It was supposed to be the "gold standard" of trilogy endings. For years, the internet lived on a diet of rumors, leaked scripts, and Instagram teasers that hinted at a third big-screen outing for Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha. But Sex and the City 3 didn't just stall; it imploded in a way that changed the franchise's DNA forever.
Honestly, it’s a weird story. Usually, when a movie fails to materialize, it’s about money or scheduling. Here, it was about a dead husband, a script that one lead actress reportedly hated, and a public fallout that made the front pages of every tabloid from New York to London.
You’ve probably heard the broad strokes. Kim Cattrall said no. Sarah Jessica Parker expressed disappointment. But the actual details of what that third movie was going to be—and how those ideas eventually became the spin-off And Just Like That...—explain a lot about why the fandom is so divided today.
The Script That Changed Everything
The blueprint for Sex and the City 3 was, by all accounts, pretty dark. Michael Patrick King, the creative force behind the series, had a specific vision. It wasn't about brunch and Birkins this time.
According to various reports and interviews with the cast, the central plot point of the third movie was the death of Mr. Big. He was slated to die of a heart attack in the shower, relatively early in the film. This shifted the entire focus of the story from the four women navigating life together to Carrie Bradshaw navigating widowhood.
Kim Cattrall has been incredibly vocal about why this didn't appeal to her. In her view, the script didn't give Samantha Jones much to do. While Carrie was mourning, Samantha was reportedly being sent "dick pics" from Miranda's teenage son, Brady. If you’re an actor who has spent decades building a character that represents female empowerment and sexual liberation, you can see why that might feel like a step backward.
It’s kinda fascinating. The movie wasn't just canceled because of a feud; it was canceled because the creative direction felt, to at least one core member, like it was failing the characters.
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Why Kim Cattrall Walked Away
We have to talk about the "feud." People love a "he said, she said" story, but this felt more like a "she said, I’m done" situation.
Cattrall has stated in multiple interviews, most notably with Piers Morgan, that she had moved on. She felt she had given everything she could to Samantha Jones. There were also long-standing rumors regarding salary disparities. It’s no secret that Sarah Jessica Parker, as an executive producer, had a different stake in the franchise than the other three.
- Cattrall felt the "environment" was toxic.
- The pay gap between the leads remained a sticking point for years.
- She wanted to pursue different types of roles as she entered a new stage of her life and career.
When the news broke in 2017 that Sex and the City 3 was officially dead, the blame game started. SJP told Extra she was "disappointed" because they had a "beautiful, funny, heartbreaking, joyful, very relatable script and story." Cattrall fired back on Twitter, saying the only "demand" she ever made was that she didn't want to do a third film.
It was messy. It was public. And it basically guaranteed that the original foursome would never share a screen again in a full-length feature.
From Movie Script to And Just Like That...
If you’ve watched the Max revival And Just Like That..., you’ve actually seen parts of the Sex and the City 3 movie.
The producers didn't throw the script in the trash. They recycled it. Big’s death in the series premiere? That was the movie's inciting incident. Carrie’s struggle with her identity after his passing? Movie plot. The introduction of new characters to fill the void? That was the pivot needed to move from a film format to a multi-season television arc.
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But something was lost in translation.
The movies, for all their flaws (and Sex and the City 2 had many), were event cinema. They were glossy. They were escapist. By turning the third movie into a TV show, the creators had to stretch thin plots over ten-hour blocks. Without Samantha, the chemistry shifted. The show became more of a dramedy about aging and grief than a celebration of friendship and fashion.
The "What If" Factor
What would Sex and the City 3 have looked like if everyone had stayed on board?
It likely would have been a more cohesive ending than the first season of the reboot. In a two-hour film, the "Samantha" problem could have been handled with a cameo or a subplot. In a series, her absence is a gaping hole that the writers have to constantly explain away with clunky text message scenes.
There's also the matter of the "Big" scene. Watching Chris Noth’s character die in a movie theater with hundreds of other fans would have been a massive cultural moment. Instead, we watched it on our couches during a pandemic-era release, which felt strangely quiet for such a monumental character death.
The Business of a Canceled Sequel
From a business perspective, the cancellation of the film was a massive risk for Warner Bros.
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- The first movie made over $415 million worldwide.
- The second movie, despite being panned by critics, still cleared nearly $300 million.
- The third movie was a guaranteed box-office hit regardless of quality.
By shifting to streaming, the "value" changed. HBO Max (now Max) needed subscribers, not ticket sales. They used the bones of Sex and the City 3 to anchor their new platform. It worked for the bean counters, but for the fans who wanted one last glamorous walk down Fifth Avenue in 35mm, it felt like a consolation prize.
Where the Franchise Stands Today
So, is Sex and the City 3 ever happening? No. Not in the way we imagined.
Kim Cattrall’s brief, 60-second cameo in the Season 2 finale of And Just Like That... was the closest we will ever get to a reunion. It was filmed in a car, in a garage, with no other cast members present. It was a contractual compromise, not a creative reconciliation.
The brand has moved on. We are now multiple seasons into a new era. The "three" in the title has been replaced by a new title entirely.
If you're still holding out hope for a movie, you're better off looking at the show's evolution as a long-form version of that lost script. The grief is there. The fashion is there. The New York City streets are there. But the quartet is gone.
How to Revisit the Story
If you want the "true" experience of what that third story was supposed to be, you have to piece it together yourself.
- Watch the first episode of And Just Like That... to see the intended opening of the third movie.
- Read the 2018 Origins podcast interview with James Andrew Miller, where he reveals the "Big dies in the shower" plot point.
- Follow the cast's solo projects. Sarah Jessica Parker’s Divorce and Kim Cattrall’s Glamorous show the two very different directions these women wanted to take their careers post-SATC.
The reality of Sex and the City 3 is that it exists as a ghost. It's the "lost" movie that changed the landscape of prestige TV reboots. It proved that even the biggest brands can't survive if the heart—the friendship—isn't fully committed to the vision.
The next time you see Carrie Bradshaw on screen, remember that her current journey started as a script that was too dark for some, too lopsided for others, and ultimately, too complicated to produce as a single film. The era of the SATC movie is over, but the story of why it died remains one of the most interesting chapters in Hollywood history.