‘And Just Like That’: Why Willie Garson’s character became a monk

Michael Patrick King, government producer and creator of “And Simply Like That,” has defined the pondering behind the present’s shock determination to make Willie Garson’s character, Stanford, a Shinto monk.

The shock twist was revealed in Episode 10 of Season 2, which aired final week on Max.

Garson, a memorable presence within the authentic “Intercourse and the Metropolis” sequence and Season 1 of “AJLT,” died from most cancers in September 2021 on the age of 57 — leaving producers questioning how you can tie up a slightly important and unhappy free finish.

“We didn’t need Stanford to die,” King mentioned of the ultimate script determination throughout an Aug. 17 episode of the podcast, “And Just Like That. . .The Writers Room.” “We needed Willie to be alive, as Stanford, someplace on this planet.”

“I’d say it was a Band-Support, it was a quick repair,” he mentioned. “It was like skinny ice. We skated over it as a result of we needed to, as a result of he wasn’t within the present all of a sudden.”

Through the first season of the spinoff, Garson had shot three episodes earlier than he determined to take a step again from filming, resulting from his sickness. They defined later in Season 1 that his character was in Japan on a TikTok tour.

However throughout the penultimate episode of the sophomore season of “AJLT,” Sarah Jessica Parker’s character, Carrie Bradshaw, acquired a letter from Stanford, which revealed that he determined to stay in Japan and grow to be a Shinto monk.

King revealed that they wrote this within the script resulting from a real-life expertise that the solid had when he and Parker have been visiting temples in Kyoto in 2010, after selling the second “Intercourse and the Metropolis” film, which he mentioned wasn’t acquired very effectively.

“I’d gentle a candle, I’d have a look at the flowers,” King mentioned throughout the podcast. “And since it was Sarah Jessica and I, it at all times felt extra than simply me. It was quietly us. So after I began pondering like, ‘The place is Stanford, what can we do?’ “

“I by some means tapped into that feeling that Sarah Jessica and I had, as a result of I do know Carrie and Stanford had a really deep bond and I’m pleased to say Sarah Jessica and I’ve a really deep, private bond,” he continued. “So I believed, ‘What if he simply stayed there, in that lovely, blissful temple and have become a Shinto monk?’ “

The showrunner added that he needed to pay tribute to Garson together with his character, hoping to place Stanford in a spot that was “golden” and “stuffed with gentle,” as that’s the place he hopes he’s.

Because the second season of “And Simply Like That” involves an in depth, viewers nonetheless have extra to stay up for.

In Might, The Publish completely revealed that Kim Cattrall, who performs sultry publicist Samantha Jones, could be making a cameo return for the “AJLT” season finale.

The looks was stored such a secret that her title didn’t even seem on a name sheet, one supply instructed The Publish.

Cattrall will be part of her different co-stars, Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon.

She declined a job on the reboot when it was first picked up in 2020, and plenty of speculated it could have been resulting from rumors of ongoing drama among the many solid members.

In the meantime, Max confirmed on Aug. 22 that the present has been renewed for a 3rd season.

The streamer acknowledged that “AJLT” is at the moment the most-watched sequence on the platform.