Nixon tells PEOPLE the show has been trying to write a part for O’Donnell “every season”
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NEED TO KNOW
- Cynthia Nixon has shared the backstory of how her friend Rosie O’Donnell’s part in season three of And Just Like That… came to be
- O’Donnell plays a virgin nun who breaks her chastity vow to sleep with Nixon’s character Miranda Hobbes
- Nixon tells PEOPLE that O’Donnell is “so funny in the part, but she’s so centered and so real”
Cynthia Nixon is pulling back the curtain on how collaborating with her long-time friend Rosie O’Donnell on And Just Like That… came to fruition.
In the debut episode of the third season of the Sex and the City sequel series. which premiered on May 29, O’Donnell, 63, plays the role of Sister Mary, a nun visiting New York City who breaks her chastity vow to lose her virginity to Nixon’s character Miranda Hobbes.
As it turns out, O’Donnell’s role was years in the making. Nixon, 59, exclusively opened up to PEOPLE about how the casting came to be during an appearance at the Out.com and The Advocate Pride Cover Party 2025: Pride of Broadway, held in New York City on Monday, June 2.
“Michael Patrick King, who writes our show, and is one of the chief writers on our show, has been trying to write a part for Rosie every season and it’s never quite worked out,” the actress tells PEOPLE.
Once the storyline for the third season of And Just Like That… was settled on, though, Nixon was the one who first reached out to O’Donnell. “So this time when he told me what the idea was, I thought, ‘Oh this is fantastic, and he let me text her myself and describe it and say, you know, could we please send you this script?’ With all our fingers and toes crossed.” Nixon recalls.
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Of course the hoping worked out, and the actress has nothing but good things to say about O’Donnell’s performance. “She is so funny and she is so funny in the part, but she’s so centered and so real,” Nixon tells PEOPLE. “I think that we knew she would be hilarious, but I think we were unprepared for how moving she would be in the part, how incredibly sincere and how much she would wear her heart on her sleeve.”
Nixon also opened up about her long-standing friendships with costars Kristin Davis and Sarah Jessica Parker, whom she previously starred alongside in Sex and the City for six seasons.
“I just think the longevity, I mean the intensity of it, but also the longevity of it, because there’s something about knowing and loving a person, but then when you know them for so long, you know their their children and their parents and their spouses and their friends,” Nixon tells PEOPLE.
“When you understand somebody in their complete context, I feel like that’s when you really know them,” she continues.
As for how she is kicking off celebrating Pride Month, Nixon says that she and her wife, Christine Marinoni, were in Paris on June 1, where they also celebrated their anniversary.
“My wife and I were just in Paris together, so I think we kind of had a little bit of a belated celebration,” she shares. “Luckily, it’s only June 2, so we haven’t figured it out yet,” she adds of keeping her calendar open for Pride Month celebrations.
