Here Are All the Actors Who Were Almost Cast in ‘SATC’—Including Alec Baldwin as Mr. Big

We couldn’t help but wonder…who were the actors who were almost in the Sex and the City cast? Let’s just say that Sarah Jessica Parker wasn’t the only actress who auditioned for the role of Carrie Bradshaw.

Sex and the City premiered in 1998 and ran for six seasons until its finale in 2004. The show, which was based on Candace Bushnell’s 1997 book of the same title , followed four women in their 30s and 40s—Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte York (Kristin Davis)—and their sex lives in New York City. The show went on to win four Emmy Awards (including Outstanding Comedy Series in 2001) and release two movies, Sex and the City: The Movie in 2008 and Sex and the City 2 in 2010.

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In January 2021, HBO announced that a Sex and the City reboot, titled And Just Like That…A New Chapter in Sex and the City, was in the works for HBO Max. The reboot sees the return of each of the main cast members—except Cattrall, who confirmed in 2017 that she had retired as Samantha. While it’s hard to picture the main Sex and the City cast with anyone but Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis, there were dozens of other actors who auditioned for (and were offered) the main roles in SATC. Read on for the actors who were almost in Sex and the City

Mädchen Amick (Carrie Bradshaw)

Mädchen Amick—who is known for roles in shows like Riverdale and Twin Peaks—revealed in a past interview on Live With Kelly and Ryan that she almost played Carrie Bradshaw. Amick starred on the CBS show Central Park West (which was also created by the creator of Sex and the City, Darren Star) from 1995 to 1996. After the end of the show, there was an offer for her character, Carrie Fairchild, to have her own spinoff that would later become Sex and the City.

“My character was spun off to be Sex and the City. I got the phone call, and I got the offer,” she said at the time. “Central Park West was hard for me to do anyway because my babies were little. They were four and five? I turned it down! Because I couldn’t do another hour show. I’m not going to be there as a mom, and then it became Sex and the City.” However, Amick had no regrets about not playing what eventually became Carrie Bradshaw. “It became Sex and the City because of Sarah Jessica Parker. She killed it. That was her moment. That was her show,” she said.

Alec Baldwin (Mr. Big)

Alec Baldwin—who is best known for shows like Knott’s Landing, 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live—was the first choice to play Mr. Big, a.k.a. John James Preston and Carrie’s main love interest. “I was thinking of Alec Baldwin for Big, initially,” Sex and the City’s creator, Darren Star, told Entertainment Weekly in 2016. At the time, Baldwin was known for hit movies like 1988’s Beetlejuice, 1990’s Miami Blues and The Hunt for Red October.

However, when Star met Chris Noth, who played Mr. Big in Sex and the City, he knew that the Law & Order alum was the “perfect” actor to play Carrie’s future husband. “I don’t really watch Law & Order, but I met with Chris Noth and thought he was perfect. I remember the first table read, how good he was. I’m not saying that Chris was Mr. Big, but he brought a lot of his own persona to the role,” he said.

Kristin Davis (Carrie Bradshaw)

Kristin Davis, who played Charlotte York in Sex and the City, originally auditioned for the role of Carrie. According to the 2018 book, Sex and the City and Us , Davis, who was known for soap operas like Melrose Place at the time and was trying to transition her career to comedy, was asked to read for the role of Carrie. However, after she read the script which described Carrie as a woman with “the body of Heather Locklear and the mind of Dorothy Parker,” Davis thought she would be a better fit for Charlotte.

“All Davis could think was, ‘I am never in a million years going to have the body of Heather Locklear … Carrie’s fantastic, but I’m Charlotte,'” wrote author Jennifer Keishin Armstrong. After convincing her agents to let her audition for Charlotte, Davis was cast in the role.

Sandra Bernhard (Miranda Hobbes)

Sandra Bernhard—who is best known for shows like Roseanne and Pose—revealed in a 2016 interview on The Howard Stern Show that she was originally offered the role of Miranda Hobbes, which eventually went to Cynthia Nixon. Bernhard confessed that she passed on the role because of the “terrible” original script and the low paycheck. “It has nothing to do with selling out, it just wasn’t any good,” she said. “Had it been a good script, had I thought it had legs, I would have done it…even Cynthia Nixon admits it didn’t catch on until second or third season.”

