As the filming of the controversial reboot, And Just Like That…, continues on the streets of New York we, like many other fans of the long-running Sex and the City franchise, were equal parts surprised and confused to see Grammy winner Sam Smith announce their arrival on set just last week via their Instagram.
In Carrie fashion we couldn’t help but wonder, could Sam be the new Samantha? Or are they simply another cameo in the Sex and the City machine, a la Liza Minelli in the second film? If their role amounts to little more, which wouldn’t be unlikely given the series’ history, then showrunner Michael Patrick-King may very well have another controversy on his hands surrounding his handling of minority characters.
And Just Like That… premiered in 2021 to extremely polarising reviews, with even the most ardent SATC fans struggling to embrace the tonal shift from the original series. Following the lives of Carrie, Charlotte & Miranda as they navigate their 50s, King steered away from the breezy nature of its predecessor and instead attempted to hone in on both the reality of middle-aged life as well as repair many of the errors the original series made in its heteronormative and white-washed portrayal of New York.
The result? To many, the show’s handling of diversity was deemed nothing short of performative and ham-fisted. With claims that the newly introduced non-white and LGBTQ+ characters were little more than accessories to the pre-established stars; tensions reached fever pitch when it came to the series’ first non-binary character Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez). Described as one of TV’s “most annoying characters ever,” Mackenzie Oravac of The New York Post said it best: “The writers tailor Che not for queer audiences but for women in their 50s who still can’t wrap their heads around they/them pronouns … They’re not a character, but a prop.”
Smith, the first openly non-binary performer to win a Grammy award, is no stranger to controversy and discrimination With their addition to the series, all one can hope is that their character’s representation improves on the writers’ fatal errors shown in Diaz. After all, SATC was at one point deemed highly progressive, and it’s about time Carrie and the girls caught up with the modern day in a truly authentic fashion.
Words by Ben Carpenter
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