Kathy Bates couldn't resist the script for the upcoming CBS series Matlock, even though she was certain she was done with acting before even reading it. She feels certain, however, that this role will be her "last dance."
According to an interview she gave with The New York Times, Bates, 76, was "ready to quit" after an unspecified movie shoot had gone poorly. She told her agents she was retiring from acting, and she meant it — until she was sent the script for the reboot of a 1980s legal procedural. Much to her surprise, she loved it.
The Oscar-winning star of Misery told The Times that she sometimes gets overwhelmed by the pain of pouring herself into roles. "Sometimes I get jealous of having this talent. Because I can't hold it back, and I just want my life." Bates has also fought her fair share of pain in her own life, having survived both ovarian cancer and breast cancer.
Still, Bates felt the role of Matlock offered "everything I've prayed for, worked for, clawed my way up for." The actress said the series is "exhausting," and that she will still retire whenever it is over.
According to Deadline, this new version of Matlock follows "Madeline 'Matty' Matlock, a brilliant septuagenarian who achieved success in her younger years and decides to rejoin the workforce at a prestigious law firm where she uses her unassuming demeanor and wily tactics to win cases." The Times wrote that the Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret star "sympathizes with Matty's desire to rectify the wrongs of the past, to drive toward right."
Television has been fertile ground for Bates, who won her first Emmy in 2012 for her guest appearance on Two and a Half Men and another in 2014 for American Horror Story: Coven. Matlock, which also features Beau Bridges, Jason Ritter, and Skye P. Marshall, debuts on CBS on Sept. 22 and will stream on Paramount+.
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