Big Was Reportedly Cut From A Major And Just Like That Finale Scene

And just like that, the first season is over. From the show’s premiere in December 2021 that took Big out on an exercise bike to her new attempts at romance, Carrie Bradshaw lived a year in her life, and fans got to come along for the ride once more. But there was something a little odd about the finale at points, and it may be because there was possibly some hasty editing. According to TVLine, Chris Noth, the actor who played Big, was cut from Carrie’s And Just Like That Paris dream sequence. Elite Daily reached out to HBO Max for comment on Noth’s reported exclusion, but did not receive a comment.

Warning: Spoilers for the And Just Like That finale follow. As the final episode opens, it’s been about a year since that fateful workout that ended Big’s life. Carrie has gone through the stages of grief, a couple of dates, and several wardrobe changes. But she hasn’t taken the final step: letting go of Big’s ashes. Her excuse is that she’s not sure where he’d want to be laid to rest, and though Big’s brother would like him to be interred in the family plot (and says there’s room for Carrie too when the time comes), she doesn’t think that’s what he would want.

Carrie finally figures out Big’s desire in a dream scene, in which she sees the bridge in Paris where he confessed his love for her in the SATC finale. That’s the right place for them to say goodbye. Carrie tells Miranda and Charlotte that Big “came to her” in a dream (even though viewers def didn’t seem him in the dream), and the bridge in Paris is where she must go. She books a flight and heads off to say goodbye to her late husband for the final time.

If the dream sequence that sparked all this felt kind of off, there’s a reason for that. In a Jan. 5 report, TVLine revealed that scene initially *did* have Big coming to Carrie in the dream. Reportedly, production cut the character out after sexual assault allegations against actor Chris Noth surfaced not long following the series’ debut. (Noth has denied the allegations, calling them “categorically false,” while Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis released a statement in support of the women who came forward.)

Although series creator Michael Patrick King sidestepped questions about the scene being altered in an interview with Variety, the evidence is pretty straightforward. Photos of Noth and Parker surfaced in October 2021, showing the two filming scenes on that Parisian bridge, as well as footage of them riding around in a horse-drawn carriage in the same outfits, suggesting this would have been an extensive sequence in which Carrie saw them together reenacting some of their more famous dates.

Add this together with the surreal, disjointed clip that fans got, it seems pretty clear that Big was initially supposed to appear to Carrie in the dream and was later removed.