SATC Writer Reveals Stanford's Original Storyline And It's Heartbreaking

And Just Like That's Michael Patrick King has revealed the plot line he had for beloved character Stanford Blatch - played by Willie Garson.

Willie sadly passed away at the age of 57, during filming for the reboot, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Willie had filmed three episodes in total before he passed.

Now, Michael has revealed how he had planned for Stanford to feature in all episodes of And Just Like That. Instead, writers changed the storyline, revealing that Stanford had asked Anthony for a divorce before moving to Japan to manage a TikTok star.

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Speaking to Variety, Michael said: “Stanford was going to have a midlife crisis. Stanford’s character always had a borderline career as a manager, and we were like going to explore the fact that it wasn’t a real career.

"It was going to be Carrie and him, feeling the shifts. Anthony and him were probably going to have split anyway. Then we would keep both of them in, and everybody would be relieved that they were divorced because it was not pleasant for anybody. But there was a series of really fun, flirty, hilarious confidante scenes with Carrie that I loved.

"That old, old, very specific chemistry that Carrie and Stanford have, which is based totally on the uniqueness of Willie and Sarah Jessica’s history.”

Michael also spoke about the way Stanford was written out of the show, explaining it was 'the most threadbare writing [he'd] ever done'.

“Life and death is one thing in fiction: When it’s real, it’s not funny or cute. I didn’t want to even flirt narratively with cute business about where he is," he said.

"I knew the audience would never invest in it, because they knew he was never coming back. It’s the most threadbare writing I’ve ever done just to move him along without much manoeuvring, because it was just so sad."

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For much of the filming of And Just Like That, Willie reportedly kept his battle with cancer quiet before being forced to reveal all when it worsened.

Actress Cynthia Nixon, who plays Miranda Hobbs, spoke out in an interview ahead of the new series. She described Willie as "full of joy, and so incredibly brilliant and smart."

She added: "We're also very grateful that we had a few days with him knowing that he was sick, and we could talk to him about it and he could talk to us about it. And that was a really important thing for all of us."

The final episode of And Just Like That airs Thursday on Sky and NOW.

Topics: TV And Film