Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick Make Rare Red Carpet Appearance With Son James Wilkie at ‘Other Desert Cities’ Opening Night

Some couples collect red carpets like souvenirs. Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick? Almost never — not with their kids in tow, anyway. So when all three of them showed up together on Sunday night, it genuinely counted as news.

The longtime pair stepped out at the Hudson Theatre for opening night of Other Desert Cities, the starriest Broadway revival of the season, and their plus-one was the real story: their 23-year-old son, James Wilkie Broderick, working a navy suit like he’d been doing this for years. Three smiles, a storm of camera flashes, one of those family portraits that’s become increasingly rare — mostly because this family has spent two decades keeping their kids out of exactly these photographs.

Parker, 61, went classic in a black dress. Broderick, 64, kept it sharp in a gray suit. The trio posed together, and look — if you’ve followed this family, you know how unusual that is. Married since 1997, three kids, and somehow the tabloids have almost nothing on them. In this town? That’s basically a magic trick.

A Night Worth Showing Up For

And honestly, they picked a good night to come out of hiding. Other Desert Cities is the buzziest Broadway opening of the fall. Julia Louis-Dreyfus — eleven Emmys, zero Broadway credits until now — finally made her stage debut as Polly Wyeth, the family matriarch in Jon Robin Baitz’s Pulitzer-finalist family drama. Ed Harris plays her husband, Allison Janney is her sister, and Lily Rabe and Stranger Things favorite Joe Keery play the grown kids.

The play’s got history. Premiered Off-Broadway via Lincoln Center Theater in 2011, transferred to Broadway that same year, picked up five Tony nominations (Judith Light took one home). This new version, directed by Tony winner John Benjamin Hickey, is a limited 16-week run through January 17, 2027 — and it’s already a box-office monster, cracking Broadway’s “$2 Million Club” in its first full week of previews. Louis-Dreyfus putting her name on a marquee will do that.

Opening night was a circus in the best way. Bryan Cranston. Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos. Anna Wintour. Busy Philipps. J.J. Abrams. Ina Garten, because of course. Michael Kors. Matt Rogers. Chris Perfetti. Victor Garber. The whole theater district basically showed up — and somewhere in the middle of it, the Parkers were quietly the most charming people in the room. They’ve always had that effect. No fuss, no entourage drama, just … nice.

Reviews leaned warm, by the way. The New York Times called Louis-Dreyfus’s debut “smashing,” singled out Janney as at her “best.” Deadline said Louis-Dreyfus was “seriously funny.” EW went B+, noting the show “will make you feel things, both good and bad about your family.” Fitting, really — a play about family secrets, watched by one of Hollywood’s most famously secretive families.

James Wilkie Is Getting Into the Family Business

Okay, back to the actual headline here: James Wilkie Broderick, 23, on a red carpet, looking completely at ease. This may not be a one-off. The kid seems to be easing into the family business — and doing it the old-fashioned way. No splashy streaming lead. No influencer era. Just … actual work.

His debut came in 2024, in the least show-offy way possible: a guest spot on the CBS procedural Elsbeth, appearing alongside his dad. That’s it. A network procedural. It’s almost retro — like some kid in the fifties learning the ropes on a studio lot instead of launching a personal brand first. There’s something to respect about that, especially now, when every other celebrity kid’s “debut” comes with a magazine cover and a discourse cycle attached.

He’s the eldest of three. SJP and Matthew also have 17-year-old twin daughters, Tabitha Hodge and Marion Loretta Elwell, born via surrogate back in 2009. Earlier this year the whole family made one of those once-in-a-blue-moon public appearances together — the kind of sighting that sends entertainment photographers into a scramble because it happens so rarely.

And honestly? Hard not to admire the discipline. This is an industry where toddlers have publicists. The Broderick-Parker household kept three kids grounded and out of the tabloids for two decades. So when James Wilkie walks a carpet at 23 in a sharp navy suit, looking every inch like an adult — it lands differently. It feels earned, not manufactured. Big difference.

What’s Next for SJP and Matthew

Neither parent is coasting, either. Parker’s got Hocus Pocus 3 in early development at Disney — yes, the Sanderson sisters are really coming back. Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy are expected to return alongside her, with Hocus Pocus 2 director Anne Fletcher and writer Jen D’Angelo back too. There’s even chatter about a theatrical release this time, which tells you exactly how much faith the studio has in those witches. Thirty-plus years later and people still can’t get enough.

That’s on top of her Carrie Bradshaw years, which … I mean, where do you even start. Six seasons of Sex and the City, two movies, then three more seasons of And Just Like That…, which wrapped in 2025. She’s said she keeps Carrie’s world firmly separate from her own — archives the famous wardrobe but would never wear it herself. “There’s a huge separation,” she put it. Fair enough. Nobody wants to be their character at the grocery store.

Broderick’s got his own full-circle moment coming. He and Alan Ruck — Ferris and Cameron, the actual guys — filmed a road-trip comedy called The Best Is Yet to Come, directed by Jon Turteltaub. It’s adapted from a 2019 French comedy: two lifelong friends, one massive misunderstanding, one unexpected journey. They shot it in Vancouver in the summer of 2025; it’s in post now, no release date yet. Broderick said working with Ruck again felt like no time had passed. Forty years. Imagine.

Hollywood’s Steadiest Couple, Still Going

Can we just pause on the timeline for a second? May 19, 1997. That’s when these two got married. Nearly three decades — in Hollywood years, that’s roughly a century. They met through her brothers, had a surprise ceremony at a Lower East Side synagogue, and then did the most radical thing a famous couple can possibly do.

They just … stayed together. Stayed private. Raised three kids who seem remarkably normal. No scandals, no tell-alls, no “conscious uncoupling” press releases. Boring, right? Except it’s the hardest thing in the world to pull off in that zip code.

Sunday night was a reminder of all of it, dressed up in a Broadway opening. No stunt. No announcement. No coordinated Instagram drop. Just a family, dressed up, supporting the theater world they’ve belonged to for decades — both of them have deep Broadway roots and Tony Awards to prove it — letting their eldest son have his moment in the flashbulbs.

James Wilkie smiled, posed, and looked entirely at ease. If this is the start of his own chapter in front of the camera, he picked a hell of a first carpet. And if it’s just a son showing up for his parents on a big night out? Honestly, that’s even better.

Source: Just Jared