The new chapter of 'Sex and the City' changed some things after the actor's death.
And Just Like That isn't the same without Willie Garson. The actor, who played Stanford Blatch on Sex and the City, died in September, and the cast told ET's Rachel Smith about how the tragic lost affected the script of the show's new HBO Max spinoff series.
"Things had to be rewritten," Mario Cantone, who plays Stanford's husband, Anthony, told ET at the And Just Like That premiere. "... I am thrilled to be here, and I’m sad too 'cause I miss Willie. I’m really sad about this, so it's a weird thing, but we're doing this for him. This is for him, and I’m just happy we made it through. We all kind of huddled together, and held onto each other, and we did it."
Garson appears in three episodes of the show, and Cantone said those moments will show the pair's "turbulent, yet clingy, loving, argumentative marriage."
"You would’ve never known that he was sick," Cantone said. "[He was] in incredible spirits, and hilarious, and brilliant. He’s so alive on the first three episodes."
As for what comes later, Cantone praised SATC creator Michael Patrick King for the way he handled the script changes in the wake of Garson's death.
"What Michael Patrick King did was brilliant. He knows what he’s doing," Cantone said. "They were quick rewrites. We did them. You have to. It's a mixed bag, believe me."
From his perspective, King told ET that the most important thing to remember was that "no one could be another Stanford."
"The amazing thing about Willie is that he's in three episodes, and when you see him, he's so filled with life," King said. "It was a big loss to us. It is a very small compensation that he’s still alive in the [show], just a small one."
"We wanted as much Willie Garson as we could get," he continued. "We wanted all Willie, all the time, so we had to adjust Stanford's storyline because we lost Willie, but it was all Willie, all the time."
For Sarah Jessica Parker, Garson's absence from the show, not Kim Cattrall's much-discussed choice not to participate, was the missing piece.
"Everyone sort of keeps repeating that [Cattrall's character] Samantha isn't in the series, but really what's missing in the series is Willie Garson. That's the person that's missing," Parker told ET. "... I just think that we should focus on the people that have an absence that is an undoing, rather than a creative decision that was calm and thoughtful. This was a person that was lost far too soon, who was gonna play a significant role, and that's the kind of space you can't fill."
Cynthia Nixon agreed, telling ET, "We will never try to [replace] Samantha any more than we would try to replace Stanford now that Willie Garson is gone."
"[It was] very shocking, very, very, very devastating. Just so, so shocking, and so awful, and so sudden," Nixon added of Garson's death. "I’m glad he got to be as much a part of it as he is. That we also got to spend time with him was really precious to us."
Following the show's premiere, Garson's son, Nathen Garson, took to Instagram to express his support for And Just Like That. The 20-year-old posted a pic of himself with Chris Noth, Nixon, Parker, and Kristin Davis, as well as a shot of him with his girlfriend, Lexie, and photo of the New York City skyline.
"What a wonderful trip and what an amazing time I got to have. Thanks @justlikethatmax for a wonderful time and for inviting me to enjoy the season premiere of And Just Like That!" he wrote. "Go check it out on HBOmax!"
New episodes of And Just Like That drop every Thursday on HBO Max.
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