As another season of And Just Like That rages on, it’s clear that Kim Cattrall won’t be making her return to screens anytime soon, but let’s just take a walk down memory lane to remember why Cattrall and her beloved Samantha left the Sex and the City spin-off.

After starring as the legendary Samantha Jones in Sex and the City from 1998 until 2004, and in the 2008 and 2010 films, Cattrall didn’t join the cast of And Just Like That when it premiered in 2021, a move that fueled longstanding rumors of a feud between Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker.

We’re delving into the rumors, what stopped Cattrall from returning, and what happened to Samantha below.

Why Isn’t Kim Cattrall in And Just Like That?

Cattrall revealed that she was never asked to be in And Just Like That after previously refusing to reprise her role as Samantha for a third Sex and the City movie. “I was never asked to be part of the reboot. I made my feelings clear after the possible third movie, so I found out about it like everyone else did — on social media,” Cattrall told Variety in May 2022.

She said she didn’t like how Samantha was represented in the script for the third movie, calling it “heartbreaking.”

In a 2017 interview with Piers Morgan, Cattrall responded to backlash over rumors that she was the one who shelved the third SATC film. “It’s quite extraordinary to get any kind of negative press about something that I’ve been saying for almost a year of ‘no’ that I’m demanding or a diva,” Cattrall said, per People. “The answer was always no and a respectful, firm, no.” Cattrall also took a swipe at Parker, saying, “I think she could have been nicer.”

Cattrall previously opened up about issues with her co-star, who made more on the show due to her status as a producer. “I felt after six years it was time for all of us to participate in the financial windfall of Sex and the City,” Cattrall told Friday Night With Jonathan Ross in 2004. “When they didn’t seem keen on that I thought it was time to move on.”

Why Isn’t Samantha in And Just Like That?

On the show, the reason for Samantha’s absence is simple: she moved to London. We learned in season 1 that she stopped speaking to the SATC girls after a fight with Carrie over work. “You know, it is kind of like she’s dead, Samantha. We never even talk about her,” Miranda says in the first episode, to which Carrie replies, “Well, what is there to say? I told her that because of, you know, what the book business is now, it just didn’t make sense for me to keep her on as a publicist. She said ‘fine’ and then fired me as a friend.”

There seems to be a resolution to this fight by the end of season 1, after Samantha agrees to meet Carrie after she goes to Paris to spread Big’s ashes, but it wasn’t until the season 2 finale that we got an official Cattrall cameo. Carrie and Samantha share a phone call, which Cattrall and Parker filmed separately, after Samantha had to back out of Carrie’s “Last Supper” dinner in her Upper East Side apartment due to a flight cancellation.

In a 2023 appearance on Today With Hoda & Jenna, Cattrall said that the cameo is “as far” as she’s going to go with the series, but said she’ll never fully say goodbye to Samantha. “She’s like a lot of other characters that I’ve done over the years. I get very emotionally attached and protective of my characters. She gave me so much, and I’m so appreciative of her,” she said.

What Have the Rest of the Cast Said About Cattrall’s Absence?

Parker opened up about Cattrall not returning for the show in a June 2022 episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, saying, “It’s very hard to talk about this situation with Kim, because I’ve been so careful about not ever wanting to say anything that is unpleasant, because it’s not the way I like to conduct conversations that are as complicated as this.”

Parker called Cattrall’s comments about her “very painful” and confirmed that she was never asked to be in And Just Like That. “She made it clear that that wasn’t something she wanted to pursue, and it no longer felt comfortable for us, and so it didn’t occur to us. But that’s not ‘slamming’ her, it’s just learning. You’ve got to listen to somebody, and if they’re publicly talking about something, and it doesn’t suggest it’s someplace they want to be or a person they want to play or an environment in which they want to be, you get to an age where you’re like, ‘Well, we hear that.'”

In June 2023, Kristin Davis was asked by The Telegraph if she was in touch with Cattrall. “You have to respect people’s wishes,” she responded. “I’m not gonna waste energy on it. I can’t change anybody.”

Of course, the show has kept the door open for a possible Samantha return, and she’s often just a text away for Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte, so who knows what the future may hold.