When Sex and the City was revived on HBO Max, And Just Like That… featured only three of the four women who were part of the original series. Samantha’s (Kim Cattrall) absence was addressed in the premiere, but until now, it hasn’t truly been addressed by those still working on the franchise.

Sarah Jessica Parker, who stars as Carrie and is also an executive producer on the revival, spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the decision to not have Samantha be part of the new series. After a third movie (following the ones in 2008 and 2010) did not happen in 2017 because “there were things that [Cattrall] requested that [the studio was] not able to do,” and at the time, they did not want to do it without all four stars, “then there were just a lot of public conversations about how she felt about the show,” Parker said.

So when it came time for And Just Like That…, “we did not ask her to be part of this 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,” she continued. “That’s not ‘slamming’ her, it’s just learning. You’ve got to listen to somebody, and if they’re publicly talking about something and it doesn’t suggest it’s some place they want to be, or a person they want to play, or an environment in which they want to be, you get to an age where you’re like, ‘Well, we hear that.’”

The first season didn’t ignore Samantha’s absence at all. Instead, the premiere established that while they acted ‘like she’s dead,” as Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) noted, since “we never even talk about her,” Carrie no longer needed a publicist, leading to Samantha firing her as a friend. Carrie tried to reach out — Samantha moved to London — but it wasn’t until Mr. Big’s (Chris Noth) funeral that she received a sign her friend still cared (flowers). Then, in the Season 1 finale, Carrie texted Samantha about kissing another man, and the two made plans to meet for drinks while Carrie was in Paris.

That leaves the door for the show to address Samantha being in Carrie’s life moving forward, whether it’s a sentence or two of dialogue or more texts, or to leave them in that place from the finale and not bring her up again. It’s something fans are sure to keep an eye out for when the HBO Max series returns.

And Just Like That…, Season 2, TBA, HBO Max