A premiere date for the second season of HBO Max’s “And Just Like That” has yet to be announced, but the confirmed return of a fan-favorite character has nonetheless set the internet abuzz.
Actor John Corbett was spotted Thursday filming scenes for the “Sex and the City” revival series in New York. The actor is reprising his role as Aidan Shaw, a furniture designer and the on-and-off love interest of Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw.
While details regarding the extent of Corbett’s involvement are scarce, Deadline reported last year that he was “set for a substantial, multi-episode arc” on the show. And it looks like love may be in the air for Aidan and Carrie once again, as the two actors were photographed sharing a passionate embrace and a kiss on the streets of Manhattan.
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Corbett, whose credits include “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and the “To All the Boys” film trilogy, played Aidan on three seasons of “Sex and the City” from 2000 to 2003. He also appeared in the 2010 movie “Sex and the City 2.”
The show’s official Instagram account on Thursday teased Corbett’s return with snapshots of him smooching Parker, writing in the caption: “And just like that Carrie is back on her tip toes.”
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As of Friday afternoon, the images had received more than 171,000 likes and drawn a plethora of comments from the show’s fans.
“And just like that, Carrie’s a step-mom,” one wrote, alluding to Aidan’s three sons, Tate, Homer and Wyatt, who were briefly referenced in the original “Sex and the City” and the second of its two big-screen films.
Others, however, questioned how plausible it would be for Aidan and Carrie to rekindle their romance after about 20 years, and with a now-widowed Carrie still mourning the death of husband John Preston (Chris Noth) ― a.k.a. Mr. Big ― in the premiere season of “And Just Like That.”
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“You’re telling me she went through alllll the SATC drama with Big, 10 years of dating him, to then get jilted by him and then reconcile and actually, he wasn’t the one after all? Bullshit,” another person wrote. “The minute Big is dead you’ve got Aidan sniffing around like a basset hound. Where’s the RESPECT.”
Corbett’s appearance on “And Just Like That” follows roughly two years of conflicting reports. In April 2021, he told the New York Post’s Page Six that he was “going to do the show,” adding, “I like all those people, they’ve been very nice to me.”
But when “And Just Like That” premiered that December, Aidan was nowhere to be found.
In February of last year, writer Julie Rottenberg told Deadline that Corbett “should be writing personal apology notes” for having misled fans with his Page Six interview, but stopped short of ruling out his return to the franchise entirely.