Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell says the beloved HBO adaptation should not serve as a guide for how women should live.
“We never talk about this, but that’s something that women need to think about: You can do a lot less . . . when you have to rely on a man,” Bushnell said in a New York Post interview. “The TV show and the message were not very feminist at the end. But that’s TV. That’s entertainment. That’s why people should not base their lives on a TV show.”
Regarding the super fans who look to the show for guidance, Bushnell minimized the importance of landing your own “Mr. Big” – the now-famous archetype of the elusive, attractive and successful metropolitan man.
“The reality is, finding a guy is maybe not your best economic choice in the long term. Men can be very dangerous to women in a lot of different ways,” Bushnell said.
The original series was based off Bushnell’s book of the same name, which started as a confessional dating column that ran in the New York Observer from 1994 to 1996. Her friend, a television producer named Darren Starr, picked up the rights and adapted the book into the now-famous HBO series.
Bushnell has been sharing her thoughts ahead of the December debut of HBO Max’s Sex and the City sequel, And Just Like That... The new series will follow Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) as they navigate their friendship in their 50s. Original series star Kim Cattrall is not returning for the sequel, much to fans’ dismay, including a disappointed John Oliver.
Bushnell defended Cattrall’s decision to pass.
“I absolutely love Kim,” Bushnell said. “But it seems she wants to do other things, and she doesn’t feel like doing the show. Maybe she doesn’t want to be that character anymore.”
Cattrall has been keeping busy. In an exclusive for Deadline, it was announced the English-born Canadian-American is starring in Lionsgate’s upcoming comedy About My Father, inspired by the life of stand-up comedian Sebastian Maniscalco. Recently, Cattrall starred in the Fox series Filthy Rich and the CBS All Access series Tell Me A Story.
Bushnell is unruffled by HBO’s decision to create a sequel series.
“HBO’s going to make money on it. They’re going to exploit it as much as they can,” Bushnell said. “They rebooted ‘Gossip Girl.’ If they didn’t reboot ‘Sex in the City,’ it would be really strange.”
Though she doesn’t “know anything about what the new show’s going to be about,” Bushnell added she will watch the sequel.
Bushnell is currently preparing to star in her one-woman, off-Broadway show, Is There Still Sex in the City?, based on her latest book. The show starts previews at the Daryl Roth Theater on Nov. 13 before opening for a 12-week engagement Dec. 7.