‘Sex and the City’: Why Carrie Stopped Breaking the Fourth Wall
Sex and the City is a cultural phenomenon. The series began airing on HBO back in 1998. It spanned six seasons and two films. Now HBO is airing the follow-up series, And Just Like That. In the first season of the original show, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) often spoke directly to the audience.
This is why Carrie stopped breaking the fourth wall on the show.
‘Sex and the City’ debuted 25 years ago
One of the shows that helped launch HBO as the mega-network that it is today, Sex and the City debuted 25 years ago. The series followed four girlfriends living and loving in New York City in the late ’90s into the early 2000s.
Carrie Bradshaw, Samantha Jones, Miranda Hobbes, and Charlotte York enamored fans as they tried to navigate their friendships with one another, their careers, and their romantic relationships. The women, except for Samantha, were in their early 30s when the series premiered. (Samantha was 41.)
Now, with the Sex and the City reboot series, And Just Like That, fans are meeting the women again in their 50s. For fans who have never gotten into the six-season original series or two films, there will be a way to catch up on the series before And Just Like That Season 2 debuts, and you won’t need HBO to do it.
In ‘Sex and the City’ Carrie stopped breaking the fourth wall
Sex and the City is currently streaming in full on HBO. Fans who watched the original series will recall that in the first season of the show, Carrie would talk directly to the camera, a technique called “breaking the fourth wall.”
The technique is often used to pull the audience directly into the series, and it also feels extremely ’90s. Michael Patrick King, the Sex and the City and And Just Like That showrunner, said that they stopped using the move because he found that it had a negative impact on the character.
In Jennifer Keishin Armstrong’s book Sex and the City and Us: How Four Single Women Changed the Way We Think Live, and Love, King states: “I want to believe this. I believe her. I think she’s the real thing. But whenever she turns to the camera, I no longer believe this. Can we stop that?”
‘And Just Like That’ Season 2 premieres Summer 2023
And Just Like That Season 2 began filming in Oct. 2022 and is slated to air this summer. Fans can expect the seasons to be much lighter and funnier than season 1, where Carrie was grieving the death of her husband Mr. Big (Chris Noth).
Aidan Shaw (John Corbett) is also slated to return to the franchise.
“[The excitement] makes sense,” Sarita Choudhury, who portrays Seema Patel, told Page Six. “I would also be like that. When you think about it, he’s back?! I’d never met him, so I was kind of like a fan as well, you know what I mean?” she continued. “He’s great; he’s a great guy.”
