This theory explains why And Just Like That's finale was so confusing.

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You've got to hand it to the writers of And Just Like That season 3… they know how to deliver a finale that's both a beautiful, poignant conclusion for one character and an absolute dumpster fire of a mess for everyone else.

And just like that, a fan theory was born.

The finale episode of And Just Like That season 3 is a chaotic mix of loose ends and random subplots. The central narrative is set on Thanksgiving, but rather than bringing everyone together, it keeps them all in separate, disjointed storylines.

Watch the trailer for AJLT season 3. Article continues after video.

Charlotte, Harry, and their kids stay home for emotional reasons related to Harry's past cancer battle. LTW and Herbert are also at home. Same with Anthony and Giuseppe. Seema spends the holiday with her boyfriend's family, but her main frustration is a gluten-free pie.

And things get messy at Miranda's house, where Carrie, Miranda, and Brady are left to entertain a bizarre cast of characters, including Brady's pregnant girlfriend, Mia, and her friends.

The day is one big messy affair, featuring a dancing guest and a toilet that overflows with... well, you get the idea. The episode culminates in a montage of everyone eating pie in their own homes, with Carrie alone at her house, where she rewrites the epilogue of her book to reflect her newfound acceptance of being "on her own."

And, understandably so, fans are now convinced that the final scene — Carrie's beautiful solo dance in her apartment — was hastily reshot and tacked onto an existing episode that was never meant to be a series finale.

Image: HBO Max.

The theory suggests that when the decision was made to end the show, producers scrambled to create some semblance of closure by filming additional footage of Carrie alone, rewriting her book and enjoying her solitude. And, I have to say, it's telling that this pivotal moment feels so disconnected from the rest of the episode's chaotic energy. To many fans, the jarring tonal shift from toilet disasters to poignant self-reflection screams franken-editing.

According to showrunner Michael Patrick King, the decision to end the series came whilst he was writing the final episode, leading to the original 10-episode order being extended to 12 to accommodate a "two-part finale".

"You always leave the window open. The finale, which turned out to be episode 12, wasn't written at the beginning of the season," King told The Hollywood Reporter.

"We didn't tell people that it was the final season when we were filming. And we made a decision during the press junket not to say 'final,' because if you say the word 'final' at the beginning of a season — and a lot of shows do it because they want that to be the thought — but if we had put the word 'final season' out, people wouldn't have struggled with Carrie and Aidan the way they did. They would have just assumed, 'Yeah, it's over. It's a final.'"

But fans aren't buying it — the finale feels like two completely different episodes awkwardly stitched together. The evidence? The utter lack of a cohesive plot.

Let’s just say it. It wasn’t a planned finale.#AndJustLikeThat the writers ran out of the hallucinations that empower them to write these scripts and ended it.

I still want an Emmy for Sarah Jessica Parker’s hair though pic.twitter.com/TXk63anFJr

— Ben Murchison (@Ben_Murchison) August 16, 2025

Yeah clearly that was never intended to be a series finale, it was barely a standard episode finale - anyway I’ll miss this hot mess parallel universe Sex and The City nightmare with all my soul. #AndJustLikeThat pic.twitter.com/wwgt9TW52A

— RealHousewivesRanked! (@RankedReal) August 16, 2025

Did they already shoot the season finale and decided to end it there. No way that was written as the series finale #AndJustLikeThat

— justbrowsing (@justbrowsing4u) August 16, 2025

They were definitely informed last minute that the show was getting canned because the finale felt so far from the rest of the season. Rushed. The closing track didn't land as well as it was supposed to. The first episode I didn't connect with this season💔 #AndJustLikeThat #AJLT pic.twitter.com/Ku7BY0i0Go

— Lebza (@officiallebza) August 15, 2025

The last episode of #AndJustLikeThat didn’t feel like a finale. Carrie’s ending was to be expected but everyone else didn’t really have endings and that’s sad.

— Dawn (@dawnofmidgard) August 15, 2025

The entire episode feels like a fever dream. We're subjected to an unappetising Thanksgiving plot, complete with a side of Brady and his pregnant friend, Mia. It's a storyline that literally no one asked for and absolutely no one cared about.

Then there's the most egregious offence: the absence of the core trio. How can you end this iconic show — the one that literally defined a generation of female friendships — without a single, solitary scene of Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte together?

The foundation of Sex and the City was always those brunch scenes, those frank conversations about love, life, and the pursuit of a perfect pair of Manolos. To end it without one is not just a missed opportunity... it's a cinematic crime against humanity. It just feels... catastrophically wrong.

While Carrie's ending was undeniably beautiful — she's dancing alone in an homage to her iconic tutu, singing along to her own rhythm, and embracing her new chapter — it comes at the expense of literally everyone else.

Miranda's storyline with Joy is just sort of there. If I'm being honest, I developed no connection to this couple whatsoever, which is a shame.

Charlotte's storyline had no real arc whatsoever, and the less said about the other characters, the better — for everyone's mental health. It's as if the writers spent 99% of their energy on Carrie's grand finale and then abruptly left the rest in the dust.

Image: HBO Max.

For fans, the theory that this wasn't the intended ending feels like the only logical conclusion based on the absolutely disjointed nature of the episode. I mean, it's a plausible explanation for an episode that feels so lopsided, so rushed, and so utterly devoid of the chemistry that made the original show an actual masterpiece.

The fact that the cast and crew were reportedly blindsided by the cancellation news only adds fuel to the fire — if even the people making the show didn't know it was ending, how could they have crafted a proper finale?

So, while we can all agree that Carrie's solo dance party was a perfect ending for her, we can also collectively mourn the series that could have been. A series that gave a proper send-off to all its characters, not just the one who gets to wear the fabulous (and sometimes questionable) outfits.

But hey, at least we'll always have that dance scene. Because apparently, that's all we're getting.

Feature Image: HBO.