Rosie O’Donnell’s And Just Like That Role Is A Sweet Reunion After 27 Years

You never know who will stop by for a visit to Carrie Bradshaw’s star-studded slice of Manhattan.

In addition to bringing back characters from last season (like Aidan’s ex, Kathy, and Miranda’s potential love interest, Joy), the And Just Like That... Season 3 cast includes several newcomers — and one of them plays a surprising role in Sex and the City history.

Revisiting SATC Lore

ICYMI, Rosie O'Donnell joined the cast of And Just Like That... Season 3. There aren’t too many details about her character yet — more on that below — but rest assured, she’s already quite familiar with the world of Carrie and her friends.

That’s because Sarah Jessica Parker promoted the show on O’Donnell’s eponymous talk show in 1998. Days before Sex and the City premiered to the world, the host questioned Parker about the show’s racy poster, which saw Carrie sitting on the show’s title with nothing but a laptop to cover her up. (An iconic look, actually!)

“I was concerned,” she told Parker before the pair broke out into a parody duet of “You’re Never Fully Dressed without a Smile” from Annie. (Parker starred in the Broadway show two decades earlier.)

“Hey SJP, back on TV, don’t mean to be rude,” O’Donnell sang to the tune of the classic song. “But tell me, on Sex and the City, are you nude?”

Parker sang right back, assuring O’Donnell that she wouldn’t be baring all. “My agent got that written in bold in my contract,” she crooned.

“Remember there is some nudity, but it don’t include me,” she sang later before O’Donnell joined in for a final reminder: “It’s Sex and the City on HBOOO.” (The podcast @everyoutfitonsatc has the full, hilarious exchange.)

So, Who Does Rosie O’Donnell Play?

Given O’Donnell’s role in promoting the original series, it’s sweetly fitting that she’s returning nearly three decades later. Interestingly, O’Donnell exists in the Sex and the City universe — “The most powerful woman in New York is not Tina Brown, or Diane Sawyer, or even Rosie O’Donnell,” Carrie states in Season 1. “It’s the hostess at Balzac, which had overnight become the only restaurant that mattered.”

However, O’Donnell will not be portraying herself on And Just Like That... Rather, she shared in an Instagram post that she’ll play someone named Mary. Not much is known about Mary yet, but behind-the-scenes photos show O’Donnell and Cynthia Nixon (Miranda) hanging out in Times Square, with Mary sporting a Wicked t-shirt and accompanying playbill from the Broadway show.

So far... I want to be her friend.