“Sex and the City” Creator Darren Star Says Carrie Cheating on Aidan in Season 3 'Brought the Show to Another Level'

Star, who also created 'Emily in Paris,' is looking back on Carrie and Mr. Big's relationship more than 25 years after 'Sex and the City' first premiered

For Sex and the City creator Darren Star, the decision to have Carrie Bradshaw kiss Mr. Big in that hotel elevator in season 3 was about much more than the pair's love story.

In an interview with Vulture published on Aug. 14, Star opened up about the iconic series, which first premiered in 1998. Coming off of his work on Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place, Star first met Candace Bushnell — whose column and resulting book sprung the idea for the series — in the mid 1990s when he was working on his show Central Park West. 

Star says he knew from the beginning that Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and John “Mr. Big” Preston's (Chris Noth) relationship would be “something that would be arcing through the show.”

Related: All About Carrie Bradshaw's Boyfriends on Sex and the City — and Who She Might End Up With!

“Even sitcoms turn into soaps after so many years because when characters get developed, you want to see them have lives that are continuous,” he continued.  “You don’t want to feel like their lives are resetting every episode. I was very conscious that Carrie and Mr. Big were going to be the spine of the show.”

He says their dynamic helped to “create the tension of the series.”

Vulture’s E. Alex Jung asks Star about what he calls a “turning point” in season 3 where Carrie has an affair with Mr. Big, while dating Aidan (John Corbett) who was head over heels for her.

For Star, the decision to have Carrie and Mr. Big go down that road expanded her character as a whole.

“It brought the show to another level,” he said. “I really wanted a character that was going to make mistakes and be an anti-hero, to be able to love and hate her at the same time, see her make mistakes, understand her.”

Related: 'Sex and the City' Turns 25! A By-the-Numbers Blowout

“It made the character way more complex. It brought up issues with her friends. Then it humanized Natasha because suddenly, she was a character that Carrie was hurting,” he added, referencing Mr. Big’s wife at the time, played by Bridget Moynahan.

Carrie and Big's romance was far from smooth sailing following the affair. She would get back with Aidan, turn down marrying him, try to be friends with Mr. Big before cutting things off and moving to Paris with her "Russian lover" Aleksandr Petrovsky, played by Mikhail Baryshnikov.

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The two got together in the series finale of the show but endured another rough patch when he left her at the altar on their wedding day in Sex and the City: The Movie. The two finally tie the knot by the end of the film and were married for 11 years before he died in the first episode of the Sex and the City spinoff And Just Like That... leaving room for Aidan to make a comeback.

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