in an entertaining and a funny and comedic way, which is what I think the writers in And Just Like That do beautifully.”
Women-led, women-centric show
They also shared how it was like working with the OG SATC women.
“Working with Cynthia Nixon was an absolute dream. Sarah Jessica Parker is a hoot and a half, she’s so fun. Kristin, I wished I had worked with more. I didn’t really get to work with Kristin, I just saw her at the table reads,” Sara said.
They also praised Cynthia as a director. “She creates an environment where everyone is welcome and is going to be advocated for. She’s a fantastic advocate if you have any questions, thoughts, fears, etc., she shows up in a beautiful way. She’s all for harm reduction, she ran for governor at one point. She just knows when to come in and kind of get the best work from you as the director.”
Sarita, on the other hand, could attest to the friendship behind the scenes.
“I can imagine people wanna know and then they don’t know if we’re telling the truth because if we’re fighting, I’m not gonna tell you. But honestly, first of all, our careers grew up here (in New York). I would see Sarah Jessica sometimes in the theater, and sometimes, she would see me. I’ve seen her on the streets in the West Village,” she said.
“We have friends whom we have known from the Naked Angels Theater Group or other acting classes. So, there’s a feeling on set that we’ve all been through it. We are not new to each other.”
Sarita further shared about the cast additions’ relationships with Sarah Jessica, Kristin and Miranda, who also happen to be AJLT executive producers. “Sarah Jessica, I mean off set, we hang out, I love her. And Cynthia and Kristin, I could see why the show lasted this long because of that friendship and the way they are.”
For Karen, it’s an extraordinary time to be in amid the presence of women-led productions and women-centric storytelling.
“I’ve been unfortunate to be on two shows, actually this and the case of The Morning Show. It’s women led and women centric, and with AJLT, for me as an actor, it’s a wonderful experience to be a part of it,” she said.
“I have such respect for my peers. I’m learning a lot. I’m able to witness and celebrate their successes and achievements. Their advocacy of my work on the show elevated me as an actor and as human. I can’t say enough about it. It’s just been really wonderful.”
(Season 2 of And Just Like That airs weekly on Thursdays via HBO Go.)
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