Miranda Hobbes is going to need a new place to crash, it seems. Actress Karen Pittman, one of the new core cast members of Max’s Sex and the City revival And Just Like That, has departed the series, which means actress Cynthia Nixon’s teacher-turned-roommate, Dr. Nya Wallace, will no longer appear on the show.
According to Deadline, which reported the news on Friday, Pittman’s packed schedule prompted the move. The actress, who, with Sarita Choudhury and Nicole Ari Parker, joined the show’s core cast of Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis at its launch in 2021, also plays Mia Jordan on Apple TV series The Morning Show.
Viewers saw the impact of Pittman’s Morning Show commitment in the show’s second season, And Just Like That writer, director, and executive producer Michael Patrick King told Vanity Fair last year, with her character netting far less screen time than others on the show as the production worked around her schedule.
Since then, it’s been announced that Pittman has been cast in Mara Brock Akil’s upcoming Netflix adaptation of Forever, novelist Judy Blume’s controversial teen romance from 1975. Sources who spoke with Deadline said that “there was every intention for Pittman to be in Season 3 of AJLT, and Nya was written into the scripts,” but efforts to schedule around Pittman’s other commitments stymied that plan.
A spokesperson for Max says in a statement, “It has been a joy to have Karen Pittman play the smart and stunning Professor Nya Wallace on the first two seasons of And Just Like That.”
“As we have thoroughly enjoyed working with this dynamic actress, so too have others. Due to her commitments to two other streamer series, it has become apparent that filming three shows at once isn’t possible. Due to the production realities, we are disappointed to announce that scheduling conflicts will not allow us to continue with this character as part of season 3 of And Just Like That,” the statement read.
“Karen and Nya will be missed, and her Max family and fans will all be cheering her on in her other endeavors.”
Nya isn’t the only member of Miranda’s circle to depart the series ahead of And Just Like That’s third season. Sara Ramirez, who played Miranda’s divisive love interest, Che Diaz, reportedly departed the series in February. According to a February report in Variety, “the Che character had reached a natural conclusion since their relationship with Miranda had ended,” spurring Ramirez’s departure.