‘And just like that series final: Carrie’s end unveiled

Changes in the final in the life of her friends seem more evolutionary than revolutionary: Charlotte, who has finally revealed her sex life with Harry (Evan Handler) in the episode, finally feels safe in the gender identity of Rock’s (Alexa Swinton). Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) gets the chance to deepen her dedication (Dolly Wells) when her dog has a medical emergency-a well-timed bit of emotional support while Miranda is preparing to become a grandmother. And Lisa (Nicole Ari Parker) and Seema (Sarita Choudhury) ask themselves to further explore their own relationships, explore Lisa by confirming that she cannot cheat Herbert (Christopher Jackson) and Seema by not deceiving the peculiarity of life with Adam (Logan Marshall-Green).

Michael Patrick King is ready to talk about it. The showrunner of ‘en Just Zo’, King (with Susan Fales-Hill) directed the last episode, just as in 2004 wrote the end of ‘Sex and the City’. At the time, Carrie’s series-ending satisfaction of understanding that she was enough … Even because she could not deny that big return to New York to be with her was also quite exciting. Twenty -one years later, Carrie ends her story very intentionally not linked. And, says King, it will be left to fans to imagine what lies for her. Although this franchise has shown a shoe-the-cat-like resilience of nine-life so far, King says that this end should be conceived as his last call for Carrie and Company. “Everyone else can continue,” he says. “I can’t do it.”

Variety Speaked with King prior to the final of August 14. In a conversation, King was animated and reflective and it became why it is now time to end ‘and so’, how this final speaks to criticism from the end of ‘Sex and the City’ and why Carrie’s last half hour included a crowded toilet. Thinking aloud about what this franchise and his protagonist have meant to have single people in particular – “It is especially for someone who feels bad because they don’t have anyone” – King was stifled and tears appeared in his eyes. Have been reported by the Spirit Connection with the character and with her journey in and out of singleom during decades is part of what fans have responded, and the end is emotional for more than just King.

I’m glad I am talking to you, but sorry for the circumstances.

Well, I always like that you would like you to get more. The idea of leaving a party while it still happens is the most elegant one you can say for a TV series. I never wanted to be like, Oh, that storyline again – That is the only line we have had in the writing room: do not repeat. And we have done a lot. All we have not done was Carrie to get the point that she says, “Maybe I’m enough.”

Before we achieve that, I want to discuss how the decision to end the show was taken. Was it before written this season?

The reality is that the decision was not made at the start of the season. The third season gangbusters went into the writing room. And as the stories go, and the stories go, and the stories go, there is a reason why I started saying, “Don’t repeat.” You start to realize – and it is partly muse, partly Smarts – “This is where it goes.” When Susan Fales-Hill and I were writing the last episode, which is in the middle [of the season’s production]Suddenly we came before the end of the series at that time And The season. “The woman realized that she wasn’t alone – she was alone.”

The resonance of it felt so profound that I knew it was a very important end of the season when we wrote it. And then … wait, is there more? Can we do more? I spoke with Sarah Jessica and said, “I think it’s this. This feels like where we have to leave Carrie Bradshaw.” She said, “Then we will stop.”

How did she take it?

Well, she’s my partner! We built the show together. I had exactly the same experience with her when we did ‘sex and the city’. Season 6 – It could not have been a hotter show. And I said to her, “I think we should stop”, and she said, “Ok.” It’s because we don’t want that alone Doing It. We want to do well, or if there is something dangerous and exciting to say.

Casey [Bloys, CEO of HBO,] Is always very worried about the brand and quality. When we went to him to do ‘and so on,’ he hesitated first. He doesn’t want to duplicate anything either. And I said, “Let me tell you: Mr. Big dies in the first episode and Carrie’s single on fiftysomething.” He says, “Ok, that’s new.” When we went [to tell him the show was ending] This time he said, “I think you brought them all to a great place. Whatever you want.”

Right.

That’s why you work at HBO! The figures are insane, the Chatter’s off-the cards, the conversations are great, they are memes, it’s all. And they went, “ok.”

