Cynthia Nixon speaks out about Chris Noth being cut from And Just Like That finale
Cynthia Nixon attends as HBO Max Hosts And Just Like That… New York premiere on 8 December 2021. (Udo Salters/Patrick McMullan via Getty)
Cynthia Nixon said it was “lucky” that producers were able to cut Chris Noth out of the And Just Like That… finale.
Noth, who played Mr Big in Sex and the City and its reboot, has faced accusations of sexual harassment by several women. He has denied all of the allegations.
His character was killed off in the first episode of And Just Like That…, just before the first allegations were reported. It was later revealed that Mr Big was due to appear in the finale in a vision to Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) as she scattered his ashes.
Nixon, who plays Miranda Hobbes, told Entertainment Tonight it was “lucky” that the show’s bosses had enough time to make the last-minute changes to the reboot after the accusations against Noth broke.
“I think we were very lucky that those changes were able to be made, and I think we are very proud of our show,” Nixon said.
A source told Entertainment Tonight that the cuts to the finale was a collective decision agreed upon by the cast, producers and writers. The source said it “wasn’t a major overhaul” as Mr Big was “killed off early and was to reappear later in the series finale”.
Cynthia Nixon arrives at Out Magazine’s OUT100 Awards Celebration on 15 November 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty/Gregg DeGuire)
Nixon added that the cast and producers didn’t want fans to be “distracted or already feel”, especially after the death of Willie Garson in September. Garson played Stanford Blatch, Bradshaw’s close friend and confidant, across the long-running series.
He was due to play a major part in And Just Like That…, but his health took a turn for the worse after he filmed the first few episodes.
Nixon said Garson’s death was “such a painful thing” and was already a major change that “viewers had to contend with”. So she said the reboot’s stars, writers and producers treaded carefully going forward with the new HBO Max series.
“We didn’t want them to be distracted from the fictional characters,” Nixon said.
Chris Noth says the allegations against him are ‘categorically false’
Two women spoke out about alleged encounters with the Sex and the City star in an explosive article published by the Hollywood Reporter last December.
One woman, when she was 22-years-old, alleged Noth raped her at his Los Angeles apartment. Another woman claimed Noth assaulted in 2015, when she was 25, following a date in New York City.
Two more women came forward to accuse Noth of sexual assault and misconduct in the following weeks.
In the wake of the allegations, Noth was dropped from his role in CBS’ The Equaliser, parted ways with his talent agency and had his Peloton advertisement pulled by the exercise bike brand.
The actor has denied all the allegations against him. A representative for Noth told People: “The story is a complete fabrication, and the alleged accounts detailed throughout read like a piece of bad fiction.”
In December, Noth told the Hollywood Reporter that he “did not assault these women” and called the allegations against him “categorically false”.
“The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false,” Noth said. “These stories could’ve been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago — no always means no — that is a line I did not cross.”
He continued: “The encounters were consensual. It’s difficult not to question the timing of these stories coming out.
“I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women.”
After the allegations against Noth hit headlines, Cynthia Nixon alongside Parker and Davis (Charlotte York Goldenblatt) released a message in solidarity with the women accusing Noth of sexual assault.
“We support the women who have come forward and shared their painful experiences,” the Sex and the City stars wrote on social media.
“We know it must be a very difficult thing for them to do and we commend them for it.”
