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Is it the music? The fashion? The cosmopolitans? Okay, maybe it's the fact that the show is on Netflix these days... but whatever the reason, Sex and the City is a series that has steadfastly remained in the public consciousness for pretty much the entire two decades since its conclusion. As the larger franchise that the show comes from approaches its 30th anniversary, it’s time to look back and ask: after the finale to the classic HBO show aired back in 2004, whatever happened to Sex and the City? (Spoilers: a lot. Just wait and see.)

We'll also answer some other frequently asked questions the collective internet has about the show - and maybe correct a few misconceptions along the way. Cast your minds back to when everyone was wild about Manolo Blahniks, readers. It's time to get Sex-y.

Sex and the City: the prehistory, before Carrie was Carrie

• Sex and the City (New York Observer weekly column, 1994-1998)
• Sex and the City (book, 1996)

Debuting as a newspaper column in the November 28, 1994 issue of the New York Observer, Sex and the City could be considered evidence of the power of journalism in action. Candace Bushnell’s original column ran for four years, chronicling the love lives of she and her friends, with Bushnell herself the model for protagonist Carrie Bradshaw. The two notably share the same initials, although Carrie didn’t officially have a last name in the column until after the TV show debuted. That said, Carrie wasn’t even Carrie when the column began; Bushnell originally used her own name before adopting the more familiar nom de plume.

The column was enough of a hit that a book collection was published in 1996, also titled Sex and the City; the book captured the attention of TV producer Darren Star, who was known at the time for shows like Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place — although he’d also been interviewed by Bushnell for Vogue Magazine, creating a second entry point into a collaboration. The show debuted on HBO in 1998, with Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie and Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon in tow closing out the friend group. It was, immediately, a smash hit.

Sex and the City in its prime, just four girls taking on Manhattan (or whatever drink was available at the time)

• Sex and the City (HBO, 1998-2004)

Sex and the City ran for six seasons on HBO, winning seven Emmy Awards and eight Golden Globes in that time and becoming a cultural phenomenon in the process. The series made stars of its cast — not just the central four actors, but also recurring cast like Chris Noth, John Corbett, Ron Livingston, and Willie Garson, whose Stanford Blatch was a fan-favorite — and of those behind the scenes as well, with costume designer Patricia Field becoming known for starting new trends based on the outfits worn on the show. Some industry watchers also suggest that the success of Sex and the City drove a new audience to HBO as a cable network in general, helping transform it into the tastemaker that it would be for an entire generation of viewers.

Throughout the show, fans watched Carrie and her friends negotiate romance, sexual politics, and New York life as a whole, culminating in a finale episode watched by 10 million viewers in the U.S., where Carrie leaves the States, only to be rescued by Big, her long-term, on-again, off-again partner who finally, finally, proposes. The final episode of the series aired in February 2004. It was the end of an era… but, as it turned out, not a particularly long-lived end.

Sex and the City: the movie, the other movie, and the multiple TV revivals (yes, there was more than one)

• Sex and the City: The Movie (2008)
• Sex and the City 2 (2010)
• The Carrie Diaries (book, 2010)
• The Carrie Diaries (The CW, 2013-2014)
• And Just Like That... (Max, 2021-)

After Sex and the City, the cast went their separate ways: Parker concentrated on movies, Nixon on theater, and Davis and Cattrall on whatever seemed to be available to them in the moment. They didn’t stay apart for too long, however; just four years after the show ended, the first Sex and the City movie was released, re-teaming the cast and continuing the storyline and becoming massively successful in the process — it earned $418.8 million internationally from a budget of just $65 million. Of course, this meant that there would be a sequel, which arrived two years later. Sadly, 2010’s Sex and the City 2 might have been a financial success, but a planned third movie fell apart, reportedly because Cattrall refused to be involved. The franchise, it seems, was over.

Except, of course, it really wasn’t.

