I Can’t Get Sarah Jessica Parker’s SATC Theory Out Of My Mind

When Sex and the City makes its Netflix debut in April, it will introduce the series to a new audience. But thanks to a previously shared theory from Sarah Jessica Parker, who plays Carrie Bradshaw, first-time fans might interpret the show’s entire premise differently.

Adapted from Candace Bushnell’s newspaper column of the same name, Sex and the City follows the lives of four women as they navigate careers, friendship, and romance against the backdrop of New York City. In a 2019 interview, Parker couldn’t help but wonder... are Carrie’s best friends, Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte York (Kristin Davis), and Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) just figments of her imagination?

“Think about it, did Carrie make them up?” Parker told News.com.au. “She’s telling a story every week. This is her point of view, it’s almost always her point of view.” (As fans will recall, episodes are narrated by Carrie.)

The actor pointed to the show’s final episode, “An American Girl in Paris,” in which Carrie heads to the French capital. “When Carrie went to Paris and left her computer, for the first time Carrie wasn’t telling the story,” Parker said. “She left her computer, which was the conduit [through] which the audiences knows about Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha. Sometimes I’m like, hmmm, just to mess with myself.”

Fans Support The Idea

The theory popped up on Reddit about a decade ago, where many fans agreed that the women might only exist in Carrie’s mind.

“Each character might represent how Carrie’s life could have turned out and doesn't actually exist,” one Redditor suggested. Another posed, “They are simply pseudonyms of the real women in Carrie’s circle who she writes about.”

Sex and the City aired for six seasons (1998–2004). The HBO original spawned two sequel movies, released in 2008 and 2010, and a Max spinoff, And Just Like That, which was recently renewed for Season 3.