Cynthia Nixon Isn’t Sorry That Miranda Hobbes Went Woke

Cynthia Nixon supports the wokeification of her most distinguished character, Miranda Hobbes.

Speaking to The New York Times on Sunday, the actress and activist said she stands by the direction her Sex and the City character took during the reboot, And Just Like That... If you’ll remember, Miranda, a fiery corporate lawyer, was often the voice of reason during the original SATC series. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s head was in the clouds; Carrie’s head was in Paris with Big; and Samantha’s head was… well, you’ve watched the show. You know.

Anyways! Miranda kept a cynical outlook and even keel. Her arc on the original SATC series concluded with her getting married to Steve, the man-child bartender, and raising their son, Brady, in a Brooklyn townhouse. But AJLT found Miranda divorced from Steve, pursuing a masters degree in human rights, and completely reinventing herself in the third act of her life. This included dating nonbinary standup comedian Che Diaz, leaving New York, and going (clumsily) woke.

Nixon knows that Miranda’s cringey moments in the reboot were poorly received by viewers, whose complaints ranged from “Miranda would never do that” to “I just can’t bear to watch”—but she doesn’t regret a minute of it.

“They were so horrified by her sadness and alcoholism and awkwardness at trying to become a woke person at this advanced age,” Nixon said of AJLT‘s audience. “But I loved that.” Reinvention and learning something new later in life can certainly look a little clumsy, and Nixon appreciated that Miranda’s journey reflected that. Even if we had to watch her warn her Black professor not to sit in the assigned professor’s seat—only to explain that she falsely assumed she wasn’t the professor because she had braids.

Nixon’s decision to sign onto the reboot was partly influenced by the very un-woke nature of the original series, she says. “I became convinced that we could really do interesting, dangerous things, and that we could make up for some of our past mistakes, the chief one being that it was such an overwhelmingly white show.” Because the OG SATC, although it was often progressive in the way it showed women’s sexuality and friendships, was…very 90s.

Gay men were reduced to fashion-obsessed-best-friend stereotypes; Samantha threw around the T-slur; Carrie professed that bisexuality was a “stop on the way to gay-town” and mostly everyone was white—despite it taking place in New York City. There was plenty to set right, and maybe rebooting with a more diverse cast and better queer representation was the way to do it.

Ultimately, though, AJLT received a lukewarm reception. Still, Nixon was shocked to see it cancelled after only a three season run. “I was not at all ready,” she said. “Not at all.”

Perhaps the kindest things the showrunners could’ve done for Miranda was set her free to learn and grow off-screen. Today, I imagine her as a motivational speaker who takes land acknowledgement way too far, and feverishly engages with trolls on Bluesky. Wherever she, I hope she’s happy. And I hope she’s not wearing a bucket hat over a hood over a turtleneck.

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