Blair Underwood Rejected ‘Sex and the City’ Role Over Concerns About Race

Blair Underwood has revealed he initially turned down a role on Sex and the City because he didn’t want to play into stereotypes about Black men.

In an interview published Monday on entertainment website The A.V. Club, Underwood discussed his new film Longlegs among other roles that helped define his career.

The Quantico actor said he was originally asked to play Samantha’s (played by Kim Cattrall) love interest on the late 1990s to early 2000s smash hit HBO series, but he had reservations about the character.

“The first time they had offered the role, to be honest with you, it was about how Samantha was fascinated by dating a Black man and wanted to know if, uh, all of the rumors were true about our anatomy! And I said, ‘Listen, I’m honored, thank you, but I just don’t want to play a character based on race, on curiosity about a Black man,’” Underwood told the site.

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He was then called back for a different role on the show “about a year later” as a handsome doctor who Miranda (played by Cynthia Nixon) had her eye on while they both lived in the same building.

“That’s really been a consistent thing in my career: not wanting to be boxed as ‘the Black guy,’” Underwood continued.

“I’ve had that conversation with many producers along the way, and they were so great. They said, ‘No, he’s just a doctor who Miranda meets in the elevator, and they have a nice little fling.’ And it was amazing,” he said.

The actor also recalled how Nixon welcomed him even before he arrived on set, by giving him a personal phone call.

“I’d never met her—I never knew any of them—but she said, ‘We just wanted to call you and tell you that we heard you got cast, we’re all so excited you’re joining the show, and we just wanted to say welcome to the show when you get here.’ She’s just such a sweetheart, and she’s always been that type of person,” he said.

Underwood’s character appeared in season 6 of the series for multiple episodes as Miranda’s boyfriend—sports medicine physician Dr. Robert Leeds.

In addition to Longlegs currently in theaters, Underwood’s next project is the upcoming series Three Women premiering on Starz this fall.