By now, everyone and their unwitting boyfriends have heard about the death in the first episode of And Just Like That.
Spoiler alert: Mr. Big (Chris Noth) suffers a heart attack after completing his 1000th Peloton ride and ends up tragically dying in his luxe shower, just as Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) returns home from a piano recital. They lock eyes from across the room before she runs over and holds him as he dies.
Some say it was clearly avoidable, with super fan Jonah Hill weighing in to say, "But why didn't Carrie call 911 immediately?!" E! News even asked a cardiologist, who said, "More likely than not, if we take this scenario at face value, he was probably going to die regardless."
But now, Noth is finally explaining why it had to go down the way it did. So, why for the love of Jimmy Choos didn't Carrie grab her phone and call an ambulance?
Noth recalled his own conversations with creator Michael Patrick King, telling Vogue, "One thing Michael and I agreed on: We both called it the Bonnie and Clyde moment, which is that moment when Bonnie and Clyde are about to be eviscerated by bullets. They have that look with each other, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. They both know that it's the end."
The 67-year-old actor continued, "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."
So, according to the Sex and the City star, by having Carrie gaze into Big's eyes one last time, it made for a poetic conclusion for the rocky couple.
"It was very important for both of us to find a way to have that last moment together, not that she walks in and finds me dead in the bathroom," Noth continued. "That was essential for me to come back to. And the rest is just chemistry with SJ. We've known each other a long time."
It sounds like it would've been a less impactful ending if viewers were left with the sight of Carrie riffling through her purse as her longtime love passed away.
During the interview, Noth also revealed that he wasn't always on board with coming back for the reboot and dying onscreen.
"When we were in discussions about it—because at first I balked at even the idea of coming back and dying—it just was like, 'Well, just let it be, you know?'" he shared. But thanks to the way it played out, Noth told Vogue, "I always know I'm gonna be taken care of by Michael Patrick King, in the writing and shooting and editing, so I felt very comfortable with dying."
He seems to agree it's for the best that Big bowed out early in the season.
"All things end, and it was time for him to go, unless we're gonna be doing Scenes From a Marriage, Sex and the City style," he quipped. "There was nowhere to go with it but six feet under."
One good to come out of the tragedy? A viral commercial with Ryan Reynolds, featuring Noth reuniting (possibly in the afterlife?) with Peloton instructor Jess King, who played Allegra onscreen.
The first two episodes of And Just Like That are streaming on HBO Max.