Sarah Jessica Parker in the 'And Just Like That' series finale. HBO Max Logo text [This story contains major spoilers from the series finale of And Just Like That, "Party of One."] Going into the series finale of And Just Like That, we couldn't help but wonder how Carrie Bradshaw's story would end. Would Manhattan's most fabulous single girl be on her own after breaking up with Aidan Shaw (John Corbett)? Or would she lean into the intoxicating possibility of a new romance with her neighbor and perhaps find love elsewhere? Michael Patrick King wasn't going to repeat history. This time, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) makes a decision that should satisfy fans of both the original series, its revival AJLT and everything in between: She chooses herself. Related Stories TV 'And Just Like That' Ending With Season 3 TV How 'And Just Like That' Moves on From Carrie and Aidan "The last line: The Woman realized she wasn't alone. She was on her own. That's it," the Sex and the City writer-director and showrunner of And Just Like That tells The Hollywood Reporter about the ending he came upon for his character muse of 27 years. "That is what I wanted to say as an echo and a callback and a response to the finale of Sex and the City." Below, King brings THR inside the surprising decision to end HBO Max's cherished franchise after the third season of its comeback series - and why he's not second-guessing his decision, even when everyone is still talking about Carrie, her friends (a.k.a. her soulmates) and And Just Like That. *** Earlier this month when you announced that And Just Like That was ending with the season three finale, you said in your statement that you knew it was the end for Carrie when you wrote it. Was it truly that organic? Yes. Tell me about that. Look, you start every season thinking: "We're just going to do it out full. We're going to let the stories come. We're not going to hold back." But when I was writing the last line: "The Woman realized she wasn't alone. She was on her own." [Co-writer] Susan Fales-Hill and I wrote it and were like, "That's it." That is what I wanted to say as an echo and a callback and a response to the finale of Sex and the City, when Carrie was walking down the street and said, "The most significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you find someone to love the love you love, well that's fabulous." And that's great. But Mr. Big [Chris Noth], who had just turned into John, was calling her on the phone, saying he was coming. And so this whole journey [with AJLT] was about: "What if no one's coming? How can you really feel that?" We wanted to show it's a possibility that Carrie could get to that place, and the entire season was about getting her to that feeling. In particular, this last episode was about creating so much chaos and so much love and so much family around her that you would feel that she was not alone. But when she walks into that beautiful house - quiet - and eats pumpkin pie with a spoon, you realize, "Oh, that's pretty good life, too. That's a pretty good life." So you write this ending. Who do you call next? How big was the circle? No, no. The writing is sacred. Susan Fales-Hill and I wrote the episode. We discussed. Then we discussed with the other writers in the writing room. We've all been thinking about this. And then you wait and see if it's real. You write it and you feel it and you say, "Is it real?" And you wait. Is something else going to come? Is there going to be another door that opens? For me as a writer, if it doesn't show up, then I realize, "We're done." I've done this before. So then I did what I did to Sarah Jessica on Sex and the City. I went to her this time, and I said, "I think this is Carrie, and I think we're here." And she said, "I think there are no more stories to tell for Carrie. Then we stop." Because neither of us just have to do a show unless there's something to say. Then you talk to HBO, just like we did on Sex and the City. It's a different HBO team, but the same dynamic, and they always want to do what's best for the experience of the story for the audience. So you make sure every other character has a place where they're landing where the audience can fan fiction whatever endings they want for them: For Miranda [Cynthia Nixon], [her girlfriend] Joy [Dolly Wells] comes back. They've just cleaned up shit. If you can clean up shit, that means pretty much you can clean up anything. Seema [Sarita Choudhury] says, "I don't miss the gluten." That's like saying, "I don't think I'm going to miss this thing everybody thinks I need to have to enjoy life: Gluten or marriage." Charlotte [Kristin Davis] and Harry [Evan Goldberg] have sex! That's the only thing that was less than perfect about their very special family. Even [their child] Rock. The last line Rock [Alexa Swinton] says is, "I'm going to be a lot of different people in my life." And that's kind of significant, because what we tried to do with And Just