Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon says her character Miranda always had "lesbianic" characteristics. Nixon reprised her role as Miranda in the HBO Max series And Just Like That… The show is a spinoff of the original Sex and the City, which ran from 1998 to 2004 and inspired two films. Original stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis also reprise their roles in And Just Like That, playing Carrie Bradshaw and Charlotte York-Goldenblatt, respectively.
The original Sex and the City gave only brief screen time to queer relationships. Samantha Jones, played by Kim Cattrall, dated a woman in season 4, while the other core characters are consistently portrayed as heterosexual. However, And Just Like That season 1 provided increased queer representation, this time through Nixon’s character, Miranda. In the HBO Max spinoff, Miranda dates a non-binary comedian named Che Diaz, who also co-hosts a podcast with Parker’s Carrie. Che is played by actor Sara Ramirez, who also identifies as non-binary.
Now, however, Nixon (who is a gay woman) says that Miranda always showed qualities of being queer, even if they were quite subtle. Speaking to ENews, Nixon said that although Samantha was “a little queer” in Sex and the City season 4, Miranda’s sexuality was “very different.” Nixon cites Miranda’s frequent rejection of tradition and defiance of men as traits that aligned Miranda with being a lesbian. Showrunner Michael Patrick King expressed some agreement with this statement, arguing that Miranda’s tendency towards "anarchy” may have alluded to her being gay. Nixon elaborated by saying:
“I think not having to be under a man's thumb has always been one of the very appealing things that being with another woman has to offer ... Even though she was only really interested in men, I think that Miranda had many other queer and frankly, lesbianic qualities about her. And I think for a lot of gay women, she—we didn't have a gay woman! But she was a stand-in for the gay women we didn't have.”
Nixon references the more subtle ways that Miranda's queer identity may be hinted at in the original Sex and the City. As Nixon suggests, showing open and happy same-sex relationships in film and TV was not common in the 1990s and early 2000s. Because of this, it may have been very difficult for a popular — albeit in many ways revolutionary — show like Sex and the City to explicitly portray queerness in its main characters. Showrunner King never directly states that a queer relationship was always on the cards for Miranda, but Nixon says she was not surprised that Miranda's And Just Like That storyline saw her beginning a relationship with Che.
Sex & the City was a landmark show in its celebratory portrayal of female sexuality. It famously normalized open discussions of sex and relationships, though this was largely centered on heterosexuality. However, And Just Like That provides another opportunity to explore the complexities of the hit original show's central characters, and increase representation for LGBTQ+ actors and characters. If Che returns in season 2, the show will likely continue to explore this facet of Miranda’s identity, which will be informed by Nixon's own in-depth knowledge of her beloved character.
Source: ENews