In the days leading up to the premiere of Sex and the City’s revival, And Just Like That…, stars Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon are paying tribute to their late co-star, Willie Garson. The actor, who died of cancer at age 57 in September, reprised his role as Stanford Blatch in three episodes prior to his death, Nixon confirmed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
“Willie was just a person who lightened any situation that he was in and would have you in stitches within a minute of coming into a conversation,” Nixon remembered. “He was a person with incredible stories, like show business stories and stories about his own zany life and his family that he comes from and the family that he created.”
She confirmed that the cast and crew filmed with Garson “for a long time not knowing he was sick, and then things got bad enough that we were informed.” Davis said that even while ill, Garson was “full of joy, and so incredibly brilliant and smart.”
Nixon added, “We’re also very grateful that we had a few days with him knowing that he was sick, and we could talk to him about it and he could talk to us about it. And that was a really important thing for all of us.” Davis got visibly emotional while holding Nixon’s hand, saying, “It’s hard. I wish he was here. You know?”
In the weeks after Garson’s passing, Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker penned a moving tribute on Instagram. “It’s been unbearable,” Parker wrote of Garson’s loss.“Sometimes silence is a statement. Of the gravity. The anguish. The magnitude of the loss of a 30 + year friendship.” She remembered their friendship was one that granted “secrets, adventure, a shared professional family, truth, concerts, road trips, meals, late night phone calls, a mutual devotion to parenthood and all the heartaches and joy that accompany, triumphs, disappointments, fear, rage and years spent on sets (most especially Carrie’s apartment) and laughing late into the night as both Stanford and Carrie and Willie and SJ.”
Chris Noth recently spoke to The Guardian about Garson’s cancer diagnosis. “Most of us didn’t know,” he said. “The last time I saw him was on set and I kick myself because I didn’t really get a chance to talk to him. He was extraordinarily fun and funny and there’s nothing to say but that it’s heartbreaking.” Noth continued, “It’s sad for everyone, and for the show, because I think he was going to have a really huge storyline. But he’ll be in it to the extent that he filmed.”
In a new interview with The New York Times, showrunner Michael Patrick King shared how the series would address both Garson and Kim Catrall’s absence from the series. “Nobody’s dead,” he told the Times. “Because it wasn’t charming. And I knew that the audience would know.”
The first two episodes of And Just Like That… hit HBO Max on Thursday, December 9.
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