Fans are thrilled to know that some of their favorite characters from Sex and the City are returning for a 10-episode revival series. However, Kim Cattrall, who played Samantha’s role, will not be returning due to her ongoing differences with lead Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie). Parker’s significant pay difference from the rest of the cast, including Kristin Davis (Charlotte) and Cynthia Nixon (Miranda), has been a topic of discussion in the past because of Cattrall, and now the cast’s salaries have been made public.
According to executive producer Michael Patrick King, Parker made more money than the rest because she was the “star” of the series and films. “The show doesn’t exist if Sarah Jessica wasn’t the blonde star of the show, that’s number one,” he detailed on an episode of the Origins podcast titled “Sex and the City: 1, 2 & Out” in 2018 via Us Weekly. “Kim was not at the height of her career, Kristin was under her in terms of notability, Cynthia was a theater actress — and their contracts reflected that status.”
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Parker not only led the show as Carrie Bradshaw, but she was also a producer during the last three seasons. According to the outlet, Parker earned $3 million per episode during her last three seasons — although that is not confirmed. For Sex and the City movie, Parker made $15 million per celebrity net worth, and for the Sex and the City 2 film, she earned an extra $5 million, totaling $20 million. For their upcoming revival series And Just Like That, each cast member will earn $10 million for 10 episodes, according to Variety.
As for the other cast members, Nixon was raking in $350,000 per episode, for the first film $3 million and the second $4 million. Cattrall earned $350,000 per episode and $7 million for the first movie and $10 million for the second. As for Nixon, her salary earnings are not available, but she will make $10 million total for the new series. In 2004, Cattrall made it very clear that she would step away if she didn’t make more per episode. “I felt after six years it was time for all of us to participate in the financial windfall of Sex and the City. When they didn’t seem keen on that, I thought it was time to move on.”
King noted, “As the show progressed, the characters, everybody grew, it became a family. Kristin, Cynthia and Sarah Jessica became one group, and Kim never joined mentally. Kristin and Cynthia went in the light; they became those two ladies; they understood it was Sarah Jessica’s name, look at the posters.” He then detailed that Cattrall fought back by saying, “I’m everyone’s favorite,” however, that wasn’t going to change things when it came to the group dynamic.
“[Parker’s] name was contractually, legally, righteously, the only name on the poster due to the fact that she was a movie star in 1998 when the series started and she did a leap to do a show about sex on [HBO], the channel that did the fights, and it doesn’t matter how popular you are. I guess for Kim, it didn’t matter how much the raise became if there was never parity, but there was never going to be parity.”
