THE CARRIE DIARIES: Amy B. Harris on the Carrie-Weaver-Sebastian Triangle, When More SEX AND THE CITY Characters Might Show Up, and More

THE CARRIE DIARIES has shaken things up in season 2 for Carrie with the introductions of her new friend,Samantha Jones, and Carrie’s new boyfriend, Weaver. And while the series has always had heart, I don’t know about you, but for me, it feels like everything has been taken to the next level this season.

I recently visited THE CARRIE DIARIES’ New York set, where I sat down with series creator Amy B. Harris to talk about season 2, love triangles, the potential to bring in more SEX AND THE CITY characters, and more…

What is most exciting you about THE CARRIE DIARIES right now?
Amy B. Harris: For me, I think the triangle between [Carrie,] Weaver and Sebastian is an exciting one, and a potent one, and one I’m really excited about playing out. I feel we’ve given her a love interest that is the real deal and doesn’t feel like he’s second place to Sebastian. He feels like a legitimate challenge. But the fun of high school is you can never get away from your ex-boyfriend. I often think if she didn’t have Castlebury at all, maybe she and Sebastian wouldn’t cross paths and she could move on. But how do you manage an ex when you’re with them in a hallway? Do you talk with them, do you pretend to be friends, do you ignore them? And I think for me, that triangle — a lot explodes because of that triangle, and I’m excited to play that out.

In the writers’ room, were you guys looking at this triangle as the Carrie-Aidan-Big triangle of THE CARRIE DIARIES?
AH: Oh, that’s so interesting.

It seems like Weaver could be the perfect guy on paper for Carrie (like Aidan was), but like in the original, she might be drawn to the Sebastian/Big of it all…
AH: It’s interesting, because I think in some ways she’s better suited for Weaver because he’s very literary, they have the same sort of intellectual pursuits. It feels a little different, because Aidan felt like a slower paced, warm, enveloping person, whereas I think Weaver is a little more intense, actually. But in many ways well suited for her, but then there’s this other person…You never forget your first love and the first person you had sex with.

Speaking of Carrie’s loves, in SEX AND THE CITY, there was talk about her high school boyfriend, Jeremy. Are there any plans to introduce him before THE CARRIE DIARIES’ Carrie’s high school experience is over?
AH: We’re not getting Jeremy, and that was one of the people I was trying to figure out how to lay in this year — and I could not figure it out…Jeremy, I don’t know why [it couldn’t work]. I think because David Duchovny [Jeremy’s portrayer on SEX AND THE CITY] is still so beloved for me as an actor, I could not see how we would bring [that character] in and have it be meaningful. And I wanted to so badly because it made so much sense, but it was just [a mindset of], “I cannot figure it out.”

It was one of those challenges where it was like we knew where we were trying to go. Weaver is so interesting and charismatic, and brings out a different [side to her]…pitting him against Sebastian who is less literary, less scholarly, it was really interesting to us. And then [we had the realization] there’s not room for anyone else. These two guys are such unbelievable catches, so it felt that was the push-pull for her this season.

We’ve seen some of the characters discuss their college plans, but how much will that and those decisions be playing out as the season progresses?
AH: For two of our characters, it’s a huge storyline: for Mouse and Maggie. For Mouse, it’s because she’s Mouse and Harvard’s the thing, and it has to be the thing, and if it isn’t the thing, what will happen to her? So that’s a big journey for her, and that will be a big journey for her and her boyfriend since they’re both fighting for the same thing.

And Maggie, she’s not sure if she has many options, she can’t afford college, and so when you don’t even have goals ahead of you about why you’d want college, you have to start wondering, do you want to go? Should you fight to go? Should you go into debt to go? What does that look like? I think for me, Maggie doesn’t feel like a Mouse or a Carrie who has goals that they are striving to get to.

For Carrie, she and her dad have been in a big push-pull about what kind of life she’s going to be living, but right now, it looks like college is for-sure going to be in the cards.

Now that viewers have had the chance to see Lindsey Gort’s version of Samantha, what do you feel the key has been to making her work so well in this universe?
AH: The fun for us…a lot of the writers on the show were fans of SEX AND THE CITY, so there was so much emailing and giddiness of “I can’t believe I’m writing Samantha Jones and this is the craziest and most exciting night of my life as I’m writing her for the first time!” So that brings a level of excitement to things as you’re infusing new blood.

