And Just Like That S2 Features Subtle Tribute To Willie Garson’s Stanford

Spoilers ahead for And Just Like That... Season 2. As fans will recall, Stanford Blatch was a standout character throughout Sex and the City’s six-season run. Played by the late Willie Garson, Stanford was adored by viewers as the close friend and confidant of Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker). Sadly, in September 2021, Garson died following a battle with cancer. Before his passing, the actor spent some of his final says working on the SATC spin-off, And Just Like That, having kept his illness a secret from the show’s cast. Garson’s Stanford appeared in the first three episodes of And Just Like That Season 1, before divorcing his husband Anthony and leaving for Japan to manage a teenage TikToker. However, despite being written out of the show, the And Just Like That Season 2 premiere included a subtle tribute to the much-loved character.

During the sophomore season’s first episode, Carrie, Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon), and Charlotte York (Kristin Davis), set off to attend the Met Ball in New York City. While Carrie waits for her dress to be altered, she is complimented on her silk kimono ensemble, to which she responds: “Oh, thank you, my friend, Stanford, sent it to me from Japan.”

The brief mention will likely be welcomed by longtime Sex and the City fans, and speaking to Variety in early 2022, And Just Like That showrunner, Michael Patrick King, discussed how he chose to handle Stanford's storyline with the audience in mind.

“I didn’t want to even flirt narratively with cute business about where he is. I knew the audience would never invest in it, because they knew he was never coming back,” King explained. “It’s the most threadbare writing I’ve ever done just to move him along without much maneuvering because it was just so sad. There was no way I could write myself out of that in any charming, cute way.”

Meanwhile, King also revealed that, prior to Garson’s death, the character of Stanford “was going to have a midlife crisis.” He continued: “Stanford’s character always had a borderline career as a manager, and we were like going to explore the fact that it wasn't a real career. It was going to be Carrie and him, feeling the shifts. Anthony and him were probably going to have split anyway.”