The 'Blue Bloods' actress and director appeared on one episode of the HBO Max series.
Bridget Moynahan is hoping to return to And Just Like That. ET's Rachel Smith spoke to the actress about reprising her Sex and the City role of Natasha Naginsky on HBO Max's reboot, and expressed her hopes about doing the same for season 2 of the series.
"It was so fun coming back," Moynahan told ET. "I think we should make a push to [executive producer] Michael Patrick King to bring [Natasha] back. Let's start a campaign, everybody."
While fans cross their fingers for Natasha's And Just Like That return, Moynahan is busy at work on her other show, Blue Bloods. The actress, who stars as Erin Reagan on the series, recently directed her first episode of the show, a challenge she "loved."
"I’ve been doing this for such a long time. I was watching a lot of other people do it... I was watching other women do it and I kept thinking, 'Well, I I think I can do that,' so I did," she explained. "I did start following people, start following other directors, start really doing some homework, and then had the opportunity."
Before diving into the new gig, Moynahan got advice from her co-star, Donnie Wahlberg, as well as other past directors of the series. "[Wahlberg] said if I ever needed anything, please call him and lean on him. I did lean on some of the directors, sought out some advice, and it felt like I had done it many times before."
Moynahan quickly embraced the challenge and dove into "just doing the homework" that directing required.
"As an actor, I spend a lot of time breaking down my storyline and understanding my whole arc, but having to do that for every other storyline, and really making sure that it flows, and is continuous, and makes sense for everybody, that was a challenge for me," she said, before noting that her familiarity with the show and the cast did make things easier.
"I definitely had some insider information as far as how people like to work. As a director going on to a show, you don't often have that kind of detail already," Moynahan said. "Everybody was so welcoming and supportive. Everybody just was excited for me to show up in that in that position and give it a try. It was great."
As for Wahlberg, Moynahan said the known prankster was "on his best behavior" while she was busy at work.
"He has just an incredible talent of reading the script and really making it all make sense. He's such a good co-worker, and supporter, and friend," she praised. "Anything I needed, he was right there. Anytime we were like, 'Let's make this happen. Let's make this move,' he was right there."
Even with the cast's support, scenes in which Moynahan was both acting and directing proved particularly challenging. Still, she "just trusted my DP, I trusted my writer, and I trusted my cast that they were going to show up and do what they needed to do."
Though Moynahan did trust all of her co-workers, her onscreen time is "lighter in this episode" due to her directing responsibilities. Still, though, there is plenty of action going on during the episode to keep fans' attention.
"Some of my favorite scenes were probably between Frank and Jamie, because it really does test their relationship. I love seeing that conflict between family members. They really, really dove into it," Moynahan teased of the episode. "Eddie and her partner really have some testing emotional conflict in this episode. Henry has some beautiful scenes. Our guest stars are amazing. Really, it was just such a pleasure."
Moynahan told ET that she "certainly hopes" to return to the director's chair on Blue Bloods in the future, before praising the cast and crew of the long-running CBS series.
"We get to go to work and we care about who is sitting at that table and outside of that table," she said. "We've all struggled over the last couple years with COVID and, honestly, all of our concern wasn't necessarily about ourselves, but we were also so concerned about the crew and their families and making sure that we could get safely get to work every single day, so everyone could support their families."
"We did that and it was really just a pure intention from all of us," Moynahan continued. "That that was our goal. When you have that, when you're thinking about other people on a daily basis, it's really nice. There's no there's no ego on that set, so it's great."
The Moynahan-directed episode of Blue Bloods will air Friday, April 1 on CBS.
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