'Sex And The City' Fans Are Angry With Willie Garson's Send Off: 'Not Cool'

Published December 23, 2021

As fans of the beloved Sex and the City franchise know, actor Willie Garson passed away in September after a private battle with cancer. Hearts broke around the world when the unexpected news broke and in the months following, fans were left with questions on how the show's reboot would address his untimely passing.

On this week's episodes of And Just Like That fans got their answer, but many weren't pleased with it.

Warning: This article contains spoilers about And Just Like That.

Earlier this month, "Sex and the City" showrunner Michael Patrick King told fans no one was going to be dead in the reboot.

When asked why he chose not to add Willie's death into the show, he responded: "Because it wasn't charming. And I knew that the audience would know."

Viewers of "And Just Like That" were waiting to see how the show would handle the death of such an icon character.

In this week's episode, fans saw Carrie Bradshaw learn of Stanford's decision to move to Tokyo to work with a 17-year-old TikTok star, as reported by Us Weekly.

In true 'Sex and the City' fashion, Carrie learned via note.

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Remember when she got broken up with via post-it note?

That was quite possibly one of the worst breakups ever. I MEAN, WHO DOES THAT?

But moving on.

"By the time you read this, I’ll be in Tokyo. I couldn’t tell you — not without crying," the note read. "And you have had enough crying."

This meant that Stanford left behind his husband Anthony Marantino.

"He said he couldn’t bring himself to tell you he was leaving face-to-face after Big died," Anthony told Carrie in Thursday's episode.

"Right, and a note is so much more compassionate," Carrie responded.

Anthony explained that Stanford revealed in another letter that he "wants a divorce," from him, saying, "Oh you know Stanny, he hates to disappoint people … in person."

Fans were quick to take to social media and express their disappointment in the show's way of writing off Willie.

While we all have our own opinions, to be fair, I can't imagine finding the right way to write someone off who passed in real life.

I'm sure that's very difficult to do for a number of reasons.

"And Just Like That writing/plot line does not sit well w me!!" tweeted one viewer.

"Willie Garson is dead so they made HIM the bad guy who left a note for a divorce?!??" they added.

Another said:

"Watched And Just Like That and while I appreciate how difficult it was to deal with the death of Willie Garson (on the heels of a major fictional character’s death), the way they dispatched Stanford Blatch was pretty shabby," said another.

While for the most part, as you can clearly see, people were upset...

There were some instances where instead people took pleasure in the fact that he just got to be a part of the show once more.

"This week’s #AndJustLikeThat is Willie Garson’s last episode before his passing. Thanks for all the laughs. Stanford was such a great character." said one Twitter user.

No matter where you stand on the line of this opinion, we can all agree that he as a great joy to watch.

One thing is for sure.

I'm sure no matter what they would have come up with, people would have found a way to complain.

A show is never perfect, but they are doing their best (and quite frankly, I'm loving it).

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