Kathy Bates has had quite a prolific career that spans the big screen, small screen, and the stage. Throughout her time as an actress, she’s received an Oscar, two Emmys, and was nominated for a Tony, among many, many others. The 76-year-old recently won a Critics' Choice Award for her role as Madeline “Matty” Matlock on the CBS reboot of Matlock, which aired on the 2025 TV schedule. However, she nearly retired before getting the series. Now, she’s opening up about why she was considering it.
The actress has previously admitted that she sees Matlock as her last project before retiring, after initially wanting to retire before the series came to her. While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter during a roundtable discussion, Bates revealed why she wanted to stop acting and why she ultimately decided to give Matlock a chance. Her reasoning makes a whole lot of sense:
This is something I can really believe in. It means something. Up until that point, things were starting to wind down for me. I was getting roles that I really cared about in films that no one would see. [There was] disappointment in the way things were edited. It started to hurt too much. I just thought that maybe I ought to think about putting my house on the market and moving to France or something. I just wanted some real stimulation.
Some actors take projects just to make money and have a job, but a lot, such as Bates, want their work to speak to them too. Not to mention the fact that it would be nice to actually have people see said project that you’re so passionate about. I definitely don’t blame Bates for wanting to retire before Matlock.
Now that she’s on a project that is both meaningful and successful, it shows that it's never too late to find that kind of work so late in your career.
Whether Bates will stick to her word and retire once Matlock comes to an end is unknown, but hopefully that is still years away. Matlock will only be getting into its second season this fall, so it is far too soon to start wondering about the end. Considering all the twists and turns involved in Matlock and the way it’s able to keep fans on the edge of their seats every episode, it’s very likely the show will be airing for quite some time.
As I mentioned, Matlock has been killing it when it comes to viewership. CBS crushed the competition with Tracker and Matlock, with the latter bringing in an average of almost 10 million viewers for the 2024-25 season. It just trails Tracker, which was the #1 show of the season with nearly 11 million average viewers. Both are forces to be reckoned with, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they continued for years to come.
Since Matlock probably wouldn’t be the same without Kathy Bates, it’s hard to imagine how the show would have been had someone else taken the lead role and the actress retired. Luckily, fans won’t have to wonder, and all they will have to wonder is what will happen next on Matlock.
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