Sex And The City: 10 Potential Plotlines For The Upcoming Reboot
And Just Like That will bring Sex and the City back to the small screen - but where can the show go after so many years?
The announcement of a Sex and the City revival coming to HBO Max has fans of the iconic late-'90s comedy reeling. The iconic Samantha Jones won't make an appearance, with the new series centering around Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte - a format that might give more screentime to the latter two characters than the original rather Carrie-centric show did.
The franchise's second film, 2010's Sex and the City 2, left all three women in a happy place, with Carrie and Big learning to compromise, Charlotte overcoming jealousy, and Miranda finding a new job. The original show and the films already covered many sex and relationship bases - divorce, cheating, childbirth, leaving New York, and other, far raunchier, topics. So what developments can fans expect for the trio?
10 Brady Drops Out Of College
At the time of And Just Like That..., Brady Hobbes should be approaching or in his twenties. It's not unlikely that academic superstar Miranda would encourage Brady to attend college, but it's completely feasible that her son would be dissatisfied with that path. The show could take a page from season six of Sex and the City's contemporary Gilmore Girls and have Brady drop out and move back in with his parents.
Alternatively, he could embark on some other adventure that has Miranda worried. Either development would cause Miranda and Steve to reconcile what they think is best for their son with what he truly wants, which could prove a moving plot for the family.
9 Charlotte Meets Lily's Significant Other(s)
As a show decidedly about dating and sex, Sex and the City attempted to break television ground in certain ways but often fell into patterns of slut-shaming as much as critiqued them. Charlotte's sometimes rigid views of love and dating were always in service of her desires and needs - undeniably a great thing - but she also often imposed these on her friends and doled out judgment.
Seeing Charlotte have to navigate meeting her now-adult older daughter's partner would be a fascinating opportunity for the show to demonstrate Charlotte's growth. She was once a notoriously picky bachelorette and hopefully will have learned to respect and support others in making their own dating choices.
8 One Of The Girls Feels Left Out
Charlotte's dedication to pursuing marriage and children sometimes caused distance between herself and her friends. Fans can easily recall, for instance, the amount of time Charlotte spent (not) enjoying Trey and his family's company in seasons three and four. With Samantha out of the picture, Charlotte could be feeling like a third wheel in Carrie and Miranda's tight-knit friendship.
On the other hand, as the only non-mother of the trio, Carrie could be feeling like all her friends talk about is their kids. She could even seek out more child-free friends - only, of course, to rediscover how unique and cherished her relationships with Charlotte and Miranda truly are.
7 Carrie Has To Work With Natasha
Carrie and Big's affair in season three is one of Sex and the City's most controversial plotlines. Carrie is mortified when her sneaking around leads to Natasha injuring herself, but fans recall an even more painful moment between the two women. In "What Goes Around Comes Around," Carrie crashes Natasha's lunch in an infamously botched attempt at closure.
With Carrie a clothes-obsessed former Vogue writer and Natasha working in fashion, it's quite possible that the two New Yorker's work lives would cross paths. Some twenty years after the affair, could the pair finally achieve some sort of resolution?
6 Miranda and Steve Explore Polyamory
In the first film, Steve's admission of having cheated on Miranda causes the explosive breakdown of their marriage - as well as Carrie and Big's upcoming one. Thankfully for fans of the couple, Carrie convinces Miranda to make amends and Steve begins the process of repairing his misdeeds in couples' counseling.
It would be interesting if over ten years later, Miranda floats the idea of seeing other people in the context of mutual respect and clear boundaries. Throughout her tenure on the show, Miranda demonstrated an openness to a variety of different situations in the realm of sex and dating. A relationship exploring Ethical Non-Monogamy would provide an opportunity for the couple to step up their communication and possibly get the most out of their marriage.
5 Carrie Visits Her Mother
Carrie's backstory was always a bit hazy, with perceptive fans getting only glimpses into the columnist's early life throughout the series. Although the CW's prequel series The Carrie Diaries took a different approach to Carrie's childhood, the details given in Sex and the City are that Carrie's father left her and her mother when she was five.
With viewers having seen Miranda's mother's funeral and met both Steve and Big's mothers in the show, it's high time that Carrie's only parental figure be introduced. Although casting the Bradshaw matriarch would be a daunting task, it would be amazing to see the source (or at least, a major source) of Carrie's quirks and abundant personality.
4 The Girls Mourn The Loss Of Samantha
Although it's not the happiest explanation for Samantha's absence from the show, writing the beloved character's death could prove a smart choice. Besides providing an opportunity to pay tribute to Samantha's huge part in shaping Sex and the City's legacy, such a plotline would also allow the show to address mixed feelings fans have about the show going forward without her.
The tragic loss could be recent or something in the past that the girls continue to process in different ways. In any case, it could be a wiser strategy than trying to skate over the significant shake-up.
3 Miranda Opens Her Own Law Firm
In the franchise's second film Sex and the City 2, Miranda is frustrated by rampant misogyny at her law firm and eventually quits her job. By the end of the movie, though, she's found a new position at a firm with a completely different workplace culture.
Perhaps a decade later, Miranda is driven to create such a culture at a new firm of her own. Such a venture would allow Miranda to take on the cases that are most important to her but would pose a variety of challenges and introduce new logistical hoops to jump through. With Charlotte possibly still a full-time mother and homemaker and Carrie a dedicated freelancer, it could be the perfect work plotline to develop over the course of a season.
2 Carrie And Big Lose Everything
Carrie always had an awful lot of money for a freelance writer (and later book author). From owning $40,000 worth of shoes to hiring an assistant in the Sex and the City movie (to do what, exactly?), Carrie's finances have been an enduring mystery to fans of the franchise. But upon her marriage to wealthy financier Mr. Big in the first film, Carrie seems set for life.
It would be all the more interesting, then, for And Just Like That... to have the pair run into money trouble, perhaps due to faulty investments or other issues Big encounters in the finance world. It's a tale as old as time for well-off characters, but it would be particularly fascinating to see Carrie and Big adapt to drastically different lifestyles than they've previously gotten away with.
1 Carrie's Column Is Finally Optioned As A Movie
In season three's two-part getaway to L.A., Carrie's talks with an erratic Matthew McConaughey to adapt her column into a Hollywood film stall and go nowhere. Some 20 years later, Carrie is already a published author, possibly still a columnist, and perhaps has other literary accolades under her belt - a track record that could stimulate interest in a movie option.
The idea of having Carrie oversee a film based on her writings would not only be a self-referential twist reminiscent of the Jerry sitcom storyline on fellow '90s favorite Seinfeld, but also an opportunity for the revival to address the complicated legacy of the real-life Sex and the City films. Even more hilariously, the film-within-a-show could borrow the name of Carrie's column - "Sex and the City."