Sources close to the production revealed to Daily Mail that Samantha's absence will be due to the character being based in London in the reboot.
According to the source, the producers said "we couldn't have Samantha roaming around New York City and not have the other women (Charlotte and Miranda) not interacting with her. It just wouldn't have made sense.”
"Sending her to Los Angeles wasn't an option as we'd done that in the first movie, so having her character based in London really was the perfect way to keep her alive and explain her absence", the insider revealed.
However, as fans have speculated, the reason behind her move is due to a disagreement with Carrie, taking inspiration from the real-life feud between Cattrall and SJP.
"Apparently, Samantha will be "thriving in England even though she has fallen out with Carrie".
"We get into her absence very quickly," the insider said, adding, "viewers will learn that Samantha and Carrie have fallen out over Carrie firing Samantha as her publicist and that they no longer talk. This effectively ends their personal relationship."
They continued: "You'll see as the series progresses over the 10 episodes that Carrie misses her friend and wants to repair the relationship [...] In the words of Oscar Wilde, life imitates art."
Additionally, said source claimed that the show plans to return for a second season, but they're hoping that by leaving Samantha's storyline open, Cattrall has room to change her mind about returning to the series and will easily be able to reprise her role.
"We all miss Kim and we hope she comes back for the second season–the door will never close on her, she is an important part of the franchise," the source said.
"On set, Kim has been missed by everyone. The cast and crew love her and hope she returns," the insider concluded.
Fans were quick to point out that said storyline isn't believable, given that Carrie has previously invested in Samantha's PR prowess in a season four episode, titled "Cover Girl".
While organising a photoshoot for the cover of Carrie's upcoming book, the pair get into an argument that sees their work relationship and personal friendship in hot water. However, Carrie and Samantha decide friendship is more important than business by the end of the episode, making the context of their new feud rather unrealistic.
Of course, Cattrall and Parker famously had a falling out years ago, after rumours emerged that Cattrall caused a stir for famously blocking the third SATC movie from going ahead, before going on to publicly call out Parker for her “cruel” behaviour and for trying to portray a “nice girl” image.
In an 2017 interview Cattrall completely ruled out returning to the franchise. The actor said "this isn't about more money. It's not about more scenes. It's not about any of those things. This is about a clear decision, an empowered decision in my life to end one chapter and start another.”
Whether Cattrall will return for the reboot's second season is still unknown—and seemingly unlikely—but in the meantime, fans aren't particularly pleased with the plot line, given Carrie and Samantha's tight bond. For now, however, we'll just have to wait and see.
