[This story contains spoilers from the fifth and sixth episodes of And Just Like That season three.]
During the June 26 episode of And Just Like That, Charlotte’s (Kristin Davis) husband Harry (Evan Handler) told her that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Though Harry assured Charlotte that everything is going to be OK, Charlotte can’t help but worry. She quickly goes into overdrive, throwing all of her energy into doing what she can to support her soulmate, all the while keeping the news quiet from their children and her girlfriends.
The plot sparks déjà vu for And Just Like That viewers, since the Sex and the City sequel series famously killed off the show’s First Husband, Big (Chris Noth), when protagonist Carrie Bradshaw’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) partner suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack to kick off the grief-heavy first season of the HBO Max continuation show. (Noth was going to have a cameo in the finale of that season, but the appearance was scrapped after he was accused of sexual assault.)
This time around, with the series now in season three, the actor who plays Harry assured fans that the husband who hails from the original series is likely not being killed off. “I don’t think the show is going to go in the direction of delving deeply into Harry’s medical journey,” Handler said recently in an interview with CNN. “It’s going to be more about, how does this affect a couple? How does this affect a woman whose partner has asked her not to tell anyone? What are the implications for a relationship when someone makes a request like that, which is reasonable on his part, but may be untenable for — for the partner.”
Handler, who himself was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) at the age of 24, added, “These are the things that come up, just as all kinds of things come up in any long term relationship. And I think that’s what the show means to explore, is those kinds of things for the people who have watched these characters for so long.”
Davis spoke briefly to The Hollywood Reporter about Harry’s health revelation and she agreed with Handler when it comes to how the news will impact the most steady couple of the Michael Patrick King-steered franchise. Sex and the City viewers will recall Charlotte’s reaction from the first movie when, after Big jilted Carrie at their wedding, Charlotte confided in Carrie that she worries that her too-perfect life will come crashing down one day. In the more recent sixth episode, Charlotte breaks down to Carrie in a drugstore aisle, leading her to confess to her friend, “I can’t stop thinking that he’s going to die.”
“You’re so right,” Davis told THR when reminded about that 2008 Sex and the City movie scene. “I do always have a little bit of trepidation when we start a new season of, ‘Oh, no, is Charlotte’s wonderful life going to fall away?’ And I do think that’s how Charlotte receives the news. What I love about Charlotte is she’s always going to do her best to be hopeful and to try to keep it together and try to be all things for all the people in her life that she loves. And she definitely does that, but you start to see some of the cracks after that episode.”
She continues, “I really think it’s great to show that because you can’t just take care of everyone and not take care of yourself. It’s a really important thing to remember, and Charlotte gets a really good — and funny but good — reminder that she also has to take care of herself. I always want everything to be great in Charlotte’s life. As a character, obviously, you can’t have everything worked out, but I don’t want her to lose anything, ever. I feel very married to what Charlotte wants. I think you’ll be happy with what happens. I hope you will.”
Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) with Aidan (John Corbett) in the July 3 episode, after he breaks her window when trying to be romantic and throwing a rock against the glass.
Craig Blankenhorn/Max
In the most recent July 3 episode, another relationship was tested in a different way when Aidan (John Corbett) dropped a bomb on Carrie that he slept with his ex-wife, Kathy (Rosemarie DeWitt). The confession and ensuing conversation between the lovers has sparked think pieces and social media reactions around the series’ central couple, who has been making it work long distance ever since Aidan chose fatherhood, and being there for his troubled son Wyatt (Logan Souza), over his relationship with Carrie in the season two finale.
Creator-writer King and star-executive producer Parker previously spoke to THR about the challenges of keeping Carrie and Aidan central to the show despite their Virginia-to-New York long distance, and King had summed up this third season as being “a nice balance of fun and fragileness.”
“Things are fragile. Life is fragile. At any moment, something can happen,” King had told THR. “And, it’s part of life, but there are a lot of fragile emotions. I think what Carrie and Aiden are going through can be very complicated, and the fun of writing it was the maze of that and trying to figure out whose side the audience would be on at every given moment. Are they now understanding his point of view? Are they understanding her point of view?”
After Aidan’s sex-with-an-ex confession, it seems the audience has spoken. But fans may be too quick to forget that when Carrie revealed her affair with Big to Aidan in the original series, all she ever wanted was forgiveness from Aidan. (Instead she got: “You broke my heart!”) And this time, Carrie doesn’t even consider it to be cheating, since she didn’t view the terms of their current relationship as exclusive — even though Aidan apparently did.
Executive producer and writer Julie Rottenberg, who directed the episode, acknowledged how divided fans have grown over Aidan’s choices in season three. “I know many people who were so in love with Aidan and felt like he could do no wrong,” she told Glamour. “I know there’s still a divide, but I can’t believe many people have turned so hard on him and are very critical of him to the point saying he’s making excuses for his kid and he’s too protective of his kid.”
Parker, meanwhile, stood by the storyline and Carrie easily forgiving Aidan. “When you’re in your 50s, you listen differently and you allow people to disappoint themselves, disappoint you, and that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the line,” she told the outlet. “This is the way in which people might reach for one another when things are so fraught, when it feels so scary, when you have such concerns about your child. It’s possible that this is the way you comfort one another.”
Her answer harkens back to what King said when teasing the 12-episode third season. “Here we are, 27 years into the evolution of Carrie Bradshaw. And seeing her really evolve and grow and change and risk still right in front of us, is thrilling,” he told THR. “Very rarely do you get to see an actor play characters for this long. And as long as there is a story to tell, because life is unexpected and complicated and challenging, it’s fun to be able to show that in a fictional world. Fragility and fiction is fun.”
And Just Like That releases new season three episodes on Thursdays.