Kim Cattrall's Samantha Jones makes a splashy return in the And Just Like That season 2 finale

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the season 2 finale of And Just Like That, "The Last Supper Part Two: Entreé."

The icon, the legend, the PR queen herself Samantha Jones is back! And just like the busy socialite she is, she's fashionably late.

Before the start of And Just Like That season 2, word leaked that original Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall would make a surprise appearance in the Max series' finale episode. It came after years of the actress saying she did not want to be part of a third Sex and the City movie. Yet this week, Cattrall's Samantha returned to the franchise in the flesh.

True to early reports, Cattrall's scene was small and also involved Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie Bradshaw. The two actresses, who haven't had the easiest of relationships off screen, did not appear in the same setting together. Instead, their characters spoke with each other over the phone.

In the beginning of season 1 of the show, it was revealed that Carrie and Samantha had a falling-out, with Samantha ultimately relocating to London. The two began texting with each other after the death of Carrie's husband, John James Preston (Chris Noth). In the season 2 finale, however, Samantha is the one to call Carrie.

"Hello, London," Carrie says as she picks up the phone at the start of the episode. Cattrall then appears in the back seat of a car. Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) had told Samantha all about Carrie's big "last supper" plans and she'd planned to fly to New York overnight to pay her respects before her friend leaves her old apartment behind — only her flight has been delayed and she can no longer make it.

So instead, Carrie puts Samantha on speakerphone so she can tell the apartment, "Thank you for everything, you f---ing fabulous, fabulous flat." Samantha even cracks an Annabelle Bronstein joke, referencing the name of the woman whose SoHo House pass she stole back in Sex and the City season 6 in order to lounge at its coveted pool. Apparently, the friends have patched things up.

Sex and the City costume designer Patricia Field also returned for the episode, styling Cattrall in a red dress and flashy gold jacket, complete with gold accessories and a lime green purse.

The cameo had been incredibly hush-hush until the press leak at the end of May. Reports suggested that Cattrall filmed the role back in March without her costars or showrunner Michael Patrick King. Actor Evan Handler (Harry Goldenblatt) said Cattrall must have "shot in the garage somewhere with no contact with anybody."

Appearing on The View in June, Cattrall explained that she received a call from the head of HBO, who asked, "What can we do?" She told the daytime TV hosts, "One of those things was to get Pat Field back because I just thought that if I'm going to come back, I gotta come back with that Samantha style. I gotta push it, and we did."

Parker, who is an executive producer on And Just Like That with costars Nixon and Davis, told EW that she thought "it was a really nice idea" to have Samantha back for the 25th anniversary of Sex and the City.

"We had a conversation about it and we decided that it was right for the fans," Davis added. "The fans miss Samantha. The fans love Samantha. Samantha's a fantastic character. We get it."

Nixon expressed disappointment over the news of Cattrall's cameo getting leaked. "We went to so many lengths to try to hide it," she told EW. "The thing that we were also really excited about was to have nobody be expecting Samantha and then have her pop in."

If fans are hoping for more Samantha in And Just Like That season 3… well, never say never. But Cattrall insisted in a recent interview, "This is as far as I'm going to go."

She added, "I don't think I'll ever say goodbye to Samantha. She's like a lot of other characters that I've done over the years. I get very emotionally attached and protective of my characters. She gave me so much, and I'm so appreciative of her."

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