Where’s Samantha? Sarah Jessica Parker addresses ‘painful’ Kim Cattrall rift and shares REAL reason costar didn’t reprise SATC role

Sex and the City actress Sarah Jessica Parker addressed feud rumors surrounding former costar Kim Cattrall, claiming the studio had more of a say in Samantha’s absence than fans knew.

Parker tip-toed around the subject at first, seemingly wary of upsetting Cattrall following her interview with Variety, in which Cattrall insinuated she was the one who said no to reprising her beloved character.

At the time, Cattrall said she was “never asked” to be part of the reboot And Just Like That… noting she had made her “feelings clear” about coming back for a third movie.

SJP contradicted those remarks in a new interview and explained why they didn’t follow up with Cattrall.

“I’ve been so careful about not ever wanting to say anything that is unpleasant because it’s not the way I like to conduct conversations that are as complicated as this,” Parker said during her appearance on the Awards Chatter podcast.

“The studio, when we were going to do the third movie, there were things she requested that they were not able to do — they didn’t feel comfortable meeting where she wanted to meet,” SJP, who portrays fashion-loving columnist Carrie Bradshaw, added.

“And so, we didn’t do the movie because we didn’t want to do it without Kim and the studio wasn’t going to do it. So it fell apart,” SJP continued. “It wasn’t that she said no to the movie. It’s that the studio said no to the movie, which you know happens.”

Although Cattrall and Parker have both been candid about their falling out, SJP was quick to clarify that she and her former costar are not in a “catfight,” admitting that it’s been a “painful” subject for her to discuss.

Parker also acknowledged that Cattrall “was a huge contributor to the success” of the series and insisted they were just respecting her wishes regarding the reboot.

“We did not ask her to be part of this [And Just Like That…] because she made it clear that that wasn’t something she wanted to pursue, and it no longer felt comfortable for us, and so it didn’t occur to us. That’s not ‘slamming’ her, it’s just learning.”

SJP noted that she has spent many years “working really hard to always be decent to everybody on the set, to take care of people, to be responsible to and for people, both my employers and the people that I feel I’m responsible for as a producer of the show.”