And Just Like That exec producer and cast reflect on major episode one twist

***Warning: this article contains major spoilers***

Michael Patrick King, the executive producer of the Sex and the City reboot series And Just Like That, has explained why he decided to bring a shocking twist into episode one.

Near the end of the first episode, fans were devastated to watch Chris Noth’s character Big die on the floor of his bathroom of a sudden heart attack.

“And just like that,” said Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), “Big died.”

Speaking to Variety about Big’s death, King said: “The reason I did it is because it’s shocking, but also because it’s great for Carrie’s character, because she’s always never been able to have him.

“She only got him at the end of the series and she’s only had him really a little bit of time. Now he’s taken away, but not by another lady on the Upper East Side or by divorce – but by something she can never rationalise, which is a death.”

King added that the first two episodes were set up to be as realistic as possible to make the loss of Big pack a real punch.

“We believe Carrie Bradshaw is devastated. So, we will have her heal and mourn and go back and go on,” he said. “I have no interest in taking the audience into a dark woods and leaving them there without a flashlight. We’re not going to just leave Carrie by herself. But how we do it? Why we do it? How far it goes remains to be seen.”

Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis in ‘And Just Like That’ (©2021 WarnerMedia Direct, LLC. )

Speaking about Carrie’s narration, he said: “There’s no voiceover except for one line at the end. That’s because Carrie has no overview. I destroyed her world. She has one sentence at the end of every show, that’s it. And it’s right in the moment.”

Cynthia Nixon, who plays Miranda and also executive produced the series, added: “It was a very bold way to start. This is about people being thrown out of their comfort zone. It’s called And Just Like That because it means that you think your life is one way and something will happen. And all of a sudden, you don’t even recognise your life.”

Kristin Davis, who returns as Charlotte, said: “Of course this was a very, very, very major thing to do and I was very emotional about it. Worried is the right word. But we’re also doing a show about people in their fifties. All of us who have lived this long and are still alive have lost people. This is how it is. Life is this way. We’ve gone through a global pandemic – we’re still technically in it. It’s not all rosy.”

And Just Like That airs new episodes each Thursday on Sky Comedy and NOW.