[This story contains spoilers from the And Just Like That season three premiere.]

After blowing up their central couple, And Just Like That has returned with a new chapter in its love story for Carrie and Aidan.

The sequel series had renewed the romance between Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her Sex and the City ex, but ended with the couple parting ways in the season two finale. Aidan (John Corbett) asked Carrie to wait five years so he could focus on being the primary parent to his youngest child. “We haven’t seen each other in 10 years and it went by like that (snaps his fingers),” Aidan told Carrie. When he repeated his five-year ask, he didn’t snap. “I already did and you didn’t see it; that’s how quick it was.”

Aidan was sure that the soulmates could make it work. Was it fair what he was asking of Carrie? Will Carrie wait? Those are some of the questions the third season sets out to answer. In the premiere that released Thursday night, Carrie and Aidan are settling into their long distance romance, which includes writing postcards to one another and dabbling in phone sex (with Carrie faking an orgasm). The episode also solidifies Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Seema (Sarita Choudhury) as single and dating — with Miranda dating a nun played by Rosie O’Donnell in a cameo — and catching up with the families of Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and LTW (Nicole Ari Parker), while Carrie begins writing a fiction novel.

The Hollywood Reporter spoke with creator Michael Patrick King along with stars SJP, Nixon, Davis, Ari Parker and Choudhury in separate conversations that are edited below about what’s in store for this 12-episode third season of summer (and sex) in the city, including the “maze” of continuing to evolve Carrie Bradshaw in the 27 years since we first met her.

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Season three in a long-running series can be a time when a show comes into its own. Having been through this before [for some of you] with Sex and the City, did it feel that way again?

MICHAEL PATRICK KING Every series grows. I remember on the first couple years of Sex and the City, we were like, “I think this is it?” It’s always good, but you’re a little unsure. Now with And Just Like That, we’re running full speed. The characters are grounded. They’ve gone through trauma and come out the other side. It’s gone from darkness into sunshine. It feels like summer in the city — exciting and confident, but also fun and a little bit risky. This season has an emotional, complex landscape for more than one character. I like the fact that characters you’ve known for many, many years are still evolving and have opportunities to change and grow. And I have actors who are phenomenal, so there’s no reason not to show many sides. It’s a nice balance of fun and fragileness.

CYNTHIA NIXON Even with a show using characters already established, so much of that first season is eaten up by exposition and explaining who people are and who they are to each other. There was so much tragedy and pain, and then there was so much joy and sex in the second season. We have now a wonderful swirl of both the light and the dark. We start out in a more comedic, joyous place, but there are rivers of painful things that happen and I think they happen in a wonderfully unexpected way.

KRISTIN DAVIS I certainly think with Sex and the City, the third season was when everything flowed. When I look at And Just Like That now, I do feel that we are more grounded and have created something different from the old show. We’re settled in more. This season is also more expansive. It has highs and lows, but also a joyful feeling, which reminds me of things about the old show but in a different way.

NICOLE ARI PARKER I feel like Lisa just started taking off. I mean, she has a kitchen! That was a creative choice behind the scenes to add that to their home. Before, her house was just a hallway, bedroom and a closet. Now with a kitchen, there’s more family story. I have a big emotional journey this season, and am also thrown off guard. I feel like I’m fleshing her out. First season I was nervous. I was questioned [by press] about everything that I wasn’t in, like, Aidan and Mr. Big [storylines]. I’m like, “Did you see the dress they put me in? I couldn’t walk in those shoes!” (Laughs) Second season, I knew who LTW was and third season, I feel like I’m just getting started.

SARITA CHOUDHURY We shot the first two seasons in cold weather, so this was the first season we weren’t hiding undergarments or putting on a fur coat the minute we finished a scene. That was heaven, to do a scene and then linger and hang out with Sarah Jessica. The scripts then echoed that because we were outdoors more eating and talking. I love New York City in the heat. Makeup looks great when it starts to sweat, and I just felt the city and I felt Seema [more] this season.

