The most challenging question to have surfaced during the first season of And Just Like That was not ‘Where is Samantha?’ but ‘What are they wearing?’ Miranda would not be attending comedy concerts with a cumbersome rucksack, Charlotte would not have swapped her Ralph Lauren knits for puff-sleeve prairie dresses, and Carrie would almost certainly have a collection of Telfars stashed in her closet. Would Samantha have made better decisions with her clothing? It seems unlikely that she would be dressing with as much chaos, having found a modicum of peace since splitting from her former friendship group. Samantha has learnt to send boundaried text messages, so a pigeon clutch might be too outré for her.
All that will come to the fore in season two when Kim Catrall returns to the SATC fold. But Ms “I don't want to be in a situation for even an hour where I'm not enjoying myself” will only be making a cameo in one (1) scene, which will be limited to a transatlantic phone call between Samantha and Carrie. So distanced is her involvement that Catrall even asked to shoot her dialogue without seeing her ex-colleagues, including Sarah Jessica Parker and showrunner Michael Patrick King. But perhaps the funniest news to have surfaced from the announcement is that Catrall refused to work with the show’s current costume designers, asking OG stylist Patricia Field – who rejected ALJT for Emily in Paris – to dress her character instead.
Was she not inspired by Carrie’s homage to The Joker? What about Miranda’s plaid shirts? The announcement of Cattrall's casting does beg the question of what Samantha Jones would actually be wearing in 2023. Maybe one of Alaïa’s belted bodycons? Some archive Tom Ford-era Gucci from The Real Real? A hooded Saint Laurent column with loads of rich bitch bangles? Or perhaps she would have been magnetised to Chopova Lowena, Mowalola, or Conner Ives. After all, she did move to London. Though details remain scant, viewers will have to tune into And Just Like That on HBO on June 22 to see how Samantha has evolved since splitting from Carrie et al. Click through the gallery above to see some of the best looks from the show’s original incarnation.