During the interview, Bernhard also shaded Sex and the City‘s Sarah Jessica Parker, who played the lead role of Carrie Bradshaw. “[I would have had] to play third or fourth fiddle to Sarah Jessica Parker and put up with her shit,” she said. “It would have been hideous to work with her.” When Stern mentioned Parker’s feud with co-star Kim Cattrall, who played Samantha Jones, Bernhard responded, “Ask any of those ladies on that show…nobody gets along, I don’t think.”

Lisa Edelstein (Carrie Bradshaw)

Lisa Edelstein—who is known for shows like House and Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce—was so close to playing Carrie Bradshaw that she had a contract written. “It wasn’t a rumor. That actually happened,” Edelstein told Access Hollywood in 2016 about her almost playing Carrie. Edelstein revealed that she the runner-up to play Carrie after Sarah Jessica Parker and the role would’ve been hers if SJP hadn’t accepted it. “I was either going to do it or not. It all depended on whether [Sarah Jessica Parker] said yes,” she said. “My contract was complete. I was waiting.”

Edelstein also confessed that never really watched Sex and the City because of what happened. “Yeah, I didn’t really watch it,” she said. “It was too painful.” However, she did note the similarities between the series and her Bravo show, Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce. “I love the comparisons now,” she said. “It’s sort of a funny thing, that when life comes around that way.” In a 2016 interview with Kindle Singles, Sex and the City’s creator, Darren Star, also confirmed that Edelstein would’ve played Carrie if SJP didn’t accept the offer. “[Sex and the City] might have gotten made, but it would have gotten made with Lisa Edelstein,” he said.

Lou Thornton (Samantha Jones)

Lou Thornton—who is known for shows like The Newz, The Jenny McCarthy Show and a guest role on Friends—almost played Samantha Jones in Sex and the City. The series’ creator, Darren Star, told Kindle Singles in 2016 that Thornton, who is around the same age as Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis, was originally cast as Samantha before the show decided to go with Kim Cattrall, who is around 10 years older than the other women.

“There was someone different cast as Samantha,” he said. “I didn’t get a chance to know her—a wonderful woman named Lou Thornton. I don’t know if she’s still an actress anymore. The problem was that she was in her 30s, I think. And it was changing who Samantha was. Samantha was 10 years older than the other girls, a totally different experience.”

Dana Delany (Carrie Bradshaw)

Dana Delany—who is known for shows like China Beach and Desperate Housewives—was offered the role of Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, but turned the show down because it had the word “sex” in the title, according to The Sun. The newspaper reported that Delany had already filmed several projects involving sex at the time—such as 1995’s Live Nude Girls and 1994’s Exit to Eden—so she she was hesitant to be a part of another.

Aidan Quinn (Aidan Shaw)

Aidan Quinn—who is known for movies like Reckless and Practical Magic—was the first choice to play Aidan Shaw, Carrie’s second most famous love interest, who joins Sex and the City in season three. Though the role eventually went to John Corbett, Sex and the City‘s creator, Daren Star, revealed that Quinn’s first name is the reason the character was named Aidan. “We initially were thinking about Aidan Quinn for Aidan, but I think he wasn’t available,” Star told Entertainment Weekly in 2016. “I loved John Corbett in Northern Exposure, and we were like, ‘Well, what’s John Corbett been up to?’ He just had the laconic, dudish vibe. But we kept ‘Aidan’ because we loved the name.”

Sex and the City is available to stream on HBO Max. Here’s how to watch it for free.

Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell by Amy Sohn

For more about And Just Like That and Sex and the City, read HBO’s official companion book, Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell. The book, written by dating columnist and screenwriter Amy Sohn, is filled with behind-the-scenes secrets from Sex and the City‘s six seasons and details on the real-life stories that inspired the show’s shocking episodes. The book also includes 750 full-color photographs from filming the series, as well as an introduction written by none other than Sarah Jessica Parker. With fun facts on how many dates Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda really went on to never-been-told secrets about Carrie’s most outrageous (and fabulous) outfits, Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell is a must-read for any SATC superfan.

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