Despite the howls of protest from many 'Sex and the City' fans, the CW went ahead with its planned prequel of the popular series, 'The Carrie Diaries.' And while 'SATC' star Sarah Jessica Parker isn't involved in the new project, she did take time to reach out to AnnaSophia Robb, the actress playing a young Carrie Bradshaw on the show.

'The Carrie Diaries,' based on the book written by 'SATC' scribe Candace Bushnell, focuses on Bradshaw in her earlier days as she “comes of age in the 1980s and [asks] her first questions about love, sex, friendship and family while exploring the worlds of high school and Manhattan.”

Just about every young actress in Hollywood vied for the chance to follow in Parker's Manolo Blahnik'd footsteps, but it was 18-year-old Robb who scored the gig. Before this, she was best known for playing Violet Beauregarde in Tim Burton’s 2005 re-imagining of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and for roles in ‘Bridge to Terabithia’ and ‘Race to Witch Mountain.’

So how did Parker get in touch with the newly-minted Carrie Bradshaw? Robb said earlier this week:

"She sent me a letter! I wrote her one back, too. She was just very encouraging about it all. It was really cool!"

'The Carrie Diaries' is currently in rehearsals, but before that, Robb had to do some homework, saying she'd been watching 'SATC' and "really trying to click with the character." And while she knows the stalwart fans of the original series may not warm to the prequel, she doesn't seem too worried.

"I know everyone's going to compare it to 'Sex and the City,' but we're never going to be that," she said. "The show is more for my generation, but it's set in the '80s, so it's fun."

In other words, Cosmo-fueled cocktail parties -- out. Neon leg-warmers -- in.

Oh, the humanity.

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