And Just Like That...SEX AND THE CITY TURNS 25!

STARS CELEBRATE THE GROUNDBREAKING COMEDY SERIES AND SHARE HOW IT INSPIRED THEM-AND CHANGED POP CULTURE

- DANA ROSE FALCONE

Role of a Lifetime "The whole entire ride of Sex and the City has been one surprise after another," Davis (with Nixon, Parker and Cattrall in 1999 and, top right, in 2001) told People in 2016. "We never thought we would really be a hit."

On June 6, 1998, Sex and the City debuted on HBO and introduced the world to Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her friends Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon), Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) and Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) as they pondered their various New York City dating adventures. Thanks in part to the characters' jaw-dropping frankness about sex, the comedy series-created by Darren Star and based on Candace Bushnell's book of her New York Observer columns-remained a buzzy, beloved hit for six seasons. Celebrating female friendships and treating fans to guest turns by then-unknown stars like Andy Cohen, Bradley Cooper and Justin Theroux-SATC picked up a total of 54 Emmy nominations and seven wins. Not only did it spawn two movies, the prequel series The Carrie Diaries and the revival series And Just Like That... (which returns June 22), it inspired some of Hollywood's most creative stars in powerful ways that shape the culture today.

Issa Rae, Insecure creator and star 'Watching It Makes You Want to Tell Your Own Story'

My girls would come over, and we would watch Sex and the City faithfully. It was the first show I had ever seen that really showcased women's sexual habits explicitly. It influenced me to be more raw in my representation of my friends and women.