[Editor’s note: The following story contains some spoilers for the “And Just Like That,” Season 3, Episode 1.]
Thirty years after the debut of “Sex and the City,” and newly-minted spin-off standout Rosie O’Donnell has some sage thoughts on how the series has changed, through the lens of sequel “And Just Like That.” O’Donnell appears in the first episode of “And Just Like That” Season 3, with Ben Travers’ IndieWire review applauding her “great guest arc” as Mary, a nun who loses her virginity to Miranda (Cynthia Nixon).
Critics have already been comparing Miranda’s role of helping Mary embrace her sexuality to that of her own relationship with her ex, Che Diaz (who famously helped Miranda realize she was queer in Season 1). Yet O’Donnell knows that her “And Just Like That” cameo could never have been included in “Sex and the City,” and not just because of Miranda being closeted at the time.
When asked by Variety if she ever considered being in the “SATC” cinematic universe, O’Donnell said, “No, because ‘Sex and the City’ was such a girl-, woman-focused show in a way that I don’t possess. … You see these girls who have long hair and know how to whip it up into a bun; I lack that gene. There’s girls who know how to dress themselves to look appropriate for their body shape, and I was never that girl. I put on boys’ clothes. I rode a motorcycle. I was definitely a little gay girl.”
O’Donnell, who has recently appeared in “Russian Doll” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” came out as a lesbian in 2002. She called herself an “O.G. lesbian” to Variety, saying that she told her nonbinary child, “I’m a girl who knew I was a girl, who liked being a girl, but didn’t feel like a real girl. But I never wanted to be a boy. I never thought about boys. I was only always thinking about girls.”
O’Donnell added that it was a “really strange time to be out of the closet to everyone in show business” because she had been living her life outside of the public eye as an openly lesbian woman. “I was out to everyone except the public,” she said, adding that she had even known “SATC” producer and “AJLT” creator Michael Patrick King at the time, in total for more than 30 years.
Now, working with longtime pals King and Nixon felt like a no-brainer, and on brand for the series. “I’m good friends with Cynthia Nixon, and my daughter was actually her assistant on set for the last season of ‘And Just Like That,’” O’Donnell said. “She put her on there, and then she said, ‘By the way, Michael told me that he has a role for you. Are you up for it?’ I said, ‘Are you kidding me? In a minute!’ I didn’t even have to think about it.”
“And Just Like That” Season 3 is now streaming on Max. The 12-episode season concludes August 14.
