Wearing a bright green patterned dress, tinted aviator glasses and a warm smile, Kristin Davis couldn't look any more her "Sex in the City" counterpart, if she tried.
It's not a stretch to think her wardrobe choices are deliberate given that it's Charlotte York Davis has come to TODAY with Hoda and Jenna to talk about. The newest season of "And Just Like That...," the "Sex and the City" reboot, premiered on HBO June 22.
Starring alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon, Davis once more steps into the high-society shoes of Carrie Bradshaw's (Parker) eternally optimistic pal, Charlotte, a role she's been playing since "Sex in the City" debuted back in 1998.
Based on Candace Bushnell's 1996 bestselling book by the same name, the show has become a cultural phenom over the last 25 years, striking a chord with women who delight in seeing themselves in "Sex in the City's" four friends, Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), along with their unabashed sexcapades navigating Manhattan's dating scene.
Much like the title implies, sex has long defined the show, which aired on HBO until 2004 and spawned two subsequent movies, "Sex in the City," released in 2008, and "Sex in the City 2," in 2010. That, and the tricky business of finding love.
For more than a decade after the show ended, it appeared as though Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte might have put their Jimmy Choo's back in the closet for good. However, in 2020, Davis, Parker and Nixon agreed to reprise their characters for the new show, "And Just Like That...," which picks up years after "Sex and the City" left off, sans Cattrall who initially (and very publicly) declined to return, but who is reportedly slated to make an appearance at some point this season.
In advance of Season Two of the show, Davis sat down with TODAY.com to talk about this season's sex scenes (and, trust us, we are blushing), embracing "cringe" and if we can ever expect Good Charlotte to go bad. Here's what she had to say.
This interview has been lightly edited.
Charlotte is the eternal optimist. Whether it's the kids, her husband Harry, she's always doing everything for everyone else. Will she ever turn ... evil?
No. Absolutely not.
Will she ever take a stand and say, 'Hey, what about me? When do I get mine?'
You've got to watch this season. You're going to be pleased. You might be pleased. You just keep watching.
After years of doing 'Sex and the City,' what's more interesting, new, different or challenging about doing 'AJLT'?
I don't know that I'd say "more interesting" because I think the show was always really interesting. I always found it really interesting or I wouldn't keep doing it. I don't think any of us would. We love it. Obviously.
I never thought we'd do another show. I thought we'd do another movie, (but) I had a feeling we weren't done. But I had come to a point where I was like, "Maybe I'm the only one who has that feeling. Maybe I should just let it go." So, I was thinking those thoughts and then, all of a sudden, they call up and (said), "We have a new show idea." I was like, "Well, this is crazy."
We just love the newness of it all — the new people and the new actors and the new storylines. And it’s thrilling.
Season Two of 'And Just Like That...' is pretty ... racy?
Michael Patrick King (creator and director of both "Sex and the City" and "And Just Like That...") heard the complaints last year. He was like, "Oh, you wanted sex? OK, here you go."
Was adding more sex also intentional by way of saying that women of every age are sexy, are having great sex in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond?
Yes. Everything is intentional. Michael Patrick King never does anything casually. Last year people were like, "Oh, that was cringe." Yes, we intended that to be cringe. We wanted to show people making mistakes. That was the point. We're not unaware. We're obsessing over every single detail. So, yes, fully intentional.
For me, in particular, we had a lot of discussions about Charlotte and Harry, who are a happy couple, and we wanted to show that Charlotte, who really started out as the prude, that this relationship has allowed her to expand and be comfortable in herself, her sexuality, her age and all of those things. Because Harry is fully accepting and it's a positive relationship and they have wonderful sex ... and you'll see more of it.
Is 'And Just Like That...' trying to send a message about women and aging?
We're not "messaging." We're just showing characters living. We just want to open conversations, which is what the first show did, too. The first show was kind of racy and shocking in the beginning, which everyone forgets. Everything thinks it's about the shoes or whatever. But it opened conversations. That's all we're trying to do.
Did you know that 'Sex in the City' would be groundbreaking in terms of breaking taboos around women having casual sex?
Yes, we knew in the beginning that it was groundbreaking because everybody freaked out. And there was no other show like ours back then. So, sure, we knew it was groundbreaking and we took a lot of flack for it, but we didn't care. Just like last year (when "And Just Like That..." came out), we didn't care. We're going to show what we're going to show. We're going to ask the questions that we're going to ask. That's what we do.
No apologies?
No apologies ever.
Was it hard doing the sex scenes in 'And Just Like That...'? Did you feel vulnerable?
Sure, I mean, it was vulnerable when I was 30. It's certainly vulnerable now. (But) that's kind of our job as actors. Not necessarily to do sex scenes, but just to be vulnerable in general. Then, if you think about it, society's whole cultural insanity about aging, sexuality and whatever, sure it's vulnerable. We're not immune to that in any way, but I think we feel like it's important. We're a show where we want everyone to feel one hundred percent comfortable, happy and present.
That is integral in terms of what we do. Because you have to be able to express yourself and be present and be able to forget that the world is going to be watching this and commenting on it. You can't really think about that all the time or you couldn't function. Just like life — you can't think about everyone else's opinion. You just have to please yourself and your kids or whoever's important to you.
Now that Season 2 is done, have you watched it? What do you think?
I haven't watched it because I feel vulnerable. I will watch it. But when I watch it, I need a window around myself. Quietness. We're going to have a private viewing where I watch it with other people, so that helps, because watching it with other people, hearing people laugh, that's why we do it. It is a lot. But we love it. We love what we do. We want to do it for everyone who have been our fan forever. We want to do it to say to women, "Your life isn't over. Just because you're over 40 does not mean that you're not important. Your life is important. What you're doing is important. You can keep doing new things. You can do whatever you want. Who cares what everyone thinks?"
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