Sarah Jessica Parker spoke to Vanity Fair about the upcoming Sex and the City revival/reboot and dropped the immensely concerning revelation that the story will include the COVID-19 pandemic in its narrative. I couldn’t help but wonder … what the heck are they thinking?
Parker says in the article that COVID-19 will “obviously be part of the storyline, because that’s the city [these characters] live in. And how has that changed relationships once friends disappear? I have great faith that the writers are going to examine it all.”
The writers of this series, according to the lead actress, are going to be diverse and made up entirely of women, other than showrunner Michael Patrick King, who helmed the original incarnation, as well.
“It’s incredibly diverse in a really exciting way,” Parker said, and they will bring in “life experience, political world views, and social world views.”
Of course, the exact diversity of this room isn’t really clear yet, but one hopes it will include trans women and queer women, considering how the show treated and marginalized them in the original series. While SJP herself is excited about the possibilities, she still doesn’t know much about specific storylines:
“I think that Cynthia, Kristin, and I are all excited about the time that has passed,” said Parker. “You know, who are they in this world now? Have they adapted? What part have they played? Where have they fallen short as women, as friends, and how are they finding their way? Did they move with momentum? Are they like some people who are confused, threatened, nervous [by what’s happening in the world]? I’m so curious and excited to see how the writers imagine these women today.”
I have made my thoughts and concerns about this upcoming reboot endlessly clear. I am both terrified and anxious about the entire production—terrified because there is so much they can get wrong that’ll continue to weaken the legacy of an iconic show, and anxious because I know the scrutiny is about to be immense.
Sex and the City‘s legacy has been marred, rightfully so, because of the outdated racial and LGBTQ writing. Yet, in many ways, the show was always hyper criticized for seeming too “shallow,” and that has often overshadowed the fact that this show was one of the bedrocks of HBO and modern entertainment. It is important for that reason, and while it was acknowledged in its time, the its faulty aging has left it sometimes a shell of its former glory.
Also as a New Yorker living through COVID right now, I can’t say I’m excited to see what that looks like to a group of upper-middle-class/rich white women.
But one thing is for sure: Parker and the others are all invested in what comes next:
Parker’s questions for Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte kept pouring out.
“What is their relationship to social media? What has changed?” Miranda and Charlotte, she noted, are both mothers of teenagers now: “What is their life like? For Carrie, who doesn’t have family beyond her friendships, where is she professionally? How have all of these political changes affected her work? Is she still writing a column? Has she written any more books? Or does she have a podcast? What does fashion mean to her now? How have the friendships changed or not changed, and has her social circle grown?”
God … Carrie would have a podcast.
I cannot allow myself to trust that this reboot will be able to do justice to the series, especially without Samantha, but if it does do well and prove me wrong, I would be relieved. If this will be its redemption for those two terrible films, I think that is the most I can hope for. It is up to the writers and the cast to prove us wrong.
Just don’t kill off Samantha.
(via Vanity Fair, image: HBO)
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