Even after 25 years of its premiere, the cast of "Sex and the City" continues to be loved by the audience, says lead star Sarah Jessica Parker, who believes the show owes its popularity to the "intimate and candid" conversations among four women.
Based on Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the show originally ran as an HBO series for six seasons between 1998 and 2004, with the makers exploring the story further in two films.
Now, the spin-off of "Sex and the City", "And Just Like That..." is in its second season on streaming service Max.
Parker, who plays columnist-turned-podcaster Carrie Bradshaw in "And Just Like That...", took a trip down memory lane about the parent show.
"At the time because of our home at HBO, now Max, we were allowed to have conversations in ways that commercial television just didn't allow. We've been really lucky that there's been an audience, who's been so hospitable to us for a lot of years. We were allowed to have conversations in ways that commercial television just didn't allow...
"The kind of intimate, salty, candid conversations that were being had among four women, that were about their intimate lives, had just not yet been seen. There are and were and continue to be women who shared these kinds of conversations with their friends and they just hadn't seen it," the American actor told PTI in a virtual roundtable interview.
Set 11 years after the events of the 2010 film "Sex and the City 2", "And Just Like That..." follow three of the four friends Carrie, Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte York Goldenblatt (Kristin Davis) as they make a transition into their 50s. It was recently announced that Kim Cattrall will officially return as Samantha Jones for a cameo in the second season finale.
The 11-episode second season premiered on June 22 on JioCinema in India, with two new episodes and the rest airing on a weekly basis.
Talking about "Sex and the City", Parker said she was on the fence about doing a television programme due to the medium's long-term commitment.
"I was always interested in it. Initially before saying yes, I just didn't understand in entirety what the commitment would be. Is it three years? Is it seven years? In the old days, seven years was the contractual agreement and that seemed like a lot of years. I was nervous about that," she added.
She said she was happy to take on the "special" character of Carrie after reading the script and she has had only fun ever since.
"I understood immediately upon reading the pilot script, this was a very special part and in fact, the time my then boyfriend, now husband Matthew (Broderick), my oldest brother, I gave them both the script and they said you've got to do this. Over time I had this somewhat unique experience playing a character, this long along with the people that have also played their characters," the 58-year-old actor said.
A lot of women, Parker said, connected with the female bonding depicted in the show.
"Over time, I had this somewhat unique experience playing a character this long along with the people that have also played their characters. As an actor, you evolved because you have time and experiences that are plentiful.
"What we want to do as an actor is work, act, tell, create a character, have an audience big or small. What I've learned is that women were seeing themselves and their friendships or the ways in which they wanted to conduct friendships or the kind of friendships they were hoping for I guess," she added.
The actor said the popularity of "Sex and the City" propelled more female-centric stories to be greenlit, a development she is happy about.
"It found an audience (and) that audience grew. It encouraged studios, networks and writers to write for women and also feel confident that there was a contemporary audience that was very interested in female-driven stories...," she recalled.