And then we didn’t tell the press – people tell it, to get a bump. And I didn’t need the bump and I didn’t want people to look at the Carrie-Aidan relationship with the word “final”. I don’t think they would have invested. They would have said, “Okay, just end it.” If the word ‘final’ had been in the mix, you would have seen everything else. You would have seen Harry’s prostate cancer as definitive. And we never wanted that that would be definitive.

If we had told the press on the premiere ‘final’, they would have said, “How does it end?” Guess what? We didn’t know. None of the actors knew it. We just followed the feelings of writing and the story and where we could take Carrie that would be enough of a finish that people can continue to write fan fiction themselves.

I know you are very alert to what fans think and feel, and that there was A line of criticism From the final of ‘Sex and the City’ of 2004 that it ends a show about female friendship with all four women who are romantically combined. Is this ‘in itself’ ending for Carrie who responds to it?

Yes, it’s a call and answer. It is something I have always thought of. Because, just as good as I took care of the ‘Sex and the City’ final that they were not all married – because the anarchy of ‘Sex and the City’ that was 34 at that time, with someone, but unmarried, unacceptable …

It is the Time cover. “Who needs a spouse?”

So Samantha was not married. That was my Maas in the law. But Carrie said that nice last speech about the most important relationship between everyone you have with yourself – while holding a phone with a big calling. My step forward was to really make him by calling him ‘John’.

So this one [on “And Just Like That”] Is the real, real, this-is-now-carie. Many, many years later, by killing, Hartzeer, having gone through new romances and say: “I am mature enough to face this, because I have created a life that is so beautiful for myself.” She’s alone. And that sense is for everyone who has someone, and for anyone who doesn’t have someone, and – I’m going to be emotional – it’s mainly …. wow. I’ve never said this. It is especially for someone who feels bad because they don’t have anyone.

That’s really what it is. It must say: Look at her, how fantastic she is, and she is exactly where you are. That’s for that.

When you see how emotionally connected you are with Carrie, I have to ask if there is openness for her who ever comes back. Of course not fast, but is this the break at the end of a chapter, or the end of her story?

It is closed. Because I care so much for what we have done. And I became emotional, not because of Carrie, but because of the people who care about Carrie. I just realized that “care” is in “Carrie”. People care so much about her that I feel for them. That she is this hero in her late 1950s, wear A hooked hat And the food of Sherbet in Washington Square Park. She has left her mark and as a writer I feel that we have left our mark. I never thought I would continue. It is an instinct that it is as it is: it is an instinct. Everyone else can continue. I can’t.

The conversation about the show you mentioned earlier – people love the show, asking decisions you have made, love to hate it, feel angry, Carrie’s advice through the screen … Do you want to miss that chatter?

That is a really double -edged sword. What I will miss is the fact that we made something that was so alive that at the time there was a dialogue with the fans or the audience or the non-fans. If I didn’t want a response, I would write Haikus and put it in a drawer. Unfortunately I am in the Colosseum. I run outside and go: “Here we are again!,” And people have a reaction, and it is exciting and moving.

It is not a zen, but it is a mirror for a lot. The good mirror is: it is a mirror for work. It is a mirror for the beauty of what the entire cast and crew do, the splendor of those actresses, the smile, the heartache. That is all exciting. The cracked mirror is: “This is not my show. What have they ruined [“Sex and the City”] Because ”? You look at yourself in a cracked mirror – it is not attractive!

One thing that feels about “and so” is a certain cake-in-the-face sensitivity when a character flies high, they are brought down a bit. And, not to be coarse, but I would close by noting that I never expected Carrie Bradshaw’s last moments with her friends in New York City to move into a crowded toilet.

When someone in this universe, ‘sex and the city’ or ‘and such’, is on a soap box to give a speech, the soapbox breaks. We can’t take ourselves too seriously. For the perfectness of Carrie’s pink, sparkling top and tulle skirt – that’s the high – the low is a toilet filled with shit. Because guess once? Because there is single, there is a lot of shit and relationships are a lot of shit. It is the comedy, with the drama, with romance, with the fairy tale. I think it’s a reaction to the fairy tale.

This interview has been edited and condensed.