Michael Patrick, can you elaborate on this season being more “fragile”?

KING Life is fragile. At any moment, something can happen. That’s part of life, and there are a lot of fragile emotions. What Carrie and Aidan are going through can be very complicated, and the fun of writing their story was the maze of that and trying to figure out whose side the audience would be on at every given moment. Are they now understanding his point of view? Are they understanding her point of view? Here we are, 27 years into the evolution of Carrie Bradshaw, and seeing her grow and change in front of us is thrilling. Very rarely do you get to see an actor play a character for this long. As long as there is a story to tell, because life is unexpected and complicated and challenging, it’s fun to be able to show it in a fictional world. Realistically, it could be tougher, but fragility and fiction is fun.

SARAH JESSICA PARKER It’s pretty singular [to play a character for so long and discover new parts to her]. It’s a little bit like living two lives in some ways, because [playing Carie has] been such a significant amount of time and it’s occupied so much of the important years of my life. Carrie is a very interesting person to play because she can be unpredictable and she can be sentimental in ways and romantic in ways that are perhaps not to her benefit or to somebody else’s. There’s a whimsy to her life, but there’s also a pursuit of seriousness and substance, and it’s always interesting and exciting so it’s been pretty extraordinary. We only want to do this if there are stories to tell that Michael feels excited about, and he feels are really compelling to write and for an audience. Thus far, I think he’s been right.

You changed Carrie and Aidan’s status to long-distance at the end of last season and that continues through the screeners I’ve seen so far. What was the biggest challenge to keep them as the central romance but physically have them be in different places?

KING When it comes to Carrie and Aidan and the continuation of that very complicated cliffhanger when he said, “I’ve got to go take care of my family. I’ll see you in five years.” It’s like: “What?!” So [we had to figure out] how to do that without doing a very bad version that starts five years later. The trick was to keep them distant and yet connected, and find ways to not make the audience wait to see their chemistry, because the John Corbett and Sarah Jessica Parker chemistry is undeniable and a gift. It really was a bit of a “push me, pull you” in the writing room: “Get him there, get him away. Get her there, get her away.” But keeping this alive together and apart was the fun of the challenge. A lot of people do long-distance relationships. A lot of people have children and are in their second marriages. A lot of people have feelings about what they’re owed in a relationship. That’s all very fertile for writing.

SJP I always trust Michael’s instincts — even if they leave me bereft and even if I am sad to lose the opportunity to work with an actor that I love. These are the sacrifices! I had a feeling, or I just gleamed from what he shared [after season two] that there would be attempts at maintaining this sabbatical between Carrie and Aidan in person. (Laughs) I knew that it would never be as simple to honor as both parties thought it would be. So I was glad because Corbett’s such a wonderful actor to play opposite. He’s so good and so easy and so comfortable. He cares so much and he works so hard, and it matters a great deal to him. He’s just super easy when that camera turns on.

You continue to follow the cast into their bedrooms this season — Carrie has a vulnerable, intimate moment in the premiere when having phone sex with Aidan; Miranda is also dating and Seema is now as well. How did everyone approach intimacy and exploring sex and relationships for women at these ages this season?

SJP I have no recollection. They take me into a little room when we’re finish each episode, and they wipe my memory. (Laughs) I haven’t seen [the episode]. But I haven’t seen most of the shows ever, even the original.

CHOUDHURY MPK totally involved me this season with a lot of those scenes. And they’re tricky to do, especially with a comedy, because it’s half real. Like, “Okay, you might actually be in love with this one. It’s not just a one night stand.” But also, “It would be great if your leg could be [above your head], and then it would be very funny if you arched in this way.” So there’s funny and then there’s real, but in a bed. And the guest star, the one-night stand, it’s the first time they’re visiting the set. They’re new-ish and you’re trying to also show them that you want to do some real acting. So we need a lot of help to be directed in those. I love getting all the help I can, because there’s nothing natural about it. The natural comes when it’s organized. This season I had the most fun finding the natural charisma of it.

