“And Just Like That…”
That was actually planned for Stanford in the “SATC” spin-off
Sarah Jessica Parker aka Carrie Bradshaw and Willie Garson as Stanford Blatch on set of the premiere of “And Just Like That…”.
© Gotham/GC Images
Actor Willie Garson died while filming ‘And Just Like That…’. This is what his role should have looked like.
“And Just Like That…” series creator Michael Patrick King (67) has revealed what Stanford Blatch was originally planned for Willie Garson’s (1964-2021) role. The actor died during filming last fall. Stanford was Carrie Bradshaw’s (Sarah Jessica Parker, 56) best friend and confidante in “Sex and the City”.
And Garson was also seen in the first three episodes of the spin-off “And Just Like That…”. The plan was for Stanford to appear in all ten episodes, as King now told the US industry portal “Variety”. “Before I knew Willie was sick and couldn’t finish it, Stanford was going to have a midlife crisis,” the showrunner explained.
The separation was inevitable
Stanford has always had “a borderline career” as a manager, King said of the character. “We wanted to get to the bottom of the fact that it wasn’t a real career,” he added. “Carrie and he would have felt the changes.” Stanford’s husband Anthony Marentino, played by Mario Cantone (62), “and he probably would have split up anyway,” said the series creator.
Anthony and Stanford would both remain part of the series even after the split. “And everyone would be relieved that they’re divorced because nobody was comfortable with it,” King continued, adding, “But there were a number of really funny, hilarious, intimate scenes” with Carrie, who he loved. “That old, very specific chemistry that Carrie and Stanford have is based entirely on the unique story of Willie and Sarah Jessica.”
Willie Garson died in September 2021 at the age of 57 from complications from pancreatic cancer. Sarah Jessica Parker took among others in a statement for “Vulture” farewell to him. She and Willie Garson were “friends for over 30 years, well before ‘Sex and the City,'” the actress said. The special thing: the friendship between the two in “SATC” was also similar to their true friendship, as she explains. “Although Stanford and Carrie’s lives and choices are radically different from ours, their on-screen relationship had a vibrancy that felt familiar.”
Stanford disappears to Tokyo
In “And Just Like That…” Stanford was retired from the show in episode four with a sudden work-related move to Tokyo. He shared this with Carrie in a letter. King told Variety that writing Garson out of the story like this was “the most flimsy” thing he’s ever written. He didn’t want to embellish what Stanford is doing now:
“I knew viewers would never buy it because they know he’s never coming back.” It was “just so sad,” King said. “There was no way to write me out of there in a charming, nice way.”
The first season of “And Just Like That…”, which can be seen in Germany via Sky and Sky Ticket, ends this Thursday (February 3) with the tenth episode. It is still unclear whether there will be a sequel. For the finale of the season, the streaming provider HBO Max will show a documentary in which viewers can “take a look behind the scenes of the creation of this groundbreaking new series”.