15 Surprising facts about ‘Sex and the City’.

The popular phenomenon that is 'Sex and the City' has been around for a decade or two but did you know these facts about the cast?

Sarah Jessica Parker had to be talked into playing the role of Carrie Bradshaw. She was unsure about committing to a TV series out of fear it would put her theatre and film career at risk.

Kristin Davis, who played Charlotte York, was originally asked to read for the role of Carrie.

In the third season, while shooting the iconic scene where Carrie and Mr Big fell into the boating pond in Central Park, Parker had to get a tetanus shot after cutting her foot. 

Speaking of Mr. Big, up until the final season, not much thought was put into his real name. Executive Producer Michael Patrick King recalls that in the last episode, at the last minute he realised he had to name Mr. Big, mimed writing ‘John’, and the rest was history.

While the show shaped many pop-culture trends, one you may find surprising is that it led to a rise in the popularity of cupcakes. It was only one scene in one episode but it triggered a worldwide cupcake phenomenon. 

Aidan Shaw was only meant to be in a set number of episodes; however, fans convinced the show’s creators to bring him back after he and Carrie broke up in season 3, through sending the show producers little (15cm) unfinished wooden chairs. “Don’t leave Aiden unfinished”

In the episode ‘Escape from New York’, when Carrie met Matthew McConaughey, she was actually meant to meet a different actor. If you look closely, you can see that she mouths Warren Beatty’s name but they’ve dubbed “Matthew McConaughey” over it. 

During the filming for the fifth season, Parker was pregnant with her first son. This is also the reason why the fifth season was cut short, and the sixth was split into two parts.

While the ‘Sex and the City’ cast never re-wore anything that appeared on the show, the only exception was Carrie's famous fur coat. The coat appears multiple times through the first and second seasons, then disappears completely until the final episode.

Sarah Jessica Parker took home a lot of outfits/clothes/accessories from the series and movies after they wrapped. Two of the memorable ones being the iconic blue Manolo Blahnik heels Mr Big proposed to Carrie with in the first movie and the bedazzled panties she wore during an ill-fated fashion show.

Carrie was originally meant to be brunette, only 24hrs before shooting the pilot, the producers made the call for Carrie to be blonde. This was due to the fact that Bushnell, who wrote the books and columns inspired by her own life, is blonde.

In the first movie, Carrie borrows ‘Love Letters of Great Men’ from the library. This book didn’t actually exist, however due to fans wanting it so badly, it was published.

Cynthia Nixon (Miranda Hobbes), doesn’t have pierced ears. All the earrings you will see her wearing are actually clip-ons. 

The first dog who played Pete was scared of John Corbett (Aidan Shaw), so they had to get another dog for the role. 

The tutu Carrie wears during the opening sequence came from a bargain bin, costing only $5.

Honourable mention for all you fellow book nerds out there, while we’ve focused on the Sex and the City tv series, if you're searching for the book anthology which the series is based upon, when properly shelved it should be located in the Sociology section (306.7b) despite often just being placed in Fiction.