NIXON [There isn’t anything I say no to]. I feel like it’s my job, so I do it. But God, help me [there is a Miranda nude scene later in the season not involving sex] that was the worst, absolutely the worst. When I read it in the script, I thought we were going to be in darkness and see a flash of it. But then of course, when I got to set, it was fully lit. I understand it’s comedic, so I purposely picked the ugliest possible socks that I could find. Any comic mileage will make me feel like it was worth it!

CHOUDHURY Everything feels off limits when you’re doing a love scene. You start off with a t-shirt, and they’re like, “Could it be a bustier?” You’re negotiating the whole time. No woman wants to do anything. And we’re all shy, no matter if we’re playing the most bodacious characters. But MPK is unbelievably charismatic and funny, so you’re very aware this is also comedy. You can lean in a bit more than you would in a drama. You’re constantly trying to figure out how to not show too much and be slightly modest, because I have family [watching]!

KING When we all got together at the start of the writers room, we realized we had the potential for single people in the show again. What’s fun about that is single people in their 50s and, what is dating then? Quite frankly, it’s the same as dating in your 30s — except maybe you can pick up the check. We got very excited about the idea of putting both Miranda, who has never been a very smooth dater, and Seema, who has very high ideals in terms of romance and is looking for the one, out there [in the dating world]. That was a comic gold mine for us, as well as putting Carrie in a non-couple couple and then challenging even further the married couple of LTW and Herbert [played by Chris Jackson] by putting a handsome man across from her at work.

That all became very zesty and fun, and we knew that was a good field for comedy, but also you’re never more vulnerable than when you’re dating. We wanted to run with that because part of the fun of Sex and the City was showing the rigorous decathlon of trying to find someone. And here we had another opportunity to say, “Yep, life goes on.” There are so many women in their ‘50s who are a singled for many reasons: They never found the person they wanted to marry, or they’ve been divorced and are looking again, or they just don’t want to be with someone. It’s reflecting parts of the audience. And then with the married people, we wanted to reflect parts of what marriage is as well.

Rosie O’Donnell has a guest role in the first episode. (Guest stars this season also include Patti LuPone, Jenifer Lewis, Susie Essman, Cheri OTeri, Mehcad Brooks, Logan Marshall-Green, Jonathan Cake, Ryan Serhant and more in a variety of roles.) I understand you’ve been trying to write something every season for Rosie and this season it worked. Did having more characters single or single-ish let you bring more guest stars into the world?

KING Yes. Rosie’s very special. If you get Rosie, you’re guaranteed energy that people think is special and comic, and what she got to do on our show is show a little bit more of how wonderful an actor she is, because she comes in and plays it with heart and soul, which makes it even funnier. We used to call them “one offs” on Sex and the City: Just bring them in, have a date and out. It’s a perfect example to find a bunch of little, beautiful cameos for people. But Rosie was very special and it’s a great way for us to start the season because it shows a comic dating story, but also involves Carrie and the idea of Miranda dating a tourist and what happens when you actually put yourself out there, and it also has a sweetness under it, which is really everything we ever wanted to do. Comedy and sometimes sweet.

NIXON We knew Miranda was going to meet Joy [the character played by Dolly Wells] later in the season, but we also thought, why not have some real fun, lesbian dating nightmares as we did a little bit last season? But do more this season.

PARKER MPK puts women in the writers room of all ages, all races, all identities and it really shows. They nailed the specifics of like, how do you meet someone at a bar and then end up at their apartment… and these people take a cab or a subway… and then the shoe that gets left behind? It’s such a clear, tight ship in the writers room that I think the efficiency has always been there.

On Kristin’s podcast Are You a Charlotte?, SJP and Kristin recently spoke about this alternate universe theory — that the Sex and the City and And Just Like That characters are part of a story Carrie has been telling and aren’t real. This season, you do have Carrie venturing into fiction writing… can you weigh in on that theory?

