Twitter Is In Shambles After And Just Like That’s Shocking Death

With the new HBO Max series And Just Like That, fans were thrilled for Sex and the City to return to the small screen. But after 20 years off the air (and a decade since the films), the big question has been, why now? What is it about Carrie’s life, along with Miranda and Charlotte’s, that creates a pressing reason to return to their story? As with many things, it’s a significant life change that sets things off, with the untimely passing of a primary character. And while the tweets reacting to the And Just Like That premiere’s unexpected death are full of sadness, they also recognize it may have been necessary in telling this story.

Warning: Major spoilers for And Just Like That Episodes 1 and 2 follow. Since the announcement of the new series, fans have been uneasy about Carrie’s marriage. Her happily-ever-after with Big seemed to the end of her tale. Did this mean the sequel series will be about their divorce? But with so much emphasis on the happy couple in the trailers, fans began to suspect something worse was in store for Carrie and Big... and they were right. In the final minutes of the premiere, John James Preston, aka Mr. Big, dies from a heart attack.

Thankfully, the show released the first two episodes from the miniseries as part of the premiere, which meant fans weren’t left hanging with Carrie sobbing into Big’s lifeless body. Episode 2 focused on the funeral, giving fans the chance to provide the character with a proper send-off.

And then of course, there were the wedding shoes, which Carrie wore as Big died in her arms.

The passing of Big means that Carrie now has to face life alone again, supported by the two women who have been her ride-or-dies since the original series, Charlotte and Miranda. Although it’s been 25 years since the show originally began, not much has changed about the group (other than the glaring absence of Samantha, natch, but let’s not talk about that right now, we’re grieving!).

The series’ tragedy was also punctuated by the reality that the cast suffered a significant loss in real life during filming: Willie Garson, who played Stanford, passed away during the filming of the miniseries, giving his role in the funeral (and his fretting about death) an unexpected poignancy.

And Just Like That continues with new episodes every Thursday on HBO Max.