The Creator Of "And Just Like That..." Explained Why They Chose To Include That Unexpected Death In The First Episode
"Nobody wanted to come back if [the show] was not going to be different."
Fans were taken by surprise when the And Just Like That... premiere featured a major plot twist — and it turns out the actor involved was just as shocked.
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WARNING: This contains a major spoiler for And Just Like That...
In the first episode of the Sex and the City reboot, Mr. Big, played by Chris Noth, suffers a heart attack after a Peloton ride and shockingly dies in Carrie's arms.
Craig Blankenhorn / HBO Max
While fans weren't pleased by the decision, creator Michael Patrick King says it was necessary to progress the show in a new direction.
Courtesy of HBO Max
"Dying was the origin story. Nobody wanted to come back if [the show] was not going to be different," Michael told Vanity Fair.
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And while the cast wanted things to be different, Chris was a little unsure about his character's death at first.
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"When I told Chris that Mr. Big dies in the first episode, he definitely knew it wasn’t [going to be the] same. And we had to talk about it. He really wanted to talk about why he’s dying and what it does for this series," Michael shared.
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He continued, "The more we talked about it, the more he understood that it was for Carrie — and Carrie’s storyline is it’s better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all. Once Chris really understood that it would be amazing for Carrie, he made a sacrifice for us, and because he loves Sarah Jessica so much."
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Michael added that Big's death wouldn't diminish his character's legacy but would instead "increase his legend" and would pave the way for new storylines.
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"If you can find someone who loves you, that’s fabulous. But this really lets us test out that thesis — the voiceover we end the series with in Sex in the City — that the most significant, challenging, difficult, and rewarding relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. It’s also really interesting to me, because 55 and single is a whole new ballpark. You thought 35 and single was a story. 55 and single is a story as well," Michael said.
As for why they chose to specify Peloton in Big's death scene, Michael explained that they wanted to reflect modern society and truly show how young and vibrant Big was before his death.
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"We knew he was gonna have a heart attack. So the Peloton had nothing to do with the heart attack. The Peloton is a thing that people have now, right? It reflects [modern] society. I wanted something to show that Mr. Big was current. Everybody kept coming and saying, ‘Oh, [the characters] are old. They’re old.’ These characters are alive and vibrant,” he said.
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Michael continued, "And I thought, what would Mr. Big be doing during the pandemic? He’d be listening to his record collection and exercising at home. So we built this enormously decadent, titan-of-the-world spa bathroom and put the signature item that you would have in that at home, which is a Peloton... When Carrie carried a Fendi bag, that was the bag of the moment. Peloton is the bike of the moment. The heart attack happened off the bike."
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