Sarah Jessica Parker goes thrift shop in new HBO comedy

Over a decade after Sex and the City ended its six-season run on HBO, Sarah Jessica Parker is readying her return to the pay cable network.

“I don’t think that we talked a lot about trying to make her different”.

“I think [my new character] Frances was so much her own person from the moment I read the pilot”, Parker told reporters at the summer Television Critics’ Association press tour on Saturday. “I was always interested in the story of marriage”. Divorce, which stars Parker and Thomas Haden Church as a divorcing couple, premieres October 9 (10 ET/PT). This automatically is different. “The only time that we really were cognizant of distinction was when we started really talking about the wardrobe and understanding that there was an obvious connection between a skeleton and clothing”. “She was so distinct, not only from Carrie but from every character that I’ve ever played”. You won’t see her character on “Divorce” wearing nameplate necklaces or oversized corsages. “Pretty much everything Frances wears is used…from vintage or thrift shops along the Northeast Corridor”. “Fashion doesn’t dictate. She has to dress. She’s choosing (her clothing) but it’s not another character”.

The show, created by Catastrophe’s Sharon Horgan, centers on a married couple (played by Parker and Thomas Haden Church) in the midst of a divorce, something Parker was eager to explore. “This story is different”, she said.

“Children represent a bit of a centrifuge”.

Carrie Bradshaw may still loom large in the collective memory, but for Horgan, fellow showrunner Paul Simms and Parker – an executive producer on the series – it was surprisingly easy to distinguish between Parker’s new role and the character who inspired a generation of women to lust after Manolo Blahniks. “It’s one of the most traumatic turning points people go through. We thought a lot about that – a lot”.