In the same year as Sex and the City 2, Candace Bushnell published The Carrie Diaries, a novel that acted as a prequel to the original book — albeit one that was entirely fictional, despite the fact that the original columns were only thinly-fictionalized versions of real life. That book would become the basis for the CW’s The Carrie Diaries, from the producers of Gossip Girl; that show would run for two seasons, starting in 2013 and ending the following year.

And yet, the Sex and the City story was still not finished, however. In 2020, it was announced that Max was developing a revival of the series that would feature some of the original cast. The project, eventually titled And Just Like That… (yes, with the ellipses), debuted in December 2021 and featured all of the core cast of the series with the exception of Kim Cattrall. It was announced as a one-off miniseries, but would later be renewed for a second season, and then a third, which is set to debut in 2025. (And Catrall eventually showed up, in the show's second year.)

While the new series is notably different from Sex and the City — there’s a lot more death, for one thing; the first episode ends with (spoilers!) Big dying, leaving Carrie single again in her 50s — it seems guaranteed at this point that the story of Carrie Bradshaw is one that will continue in one medium or another in seeming perpetuity, until either she, or the audience who love her, are no more. Somehow, I feel as if she’d approve.

Sex and the City: Happily ever afters?

You might be wondering, "Okay, so Carrie marries Big, but what about the other girls? Who did Samantha marry? Who did Miranda marry? Who did Charlotte marry?" In reverse order:

• Charlotte married twice in the series, first to Trey MacDougal, which didn't work out because they were looking for different things in their relationship. That was all to the good, however, because that led Charlotte to meet divorce lawyer Harry Goldenblatt, who she eventually fell in love with and married. 
• Miranda married Steve Brady in the series, and the two remained together despite problems until sequel series And Just Like That..., wherein Miranda leaves Steve after she has an affair with Carrie's co-worker Che; the two eventually end up together.
• Samantha doesn't marry anyone, and both the character and actor Kim Cattrall believe that she never will. Some people just aren't cut out to settle down, and Samantha is definitely one of those people...!

The internet asks: Why did Sex and the City get cancelled?

Technically, the show wasn't cancelled, per se; the sixth season of the show was intended to be the final season at the time it was made. However, the show's ending came about for a number of reasons, according to those involved, many centering around Kim Cattrall. Cattrall has talked publicly about the fact that she needed a break from the show at the time to deal with personal issues, including a messy divorce and her father being diagnosed with dementia — but there was also some behind-the-scenes conflict between the actress and producers over pay, with Cattrall believing that she deserved equal pay with Sarah Jessica Parker, the headline star of the show. Additionally, Cattrall was rumored to be at odds with the rest of the core cast socially, as reported online with no small amount of glee at the time.

Beyond all of that, the show might have remained a ratings draw, but critics were beginning to turn on Sex and the City as it entered its sixth season — and as Parker herself was becoming interested in other activities (not least of which her growing family, which we'll get to in a second), producers decided to shut the show down with its sixth season.  

The internet asks: Was Carrie pregnant during Sex and the City?

While Carrie Bradshaw wasn't pregnant during Sex and the City, the actress who played her definitely was. Sarah Jessica Parker was pregnant during production on the show's fifth season, with the show's shooting schedule altered as a result. Originally intended to run 18 episodes, the fifth season ended up being only 8 episodes long. (There's only so many ways to hide that baby bump, after all.)

The internet asks: Why did Samantha leave Sex and the City?

As noted above, Cattrall was not exactly on the best of terms with either her SATC co-stars or producers during the original run of the HBO series, and that did not get any better during production of the two movies. It was rumored to be Cattrall's decision not to be involved in a third Sex and the City movie that scuppered that production, something that she has all-but-admitted in subsequent interviews. No surprise, then, that Samantha Jones (and Cattrall) were entirely absent from original plans for And Just Like That... when it show was created for Max. Even though Cattrall did, eventually, show up on the spin-off in its second season finale, that proved to be a short-lived return; she has already revealed that she's not back in the show's upcoming third season.

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Has all of this left you wanting to rewatch Sex and the City? You're in luck; we have a guide to help you do that very thing right here. And if you want to read more about the Bradshaw chronicles on Popverse, we'd suggest you check out this page.