SATC’s Creator Suggests Carrie Could Have Had A Different Ending
He doesn’t think these two characters should have ended up together.
Darren Star, the original creator of Sex and the City, has thoughts on Carrie Bradshaw ending up with Big (pre-Peloton incident). During an Aug. 14 interview with Vulture, Star opened up about the iconic show, which he stopped showrunning after Season 3. And apparently, he’s not a fan of Carrie and Big’s rom-com ending.
“Michael Patrick King was really creatively in charge that final season. He did an amazing job,” Star explained to Vulture. “Shows evolve and Carrie certainly evolved. But I always felt the show was never about a woman getting her man: That’s a traditional romantic comedy. It was about how women can define themselves 100 percent, that they didn’t have to be defined by marriage.”
He added, “But if that were the ending, I’m not sure the audience would’ve loved it. The show had a real audience-pleasing ending.”
Star previously spoke about having issues with the ending. “I think the show ultimately betrayed what it was about, which was that women don’t ultimately find happiness from marriage. Not that they can’t. But the show initially was going off script from the romantic comedies that had come before it. That’s what had made women so attached,” he told in Deadline in 2016.
Star also discussed the Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That. He’s not “creatively involved” in the new HBO show, and said he didn’t want to be. (When AJLT started, Star was occupied with creating Emily in Paris.) But even without another project, Star said he “would’ve never had the creative interest to continue the journey.”
He explained, “For all those that are doing it, I’m happy for them because they do have the interest. It gives me validation that the characters I created still have a life and the audience has an interest in seeing them.”
In general, however, he’s not interested in creating reboots or remakes. “I’d rather fail with a fresh idea than do a reboot. It feels like a product. It’s hard enough to do something the first time.”
Still, he said he sees value in the new show. “I’m not saying And Just Like That doesn’t have things to say. I’m differentiating And Just Like That, which I feel is a continuation of the characters at a different time in their lives. There’s a relevance to it, no question.”
