Who is the "new Samantha" in the SATC reboot Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon are back. Without Kim Cattrall, but with Nicole Ari Parker

Here we are: simultaneously with the States, on Sky and NOW TV are now available the first two episodes of And Just Like That ..., the long-awaited reboot of Sex and the City. After six seasons ended in 2004 and two follow-up movies, Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte are back with new stories and adventures, but without Samantha. The iconic, uninhibited character played by Kim Cattrall will not appear on the show due to bad blood between the actress and the rest of the cast. Apparently, her refusal to be involved in Sex and The City 3 scuttled the idea for the film, sparking a full-blown feud with Sarah Jessica Parker that, according to rumors, is still running today. Interviewed by Piers Morgan in his show Life Stories, Cattrall spoke with cold detachment about her colleagues:

We've never been friends. We've been colleagues and in some ways it's a very healthy place to be because then you have a clear line between your professional life and relationship and your personal. I don't see them. The common ground that we had was the series and the series is over.

A statement also reiterated in her Instagram profile where she confirmed that for her SATC is now a chapter closed forever, especially because of the contrasts with SJP, towards which she has only a few, but very harsh words to say:

Let me make this VERY clear. (If I haven't already) You are not my family. You are not my friend.

The issues that divide actresses in real life are inevitably echoed in the series, leaving a void that for fans of the OG show remains unbridgeable. The sassy PR girl's absence will be justified by a move to London and a professional snub from Carrie, but there is a new character that many believe could take Jones' place in viewers' hearts: Lisa Todd Wexley, an Upper West Side documentary filmmaker, married and mother of three, played by Nicole Ari Parker.

Born in 1970 in Maryland, Nicole started her career taking part in several independent films such as Boogie Nights and 200 Cigarettes; while more recently she has starred in several TV series, from Murder in the First to Empire, up to the eighth season of Chicago P.D. where she plays the role of Deputy Superintendent Samantha Miller. What about her personal life? In the early 2000s she met fellow actor Boris Kodjoe (aka Captain Robert Sullivan from Station 19) on the set of the series Soul Food. The couple has been married since 2005 and has two children.

The announcement of Nicole Ari Parker joining And Just Like That... coincided with that of Cattrall's decision to renounce, leading fans and press to assume that the new entry would be the "new Samantha". This is a misunderstanding. A misconception that Parker wants to dispel:

I understood that everybody was upset, but my character just leaked out first. So everybody thought there was only one new character, and it was replacing Samantha. Everybody ran with it. But after a while it died down and everybody calmed down. Samantha's not replaceable. That's an iconic character in everybody's consciousness. 

There will be no one to take Samantha Jones' place. The truth is, however, that the OG cast will have many new friends in addition to Lisa Todd Wexley, a group of different women who seem to have been chosen ad hoc, not only to dispel the accusations that the show was too "white", but that they reflect the diversity of a multicultural city like New York. The new ten episodes will feature three new characters: Che Diaz, a non-binary stand-up comedian turned podcast host played by Sara Ramirez, famous for having been Dr. Callie Torres in Grey's Anatomy; Seema Patel, a powerful real estate broker played by Sarita Choudhury (already seen in Homeland); Dr. Nya Wallace, a Columbia law professor played by The Morning Show star Karen Pittman. Just like in the real world, in the series people are constantly coming in and out of our lives. Over the years, things and relationships change, evolve. And so do Carrie & Co. Maybe they're no longer the carefree, resourceful twenty-somethings of the 90s cult or the powerful forty-somethings of the movies, they now face a different phase that we'll only find out by watching the SATC reboot. Despite the inevitable changes, we want to believe that what Carrie says in the trailer remains true: "The more I live, the more I find that if you have good friends in your corner, anything's possible."