This story contains spoilers for “The Rat Race,” Season 3, Episode 2 of “And Just Like That,” now streaming on HBO Max.

Two episodes in, “And Just Like That” is in full swing — and it’s holding to Michael Patrick King’s most cherished rule. 

The showrunner, who wrote his first episode of “Sex and the City” in the 1998 debut season, insists that the writers working under him never repeat what’s come before. That’s a tall order with 27 years of history under Carrie’s designer belt — and in light of the fact that characters themselves often return, but must be dealt with in new ways.

Aidan (John Corbett) has created intriguing new complications for Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) this season, as the pair, who swore to take a five-year break, are now enmeshed once more; Aidan’s visit to New York, and his encouragement that Carrie should keep up a texting relationship with him after they’d previously agreed to companionable silence, promises to renew a relationship, or threatens to upset Carrie’s equilibrium. 

Chaos is a constant in the “And Just Like That” universe, one that King and his writers brought through various destabilizing events in its first season — most notably, the death of Big (Chris Noth), the man Carrie had believed to be the love of her life. In the time since, Carrie and her friends have arrived at a happier place, but Carrie, specifically, has pondered whether Big was the man for her. 

It’s classic Carrie — a character who, King says, is ultimately on a long and winding path toward finding herself. King spoke to Variety about the decision to bring Aidan back and Carrie’s journey as a writer (newly penning a historical novel!) and a woman.

I wanted to start by talking about where Carrie begins this season — after establishing an agreement that she and Aidan are going to be in a holding pattern until he can leave Virginia, he slides right back in. It struck me as an interesting decision to keep him integrally part of the cast; how did you decide that? 

It was the first question in the room. We’ve made this almost impossible demand of Carrie — can you wait for me? I’ll see you in five years — and in shock, she says, OK. The thing we didn’t want to do was start the season with a chyron that says “Five years later…” So I think that the best-laid plans lead to the best “get laid” plans. The idea that he’s drunk, and has always been a rule breaker, and calls her was something that I believed could happen, because we wanted to see John Corbett sooner. 

And it also creates another layer of Carrie and Aidan that we haven’t yet seen, which is a strong awareness of how sexual they are. Usually, it’s kind of offstage. And so the idea of the broken contract, the messy contract, the back-and-forth of it all felt like something that would infuriate the situation. There’s nothing more annoying than a show about waiting for something to happen. So we found a way to make something happen, then take it away, then make it happen again, off and on and off and on and hopefully in an unpredictable way. He’s here, she’s there: How do we make this both surprising and fulfilling? 

In the history of TV, off-and-on relationships have also been  challenging to sustain, because you risk testing viewers’ patience. 

You don’t have to talk about the legacy of other TV. You could talk just about the legacy of “Sex and the City” and “And Just Like That.” For 27 years, Carrie’s off-on with men has a lot to do with her growth as a character. The fact that she can’t quite stick the landing emotionally for herself is important to her growth as a character. 

With John Corbett’s Aidan, he’s so captivating that we’ve brought him back — this is the third time that he’s come into her life, and we think that’s for a reason. We think, first of all, that he’s a legitimate character. There was a struggle, Aidan vs. Big, but he was strong enough that people connected to him. Whenever I meet women, still, I say “Big or Aidan?,” and they tell me who they like, and I tell them who they are.

Bringing Aidan back was tricky, because in the writing room, I have one big rule: Don’t repeat. So when you can’t repeat anything, even though you’re repeating a character, that makes you find a new way for that character to be in the show. So the “will they or won’t they” is really fun, and really treacherous. 

Carrie has consistently resisted finding a “happily ever after.” Do you think, on the longest possible timeline, she’s capable of finding lasting love, or is it all about the journey for her? 

I think the underlying truth of this entire character for 27 years is the evolution of finding her — whether in relationship to the person across from her or in relationship to herself. That’s a very worthwhile journey. Anyone in life is on a journey to fulfill themselves, and if somebody comes into their life, that’s great — just like the very last voiceover of the series.

This series is about testing that thesis. And it’s easy to type something and harder to live something. Who she eventually will or won’t become — that is still unknown, because it’s fiction.

Speaking of fiction, I wanted to discuss the journey of Carrie finding herself now encompassing her writing a novel. That’s a side of her we’ve never seen. 

I’m thrilled, because it was a risk. One of the signifying characteristics of being a writer is when you’re handed something in life, sometimes you can write your way through it or make it less tragic or less problematic, because you’re forming a fictionalized cover. What’s great about the book for us is that Carrie won’t allow herself to write about her personal feelings for Aidan — they’re too private. She’s comfortable putting it in the past, and removing herself further by calling herself “the woman.”

And the other wonderful thing is that you get to hear Sarah Jessica’s voiceover again, which connects you on some thread to the original Carrie Bradshaw in your mind — who takes your hand and tells you, “here’s what I’m feeling.” The other voiceovers were for her newspaper column; this voiceover is for the people watching, because she’s sharing with the audience things she won’t even share with her friends. So it feels more intimate.

Emerging from the shadow of “Sex and the City” and making something genuinely new was a tall order. Three seasons in, how are you feeling? Has the show begun to gel in a different way? 

I started “And Just Like That” with a shock — a tragedy — and then it took time for the characters to get through those tragedies. Miranda had a tragedy: Her whole life fell apart. Now that everybody’s through the darkness, they can be a little bit in the light. The second episode this season, when Carrie meets Lisette for drinks — that’s Carrie Bradshaw as you remember her. It’s clicked into focus. 

This interview has been edited and condensed.