The showrunner of And Just Like That… has revealed why Stanford Blatch was not killed off when his actor Willie Garson died.
During the original run of Sex And The City, Stanford became a fan favorite as the closest gay friend of Sarah Jessica Parker’s character Carrie Bradshaw.
Willie returned for a brief recurring stint on season one of And Just Like That… – but in late 2021 he succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the age of just 57.
Rather than killing off Stanford, the show wrote him out by moving him to Tokyo, and then on this week’s episode it emerges he has become a Shinto monk.
‘We wanted Willie to be alive as Stanford somewhere in the world,’ showrunner Michael Patrick King said on the And Just Like That…The Writers Room podcast.
Dearly departed: The showrunner of And Just Like That… has revealed why Stanford Blatch was not killed off when his actor Willie Garson died; Willie is pictured in February 2020
Throwback: During the original run of Sex And The City, Stanford became a fan favorite as the closest gay friend of Sarah Jessica Parker ‘s character Carrie Bradshaw
On the season two premiere, Carrie gets a compliment on her ‘stunning kimono’ and affectionately reveals: ‘My friend Stanford sent it to me from Japan.’
‘The thing we came up with is that he went to Japan on a TikTok tour. And I would say it was a Band-Aid,’ Michael revealed on the podcast.
‘It was a fast fix. It was a little bit, it was like thin ice. We skated over it because we had to ‘cause he wasn’t in the show suddenly, and we didn’t want Stanford to die.’
The decision to turn Stanford into a Shinto monk was inspired by a trip Michael took to Kyoto with Sarah Jessica in 2010.
They had just been in Tokyo for a premiere of the second Sex And The City movie, which Michael both wrote and directed.
Sex And The City 2, which featured Liza Minnelli singing Single Ladies by Beyoncé, was mauled by the critics and became a punchline among the fans.
‘I went to Kyoto with Sarah Jessica after the second movie, which I don’t know, spoiler alert, was not received well,’ Michael said drily on the podcast.
After the movie’s blistering response, Michael ‘was in some sort of an emotional shock wave, and I was going from temple to temple with Sarah Jessica. I was sitting there, trying to release these complicated feelings, and I felt kind of peace, and Sarah Jessica was just sitting there with me, and it was so beautiful,’ he said.
Tragedy: Willie returned for a brief recurring stint on season one of And Just Like That… (pictured filming) – but in late 2021 he succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the age of just 57
Side by side: Now Willie has become a Shinto monk – a decision inspired by a Kyoto trip that showrunner Michael Patrick King (left) took with Sarah Jessica; the pair are pictured in 2021
International: On the season two premiere, Carrie gets a compliment on her ‘stunning kimono’ and affectionately reveals: ‘My friend Stanford sent it to me from Japan’
‘There wasn’t tears, but there wasn’t laughs. It was just, I’m feeling this space in these beautiful temples, that people would come in – me, a tourist, I’d come in, I’d light a candle, I’d look at the flowers,’ he recalled.
Michael, who for years ran the original Sex And The City series, noted that ‘because it was Sarah Jessica and I, it always felt more than just me. It was quietly us.’
Years later ‘when I started thinking, like: “Where is Stanford and what do we do?” I somehow tapped into that feeling that Sarah Jessica and I had. Because I know Carrie and Stanford had a very deep bond, and I’m happy to say Sarah Jessica and I have a very deep personal bond.’
Michael shared on the podcast: ‘So I thought: “What if he just stayed there in that beautiful blissful temple and became a Shinto monk?”‘
He made certain to clarify that ‘I did all my research, and you don’t have to be Japanese to be a Shinto monk and you just have to put in some time.’
With a chuckle, he said: ‘And then when it said, the descriptions were, you facilitate the tourist visits and change the flowers on the altar, I was like: “Concierge!”‘
On the latest episode, Stanford’s ex-husband Anthony (Mario Cantone) sarcastically describes a monk’s calling as being ‘basically God’s concierge.’