We thought about last season as a coming of age story, an age of innocence, and that last episode where Maggie betrays [Carrie] and she has to grow up and lose her innocence. Which set us up for our second season, [where the theme has been] what is the consequence of innocence lost? And there’s no better person to bring into the universe in that moment than Samantha.

And what I love that she brings into the dynamic for Carrie — and even for Mouse when she was giving her phone sex advice — is that she’s a fly-by-the-seat kind of girl, and Carrie thinks a lot, and is reliable and a good friend. And Samantha didn’t really have that in her life. So for me, it’s been a fun thing as they’re yin/yang-ing each other in surprising ways for me. I think Samantha being like, “Eh, it’s just a purse” [when Carrie’s purse was stolen in the season 2 premiere], and that’s the truth of it. Yes, it’s a meaningful thing and Carrie cares about moments and connections and Samantha doesn’t yet. So I think Samantha being in Carrie’s life is helping her realize it’s upsetting, but you have to move past it, you can’t live in that. And for Samantha, Carrie is telling her you can put down roots and rely on people — there are people who want to be your friend. And of course, we know that has very good consequences later on in life. But I think they’re figuring that out together, and that’s been really fun.

There’s always a worry, because the cast is sweet and gets along well and has a great energy, and when you add someone new to the mix, it’s always nerve-wracking. But Lindsey Gort hit the ground running. I sat with her and AnnaSophia [Robb (Carrie)] her first night here, we had dinner on set, and Lindsey was saying, “I have to take you to The Box.” And AnnaSophia was like, “What’s The Box?” And she’s like, “Oh, it’s this amazing club!” And I’m like, “Oh my God, they’re their characters in this moment in real life.” So we brought in this different energy, but it’s great because Lindsey is so game.

Has bringing Samantha into the mix eased up the pressure to give the main cast sexual storylines?
AH: Oh, absolutely. And look, they’re getting older, so it feels more and more comfortable for us [to go there with them]. Maggie, Mouse, Walt, even Carrie, they’re starting to age up in a way that it feels OK, but the perverted, crazy, out there sex stuff has been put mostly on Larissa [in the past]. And now those two titans can fight the battle of who has the most sex appeal and what is sexy in the first place, and that might take them to some strange places.

It’s been fun as a viewer of both SATC and TCD, because some of these Samantha stories feel like they so plausibly could have been something Kim Catrell did with her version of Samantha.
AH: And that was what we have had a ton of fun doing — bringing in those funnier, sexier, awkward stories that come with a lot of fun and outrageous.

Since the season is shorter than many network shows, have you already had to pitch/figure out what a potential season 3 would look like?
AH: We always were considered a limited series. We knew from the get-go that I was building these 13 [episodes] to be senior year. Which I was thrilled about, and I so appreciate Mark Pedowitz for this, because he doesn’t want us to tell crazy, twisted, soapy stories in order to churn enough episodes to get 22. In the way they’re now shaping [TV] seasons, they can do a 13-episode show, run it right in a row, week to week, and I think that’s good for the viewers. And I think that’s great for us and how we wanted to tell stories.

But we talked a lot with the studio and the network as we were building this year about what we thought season 3 was. I have a very strong point of view about [it] — not for all of the characters, I’m still mulling how certain people stay in the inner circle versus not — but I knew what I wanted out of a season 3, and this season was taking us to that endpoint.

Would that include more of the SEX AND THE CITY characters? At the end of season 1, there was the mention of Stanford…
AH: I have an idea of how I want to bring everybody in. Next season would allow us — I don’t think if we continue to do 13, I’ll do more than one character a season, because I think that’s all the universe can take. But I have two characters I think can be introduced next season, and then it would just be deciding which one we want to show up first. The last big one I don’t see coming — not big as in Mr. Big, but the last one of our [main] ladies — I don’t see coming until after college. So I’d try and parse it out a bit.

–

Which couple are you rooting for in the Carrie-Sebastian-Weaver triangle? Are you loving Samantha? Let me know what you’re thinking about season 2…

THE CARRIE DIARIES airs Fridays at 8 PM on The CW.

Related:

THE CARRIE DIARIES Exclusive Clip: Carrie Decides to Write About Sex in ‘The Safety Dance’
THE CARRIE DIARIES: Katie Findlay on Maggie’s Search for Stability and Her Complicated Relationship with Sebastian
THE CARRIE DIARIES: AnnaSophia Robb and Amy B. Harris on Carrie’s Work and Home Struggles

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page.

And be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/givememyremotetv