DAVIS I hadn’t heard Sarah Jessica talk about that since the end of Sex and the City. I was kind of miffed at the time because I thought, “Well, gosh, we’re not real? Why have we been working so hard if we’re not real?” You work so hard to make a character real and grounded, all of Charlotte’s inner life. We work long hours and my feet are killing me, we weren’t real this whole time! (Laughs) I thought it would have been a cop out type of a plot to have that at the end of a show, right? That was how I felt the first time she brought it up. But when she brought it up this time [on my podcast], the way she talked about it seemed sweeter, that Carrie would have dreamt us up like imaginary friends. I hadn’t really thought about it from that perspective and I could see what she was saying, how it would really be touching if somehow Carrie had the need inside of her to dream up these friends of hers who wanted to be her soulmates. It’s interesting to think about — but I really do think we’re real!

KING You mean the whole multiverse of Sex and the City and Sarah Jessica’s version of Carrie that it’s all in her head? Well, that’s an interesting theory. For us, Carrie’s very much alive, which is why we’re creating it — and that’s the truth. And the reason Carrie’s writing a fiction novel set in the past this season is because she’s afraid to talk about her feelings in the present because they’re so fragile, again, and confusing and private. So in order for her to be able to do that thing that writers do, which is explore ideas without feeling guilty, she put the character in the past and didn’t even name her Carrie, which what she’s done in all her other writing. She calls her “the woman.” So the character that she’s writing, The Woman, is definitely characters that Carrie created. All the other characters moving around her in the show are very alive to us in the writing room as real people.

Three seasons in, does this feel like the middle of how long you want to go with And Just Like That?

SJP Michael and I haven’t chatted yet, so I don’t know. I’m always really proud of everybody. I’m always inspired by our crew, the primary 210 people that I work with all the time. I feel inspired by their efforts and the ways in which they show up every day, not just the fact that they are there and present and drive in from great distances often, many of them. But it’s the spirit with which they show up and are so freaking good at what they do. So when I wrap a season, especially this one in particular, it felt like poetry. We’ve been together now three years and everybody’s hugely important. I think we all were very happy this season, very much in love with each other, cast and crew, and so inspired, yes, but also just the deepest kind of admiration and affection.

NIXON Luckily, it’s not up to me. But it’s funny, when people ask us how long the original show was on, and we say six years, everybody’s always really startled. Of course there were the movies, but six seasons was a lot. It had such an impact.

DAVIS The fact that we’re still together, that we’re able to be together and continue to make the show that we want to make after all these years — and that we’ve been able to keep our fanbase and then do the films, which we never expected to really get done, much less to be a hit — and then to get to come back with a new show that’s different, but the same characters? It’s all crazy to me.

[When this role came to me], I needed to be Charlotte, and I needed to know Charlotte would continue. There was some question in the beginning [of Sex and the City] over whether they felt like they needed her to be a series regular or recurring. I was just trying to bide my time and wait until they realized how much they needed me, which they did — thank goodness! I never thought that it would be what it is, no one ever could have dreamt that up. I felt like we would be lucky if we had a little cult, niche following, like Larry Sanders, which was our only predecessor at HBO. I hoped for a small group of loyal fans so we could continue to do the show.

We just thank the fans for hanging in there with us and for however long that everyone feels creatively that And Just Like That is alive, which I feel right now it really, really is, [we will keep going]. I would want to do it for as long as everyone feels committed and that it’s a vibrant collection of lives. Really, I never want to stop working with Michael Patrick King.

KING I’m actually in season 27 [years since the show launched in 1998], because I’ve been writing this since the beginning of Sex and the City. Every season I tie everything up with a nice bow, and then if occasions happen, we untie the bow and there they all are again. So it’s all tied up, we’ll see what happens.

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And Just Like That season three releases new episodes Thursdays at 9 p.m. on HBO Max.