Chris Noth explains why his onscreen wife Carrie Bradshaw didn’t call 911 in THAT scene as he reflects on their final ‘Bonnie and Clyde moment’

Chris Noth opened up about his character Mr. Big’s shocking onscreen death after an intense Peloton workout in the Sex And The City reboot And Just Like That. 

He also explained why his onscreen wife Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) did not immediately dialed 911 after discovering him nearly unconscious in the shower. 

Speaking of his final moments, in which he suffered a fatal heart attack, Noth praised creator Michael Patrick King for giving Big and Carrie ‘that last moment together.’

Speaking out: Chris Noth opened up about his character Mr. Big’s shocking onscreen death after an intense Peloton workout in the Sex And The City reboot And Just Like That; seen in 2019

‘We both called it the Bonnie and Clyde moment, which is that moment when Bonnie and Clyde are about to be eviscerated by bullets,’ the father-of-two, 67, said of his and King’s feelings on the controversial ending.  

The Law & Order actor continued: ‘They have that look with each other, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. They both know that it’s the end.’

He also defended Bradshaw’s decision to run to his side, instead of calling 911, administering him an aspirin or performing CPR when he lost consciousness.  

Tragic: He also explained why his onscreen wife Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) did not immediately dialed 911 after discovering him nearly unconscious in the shower

Onscreen love: Speaking of his final moments, in which he suffered a fatal heart attack, Noth praised creator Michael Patrick King for giving Big and Carrie ‘that last moment together’

‘We knew that we had to have that, that I just shouldn’t die alone in the bathroom. There had to be that last moment and no words, no corny dialogue, just a look, and I thought [King] did it so beautifully,’ 

In the scene, after arriving back home from a piano recital for Charlotte’s daughter, Carrie finds Mr. Big laying on the bathroom floor, and proceeds to comfort him in his final moments before slipping away and dying.

It turns out the shocking scenario was all part of the creative team’s decision to set the revival series apart from the original. 

Final moments: Carrie finds Mr. Big laying on the bathroom floor, and proceeds to comfort him in his final moments before slipping away and dying

Inspiration: The Law & Order actor compared the death scene to when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway (pictured) both look at each other and ‘know its the end’ in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde

With many fans still in the state of shock, the series developer revealed that the idea around killing Mr. Big off so early on was to give the show a new look and feel, which includes doing the unexpected through the perspective of Bradshaw.

‘Dying was the origin story,’ King confessed Vanity Fair, adding, ‘Nobody wanted to come back if [the show] was not going to be different.’

With so much time invested in his character, considering he made his debut in 1998, it’s not surprising that Noth wanted to sit down with King to have him explain how Mr. Big’s death pushes the storyline forward.

Mystery answered: Series developer Michael Patrick King also revealed why a real Peloton stationary bike was used in the the buildup to the surprise drama at the end of episode one

Working up a sweat: Towards the end of episode one, Mr. Big (Chris Noth) gets in a workout on a Peloton spin bike, while wife Carrie Bradshaw is out at a piano recital for Charlotte’s daughter

‘When I told Chris that Mr. Big dies in the first episode, he definitely knew it wasn’t [going to be the] same. And we had to talk about it,’ King confessed.

‘He really wanted to talk about why he’s dying and what it does for this series. The more we talked about it, the more he understood that it was for Carrie— and Carrie’s storyline is it’s better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all.’

Eventually, Noth came to understand that his death would open so doors to Carrie’s story, all while helping build the mystic that has always surrounded Mr. Big since he made his way into her life in the late 1990s. 

After getting off the stationary bike, Mr. Big, otherwise known as John James Preston, grimaces in pain when he begins to have a heart attack

‘The legacy of that character wouldn’t diminish, but would increase his legend by leaving,’ he explained.

‘If you can find someone who loves you, that’s fabulous. But this really lets us test out that thesis— the voiceover we end the series with in Sex in the City— that the most significant, challenging, difficult, and rewarding relationship of all is the one you have with yourself.’

Plus, the idea of Carrie Bradshaw having to head back out into the dating world, brings the show full circle, only now fans can see how she responds to the current dating world through the lens of a mature woman in her 50s.

‘It’s also really interesting to me, because 55 and single is a whole new ballpark. You thought 35 and single was a story. 55 and single is a story as well,’ King said of the possibilities for Carrie. 

Heartbreaking: By the end of the episode, Mr. Big collapses in the bathroom area and dies

Many fans have been also asking why the show used an actual exercise equipment company like Peloton, which is based in New York City, as opposed to a generic spin bike brand.

King was quick point out that the death of Mr. Big was not caused by Peloton, and by using a known company humanizes the character and the overall realism of the show.

‘Well, we knew he was gonna have a heart attack. So the Peloton had nothing to do with the heart attack,’ he said emphatically, before continuing, ‘The Peloton is a thing [though] that people have now, right? It reflects [modern] society. I wanted something to show that Mr. Big was current. Everybody kept coming and saying, “Oh, [the characters] are old. They’re old.” These characters are alive and vibrant.’

 ‘When I told Chris that Mr. Big dies in the first episode, he definitely knew it wasn’t [going to be the] same. And we had to talk about it,’ King confessed

‘He really wanted to talk about why he’s dying and what it does for this series. The more we talked about it, the more he understood that it was for Carrie— and Carrie’s storyline is it’s better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all’

Considering the revival series was using the COVID-9 pandemic as part of the backdrop of life for the characters, King thought about what Mr. Big would be doing with his time while in quarantine.

‘He’d be listening to his record collection and exercising at home,’ King explained, ‘So we built this enormously decadent, titan-of-the-world spa bathroom and put the signature item that you would have in that at home, which is a Peloton. I ride it all the time, not in a bathroom like that.’

King then made the comparison to Carrie’s fashion choices at specific times in her life. 

Sendoff: Charlotte, Carrie, Stanford and the rest of the main characters mourned the loss of Mr. Big together at his memorial

‘When Carrie carried a Fendi bag, that was the bag of the moment. Peloton is the bike of the moment. The heart attack happened off the bike,’ he explained.

A rep for Peloton has since come out to reveal that the company approved instructor Jess King’s appearance on the show, but didn’t know anything about the plot, including Big’s demise by way of a heart attack.

‘HBO procured the Peloton Bike on their own,’ Peloton spokesperson Denise Kelly told BuzzFeed, adding, ‘Peloton was aware that a bike would be used in the episode and that Jess King would be portraying a fictional Peloton instructor.’

Charming: Mr. Big and Carrie had an on-again, off-again relationship, beginning back in 1998 on the original Sex And The City, which ran for six seasons; 94 episodes in all

To help keep the storyline under wraps, Kelly maintains HBO decided ‘not disclose the larger context surrounding the scene to Peloton in advance.’

All the drama surrounding the death and funeral happened in the two-episode drop on December 16.

The third episode, out of the 10 created for the season, is slated to be available for streaming on Thursday, December 16.

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