EXCLUSIVE: Sex and the City fans can rejoice — John Corbett’s Aidan Shaw will reunite with former love Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) on HBO Max’s And Just Like That… I hear Corbett is set for a substantial, multi-episode arc on the second season of the Sex and the City followup, reprising his role as the likable furniture maker. Reps for HBO Max and Corbett declined comment.
Corbett’s Aidan was one of two notable Sex and the City fan favorite characters that did not appear in the first season of And Just Like That…, along with Kim Cattrall’s Samantha. While the revival of the iconic HBO series was announced from the get-go as focusing on Carrie (Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) with no plans for Cattrall involvement, fans waited until the last seconds of the season finale for Aiden to show up after Corbett had teased his participation, telling Page Six in April 2021, “I think I might be in quite a few [episodes].”
More from Deadline
Parker, who also serves as executive producer on And Just Like That…, found the stunt amusing.
“It was fun. It was fun for him to say that,” she said on Watch What Happens Live this past February. “When he actually reached out, very kindly, because he’s nothing if not a gentleman, and apologized for doing that as a joke, and then I was like, ‘No, no, no, it’s a free country first of all.’ And I thought it was kind of delightful and kind of fun.”
Following the February finale, executive producer Michael Patrick King explained to Deadline why Aidan did not appear in the season, which dealt with the aftermath of Carrie’s husband, Mr. Big (Chris Noth), dying at the end of the first episode.
“It really just felt like this was a lot for Carrie,” he said. “This season was a lot. We wanted to get her through [Big’s death] and into the light—the last episode is called, ‘Seeing the Light.’ We wanted to get her out. [Aidan’s return] is a big storyline that everybody at home wrote that we had never intended.”
In the same February interview, Parker did not rule out a potential Corbett appearance for Season 2.
“I think he would be… I mean, I’m not going, yes, all of it’s possible,” she said.
In the final moments of the Season 1 finale, Carrie is seen kissing podcast producer Franklyn (Ivan Hernandez), a sign that she is ready to begin dating again following a period of mourning.
Corbett portrayed Carrie Bradshaw’s (Parker) on-and-off boyfriend and later fiancé Aidan Shaw in seasons 3 and 4 of Sex and the City. They broke up twice, the first time after she confessed to sleeping with her future husband Mr. Big, and the second time when she couldn’t commit after Aidan proposed and the two got engaged.
Carrie and Aidan mended fences in Season 6 when they bumped into one another on the street, with Aidan revealing that he was married with a young son. Fate brought them together again in the film Sex and the City 2 at a market in Abu Dhabi. The pair shared a passionate kiss during a later dinner but with both being married at the time (and Aidan also a father of three), Carrie ran away. A Carrie and Aidan reunion years later will likely have to address what has happened to Aidan’s wife, Kathy.
Corbett is coming off reprising another beloved character in a romantic comedy franchise, Ian in the third My Big Fat Greek Wedding movie, which just wrapped production in Greece.
Rosy Cordero contributed to this report.
Best of Deadline
Sign up for Deadline’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
