And Just Like That writer Michael Patrick King explained the Sex and the City reboot series' obsession with including easter eggs referencing the high-end store Barneys. And Just Like That, which premiered on HBO Max in December 2021 and aired its season 1 finale recently, is a ten-years-later follow-up to the last entry in the Sex and the City universe, the 2011 theatrical film Sex and the City 2. Although Kim Cattrall did not return as Samantha Jones, it followed the continued exploits of Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbs, Kristin Davis as Charlotte York, and Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw.

In addition to exploring sex, romance, and friendship in New York City throughout the years, one of the show's biggest passions is fashion. Throughout And Just Like That, there were references to a number of beloved luxury brands, but one that kept cropping up time and again was Barneys, which filed for Chapter 11 in 2019. In addition to a reference to Carrie regretting not being able to go to the Barneys Warehouse Sale and discussing the store with Sarita Choudhury's character Seema, one of the crowning bizarre moments of the series is when Carrie puts the ashes of her late husband Mr. Big, who died while riding a Peloton in the first episode, in an old Barney's bag for safekeeping.

Related: And Just Like That Forgets Carrie’s Real Worst Breakup

Variety sat down with And Just Like That writer Michael Patrick King and asked him one of their most burning questions: what's with the Barneys references? King explained that those were peppered in to make the New York setting "seem more real." He wanted the characters to have a history with New York, not just the most current trends in the city. He also explained that Carrie putting the ashes in a Barneys bag was a visual metaphor for the show's relationship between the past and the future, explaining that "the fact that the Peloton bike was the most current thing that everybody was doing, that would be why Big would die, because he was trying to stay current and then to put the body in a Barneys bag, which is like King Tut at this point." Read the full quote below:

Why Barneys? It is upsetting that Barneys is gone because it was — talk about a period piece! It was the Taj Mahal of fashion in New York. So the idea that Barneys was gone and that she put him in a Barneys bag, that’s an Easter egg to me. First of all, the fact that the Peloton bike was the most current thing that everybody was doing, that would be why Big would die, because he was trying to stay current and then to put the body in a Barneys bag, which is like King Tut at this point.

And secondly, the Barneys sale it’s a signpost. And I knew that if Seema said that she would seem like a legitimate character. The Barneys Warehouse Sale it is that sweet, sad, nostalgic thing that happens in New York — when things go away and you miss them. I can’t tell you how many times people say, “Oh my God, remember that sweater you used to wear”? And anyone has been in New York is tied to that moment. Anyone who’s aspirational knows what Barneys was. It’s just one of those great things, something that existed in real life that I can use in fiction to make the fiction seem more real.

Barneys Shopping Bag in And Just Like That

If there's anyone who knows more about the Sex and the City universe than creator Darren Star, it's King. He joined the original series as a writer and co-executive producer in 1998, right after the pilot was created. After that, he went on to write and direct both Sex and the City films as well as taking a leading role in the writers' room for And Just Like That.

His inclusion of the Barneys references in And Just Like That is in keeping with the way the franchise has presented its characters. Since the later seasons of the original HBO series, the focus on high-end brands increased to a fever pitch. Paying homage to that throughline while also making an ironic commentary on the over-glamorous way Carrie especially lives her life is a perfect way to encapsulate the tone of the series.

Next: And Just Like That Season 2: Everything We Know

Source: Variety