'And Just Like That' Star Ivan Hernandez on Being Carrie's Love Interest and Kim Cattrall's Return (Exclusive)

Ivan Hernandez has some big shoes to fill both in the final season of And Just Like That and the Netflix teen comedy Never Have I Ever.

ET's Denny Directo spoke with the 46-year-old actor at the season 4 premiere of Never Have I Ever about his upcoming love interest roles on the two hit shows, and he gave some teases for the highly-anticipated return of the Sex and the City reboot.

In the season 1 finale of And Just Like That, viewers saw Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) find her first romance after the death of her husband, Mr. Big (Chris Noth) with her podcast producer Franklyn (Hernandez).

Hernandez tells ET that Carrie "was ready" when she fell into Franklyn's arms.

Max

"So now the next season comes, and it's three weeks later," Hernandez shares of the season 2 premiere of the series. "So yeah, we'll just have to wait and see what happens."

In terms of where Carrie and Franklyn begin season 2, Hernandez teases that "they're dating," but won't share much more.

Excited fans have seen Carrie's past fiancé Aidan Shaw (John Corbett) return in promos for season 2 of And Just Like That, hinting at a romance between the past loves.

Corbett's Aidan isn't the only original Sex and the City star making a return to the franchise. The news broke earlier this week that Kim Cattrall is also reprising her role as Samantha Jones for a season 2 cameo despite her ongoing feud with Parker.

Max

Hernandez tells ET that he wasn't aware of Cattrall's return until the news broke.

"I heard about it yesterday. Yeah, big surprise so I can't wait to see what happens," he says.

Cattrall, who previously claimed she'd never reprise her role as Samantha, confirmed her return to the franchise on Thursday.

According to Variety, Cattrall shot just one scene for the season 2 finale episode and filmed it in one day back in March. 

Cattrall starred as the sultry publicist for six seasons on the HBO series -- alongside Parker as Carrie Bradshaw, Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes and Kristin Davis as Charlotte York Goldenblatt. 

Cattrall also reprised the character for two subsequent films. However, her character was written out of the show -- although not killed off -- when Max's And Just Like That... spinoff was picked up in 2021.

In addition to his role on And Just Like That, Hernandez is also playing a key love interest on the final season of Never Have I Ever. Stepping in as the handsome contractor who catches Nalini Vishwakumar's (Poorna Jagannathan) eye.

"It was wonderful, I mean, it was an incredible group," Hernandez says of the Never Have I Ever cast. "Wonderful actors, a great script, I thought, very funny and touching and so I had an incredible time."

Netflix

He adds that he had a "really great connection" with costar Jagannathan, saying, "It was fun to sort of meet and have these arguments and then this genuine connection together."

The final season of Never Have I Ever premieres Thursday, June 8 on Netflix. Season 2 of And Just Like That premieres Thursday, June 22 on Max.

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