“A Woman My Age Would Never Have Such a Role,” Says Kathy Bates on ‘Matlock’ Reboot
If anyone can follow in Andy Griffith‘s crime-solving footsteps, it’s Kathy Bates! Premiering Sept. 22 on CBS, the modern re-imagining of the popular 1990s courtroom drama Matlock will feature Bates as the titular protagonist “Matlock” (spoiler: not her real name), a lawyer who uses her age and invisibility to her advantage to win cases and dazzle her officemates.
“A woman my age would never have such a role,” Bates shared. “Never. I pinch myself every day. I mean, this is certainly a business where a lot of ageism exists. And the complexity of the role and the writing… I’m glad I stuck around for it.”
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The new series, though self-aware and with plenty of nods to the original series, is a wholly original world, with all-new characters, a diverse cast, and witty dialogue that anyone from any generation can enjoy. Not only is Bates’ starring role a solution to Hollywood ageism, but also the entire idea behind the series is as well. Her character, Maddie, has been out of the work force for a while but she has few issues catching up to modern times, despite the firm’s initial prejudices.
“I like to say that this is a show defined by contradictions,” explained Jennie Snyder Urman, the executive producer and former showrunner of Jane the Virgin. “It’s something new, but it’s based on something old. I wanted to feel folksy, yet sophisticated; nostalgic, yet modern; comforting, yet unsettling. Contradictions are baked into the very premise of this re-imagining. Just when you think you know what’s happening, the show is going to twist again, forcing you to look at the story another way, revealing something entirely new. When I wrote this originally, I had a guiding principle. I wanted to write about how older women are overlooked in society. I wanted our heroine to be constantly telling the audience that she’s being underestimated, and then I wanted the audience to enjoy watching her take advantage of that underestimation. And then, by the end, even though she said it constantly and we watched it happen over and over again, I wanted to still be able to shock the audience when they realize that they, too, have underestimated Madeline Matlock.”
Remind “Dreams don’t have expiration dates,” said costar Skye Marshall, who plays Maddie Matlock’s colleague and boss. “And I think that we’ve been conditioned for so long to accomplish so much at such a young age. But time is man-made; it’s limitless. You can always change the direction of your life; where you want to go, how you want to get there. And I think that when the whole world stopped, I looked up and everyone was back on the couch watching television and film. And for the very first time as an actor I felt like an essential worker. I felt like what I do matters, what we all in this room, what we do, it matters. It doesn’t matter if you’re 18 or 21 or 30 or 75. Because our journey doesn’t end until it ends.”
(L-R): Skye P. Marshall as Olympia Lawrence, Kathy Bates as Madeline ‘Matty’ Matlock and Jason Ritter as Julian Monroe. © 2023 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.
“It’s because of all those layers that I love [it],” Bates added. “One minute she’s at the office and she’s trying to figure things out, the other minute she’s with her husband at home and they have very tender moments. And my mother, God rest her, she would always wish that I’d not play all these characters that were afflicted. ‘Why does she have to play all those women that have affliction?’ So I think she’d be very happy because, A) she wanted to be a lawyer, and B) I’m not afflicted, you know, and it’s just so fun to play all those different facets of the same woman, and facets that she’s learning about at the same time as they’re happening.”
If you’re a fan of courtroom dramas, the original Matlock series, or of Kathy Bates herself (or Jason Ritter, who also costars!), then this is the show for you! Check it out this fall on CBS.
Remind 