Sarah Jessica Parker gives nod to late friend and 'Sex and the City' co-star Willie Garson

When Carrie's Met Gala gown designer Smoke (Bethlehem Million) arrived at her apartment to help Carrie get ready, Smoke complimented the kimono Carrie had on when she answered the door. Carrie told Smoke her friend Stanford sent it to her from Japan.

As per People, Garson filmed three episodes of And Just Like That... season 1 before his death. The show wrote in his absence by having Stanford divorce husband Anthony Marentino (Mario Cantone) and move to Asia to manage a teenage TikTok star -- which Stanford shared with Carrie in a letter.

Writer and director Michael Patrick King explained to People why he wanted to keep Stanford in the series.

King tells People, "I think that's important once characters are established that, when a circumstance is handed [to] you that is tragic and less than ideal, you can still keep these fictional people alive in spite of the fact that Willie's gone."

King, 68, has also made sure Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) remained part of the AJLT story, with Charlotte York Goldenblatt (Kristin Davis) referring to her in the first few minutes of the season 2 premiere.

"I have always had Samantha Jones in And Just Like That...," King said. "In my consciousness and in my writing, in all of her writing, she's always been in London and texting. I was like, 'Samantha lives, so let's keep her alive for me, the writer, for Carrie, for Miranda, for Charlotte and for the audience.'"

That said, even King himself couldn't believe when Cattrall, 66, decided to make an appearance in And Just Like That... season 2 after publicly stating she didn't want to play the character again, reported People.

"I don't know what happened, because we didn't start the season thinking this," the two-time Emmy winner said. "Some sort of universal magic shifted. I don't know whether the fans manifested this. I don't know what happened. Maybe something about the 25th anniversary brought a lot of energy forward, and all of a sudden Kim was like, 'All right, I'll make a stop by.'"

Max confirmed Cattrall's return to People on May 31, and the next day, Cattrall posted a screengrab of the news on her Instagram. The cameo will come in AJLT's season 2 finale, when Samantha will reportedly speak to Carrie on the phone.

New episodes of And Just Like That... drop Thursdays on Max.