Sarah Jessica Parker graced us with her Sex and the City character Carrie for six seasons. With her iconic gig ending in 2004 (besides the smattering of movie sequels), people wondered what’s next for the actress.
More than a decade went by before she settled on Sharon Horgan’s series Divorce. Like Horgan’s other comedy, Catastrophe, Divorce follows a couple going through the worst moments in their marriage in a hilarious yet brutal way.
TVLine sat down with Sarah Jessica Parker in a recent interview. Their first question addressed what it was about the script that attracted Sarah Jessica Parker, considering she must read a plethora of scripts as she picks her roles.
She responded, “Well, I actually started developing this project about four years ago. I was really interested in exploring a marriage, and I thought there were rich possibilities to investigate a long-term committed relationship.”
But even then, she wasn’t considering starring in the project. She adds, “And actually, it became clear to me, before we hired Sharon, that HBO was thinking that I would play the woman in the story — which I had sincerely not thought of. I know well what that means, in terms of the commitment it deserves, and what it would mean for my family and my life. But I became very excited about it. And the more I knew the story we were going to tell, it just became very clear to me that this was the first woman since Carrie Bradshaw, in terms of television, that I thought was as interesting, as complicated, would be as fun to explore and have time with.”
TVLine also questioned her about her relationship with both Carrie Bradshaw and Frances: how could those two characters compare?
“No, I think… given the backstory we’ve created about who these people are, they’ve been together since college, and that’s a very different experience than meeting someone in your 30s and making the decision to pursue romance and commitment. Carrie’s commitment to Big came after a long, long time. They had to really fight for each other. They married as mature adults. I think that’s a very different relationship. … you know, people grow from college. What they want changes. What was once charming is not so much so. Those qualities that draw you to a person when you’re 18 are very different than what you’re looking for as a 30-year-old. So I feel as if, with the exception of Frances and Carrie looking alike, because of me [Laughs], that’s kind of where the similarities end.”
Sarah Jessica Parker goes on to explain her hopes for the series’ arc:
“Yeah, we’re just finishing going over an outline for Season 2. So we’re hopeful we’ll do that. [Laughs] We’re putting our directors into place. But I think that it doesn’t have to drag on. The title suggests a sort of limited idea, but really, it’s a part of an identity. Once you’re divorced, you’ll always be a divorced person. So what does that mean in the future? How are you a divorced mother of two children, figuring out a new vocation, a life, your finances? So in a way, I like that Divorce sits there without necessarily battle and combat for another season. It just says, ‘OK, so now what?'”
Divorce airs Sundays at 10pm on HBO.