Cynthia Nixon has started the new year by bringing back a much-adored past character as well as introducing a totally new one.
First, there was And Just Like That, the hotly anticipated Sex and the City follow-up which reaches its conclusion this week, and reintroduced viewers to Carrie Bradshaw, Charlotte York-Goldenblatt and, of course, Miranda Hobbes.
Though Miranda is an established character, she has perhaps had one of the most transformative storylines of the show, which picks up with the women three decades later, following them as they navigate their fifties. Miranda is no longer a high-flying corporate lawyer; she's gone back to school, is a mother to a rebellious teenager, and has come to a sad but freeing realisation about her marriage, needs and sexuality.
"I am so thrilled, I am so proud of what we’ve done," Nixon tells Bazaar UK. "One of the great things about the original show was that we never made the women stand in one place; we always made them change, move, evolve and age. We’ve certainly done that with the new show. I’m so proud that we have been so bold about it.’
Just weeks after AJLT premiered, Nixon was on screens again playing Ada in Sky’s The Gilded Age, a project set in the same city - but almost unrecognisably so. While And Just Like That is very much set in present day New York – so much so that the Coronavirus pandemic is frequently referenced – The Gilded Age takes place in the 19th century.
Created by the mastermind of Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes, the series chronicles the upper society of New York City and the tensions between families from old and new money during a period of rapid industrialisation. Ada’s family is from old money; she is the quieter, more empathetic younger sister to aristocrat Agnes, played by Christine Baranski.
Despite both roles being polar opposites, Nixon explains that she identifies with both.
"I think people think of me more as a Miranda - outspoken and opinionated and not afraid to be confrontational," she ponders. "I think I’m as much Ada as Miranda. I’m incredibly domestic; I’m a homebody like Ada is. My brain is maybe more like Miranda’s but I think my heart is more Ada."
Watch our full video interview with Nixon above, in which she shares what makes her happiest, her favourite thing to do in NYC, and the best piece of career advice she's ever heard.
The Gilded Age is released weekly on Sky Atlantic and streaming service Now TV.
