'And Just Like That' star Cynthia Nixon spills about Rosie O'Donnell's sex-starved nun
Spoiler alert! The following story contains major details about the new season of "Sex and the City" sequel "And Just Like That..." (first episode now streaming on HBO Max; new episodes Thursdays).
NEW YORK – There’s something about Mary.
In the Season 3 premiere of “And Just Like That...” the newly single Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) takes gal pals Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) to a lesbian bar, where she tries to flirt with other women. Feeling defeated at the end of the night, she is introduced to an unassuming tourist named Mary (Rosie O’Donnell), who is instantly enamored with Miranda.
Mary invites Miranda back to her hotel, and after a night of passion she reveals she is a nun and Miranda just took her virginity. In the days to follow, Mary texts Miranda incessantly, and Miranda worries about how she can let the besotted sister down easy. (“Can I ghost a nun?” Miranda asks. “It would be a holy ghost,” Carrie quips in true “Sex and the City” fashion.)
At the end of the episode, Miranda meets Mary in Times Square to gently tell her that a relationship isn’t in the cards. Mary, decked out in “Wicked” merch, thanks Miranda for helping her come into her sexuality. (“Because I knew you, I have been changed for good,” Mary sings, invoking the Broadway musical.)
“It was hilarious,” Nixon recalls in an interview. “It’s really fun to be sung ‘Wicked’ to in Times Square by Rosie O’Donnell. That was really bucket list.”
Mary is a bit of “an enigma,” Nixon adds, as she gradually reveals to Miranda that she is a woman of the cloth. But she is already incredibly “sincere.”
“It’s a character that creeps up on you,” Nixon says. “In lesser hands, it would have just been zanier, and with Rosie, it was very funny and unexpected and touching.”
“And Just Like That...” creator Michael Patrick King says he has long wanted to bring O’Donnell into the fold, dating back to the original run of “Sex and the City” on HBO in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But scheduling-wise, this was the first guest spot that worked out.
“I was just waiting for it to come, and it was perfect,” King says. “I said, ‘Rosie, you’re going to be naked in bed,’ and she goes, ‘All right!’”
Going into “And Just Like That...” Season 3, King wanted to see what it would look like to have Miranda back on the market. After splitting from husband Steve (David Eigenberg) in Season 1 and coming out as gay, she briefly dated the nonbinary comedian Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez).
“Miranda is post-Che; she’s available to date,” King says. “Now, Miranda has never been a very smooth dater. Of all of them on ‘Sex and the City,’ Miranda was the one who got the most pies in her face every time she went on a date. So I was like: ‘What’s new? A virgin? A nun? Well, who could play the nun?’”
Parker has been good friends with O’Donnell for decades, making many appearances on her daytime talk show during its six-season run. But she says she had no hand in making this cameo happen.
“Michael told me, and I thought it was such a good idea,” Parker says. “She came to the table read and she was so freaking great immediately. I don’t get to be in any scenes with her, but she’s just wonderful.”
“And Just Like That...” Season 3 is filled with guest stars, including “Saturday Night Live” veteran Cheri Oteri as a matchmaker and Kristen Schaal (“Bob’s Burgers”) as a sought-after college prep consultant. Broadway diva Patti LuPone also has a three-episode arc as the very Sicilian mother to Giuseppe (Sebastiano Pigazzi), the hunky younger beau of Anthony Marentino (Mario Cantone).
“What we always try to do is grow the characters every season,” King says. “So we started thinking: 'Where’s Giuseppe from? What’s his backstory? Who’s his mother?' We were like: 'Oh, Patti LuPone! We need a strong, Italian, sophisticated, smart character,' and Patti was like: 'Sure!' It’s fun.”