Kathy Bates paused her retirement for this classic drama’s reboot

Kathy Bates is singing her swan song.
The legendary actor, just ahead of the debut of her “Matlock” reboot on CBS, has announced the series will be her final work before retirement.
Bates, 76, told The New York Times in an interview published Sunday that she was already in the retirement mood after an unnamed movie shoot went left and, at one point, brought her home alone to tears.
She admitted the original “Matlock” series didn’t dazzle her. But the reboot’s script — a new take with commentary on ageism — made her take a pause.
The Oscar winner told the Times that the series has been a place where she can pour her talents into.
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“Everything I’ve prayed for, worked for, clawed my way up for, I am suddenly able to be asked to use all of it,” she said. “And it’s exhausting.”
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“Matlock,” consequently, will be her farewell performance. “This is my last dance,” she told the outlet.
To the Times, Bates ruminated on the injustices in her career despite her lauded talent.
“Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain,” she told the outlet. “Do I have the right to feel this pain? When I was given so much?”
How Kathy Bates’gender-flipped ‘Matlock’ is legal ‘mastermind’
She even looks at one of her biggest milestones, winning the Oscar for best actress in “Misery,” with a bit of disdain.
“I never felt dressed right or well,” she told the Times of the publicity tour surrounding the film. “I felt like a misfit. It’s that line in ‘Misery’ when Annie says, ‘I’m not a movie star.’ I’m not.”
Bates has lymphedema and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2003 and breast cancer in 2012.
Lymphedema is a type of swelling, typically in the arms or legs, that can be caused by infection or cancer, according to MedlinePlus.
“My lymphedema is under control. I’ve lost about 80 pounds over the last few years, which has helped a lot with the swelling in my arms,” she told the medical outlet in 2022. “I like to be self-sufficient, so before I know it, my arms are inflamed and painful. However, I’m luckier than most.”
To the Times, she also reflected on how fame, her health — “I didn’t care about myself” — and favoring unhappy female roles — “typecasting” — has left her pessimistic. The art form of acting itself has given her some comfort: “It was the only thing I’ve had, ever.”
In “Matlock,” where Bates plays a woman facing adversity, she identifies. “Maybe on some deep level that’s why I was attracted to this,” she said.
In the gender-flipped series, Bates stars as Madeline Matlock, a lawyer who winks at NBC’s 1986-95 iconic lawyer played by Andy Griffith.
But the reboot is a response to ageism in society — and especially Hollywood.
“A woman my age would never have such a role, ever,” Bates previously told the Television Critics Association in July. She also played a lawyer in NBC’s short-lived 2011-12 “Harry’s Law.” “The complexity; the writing. A lot of ageism exists, and I’ve only been interested in doing the best work I can possibly do.”
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“I wanted to write about how older women are overlooked in society,” executive producer Jennie Snyder Urman (“Jane the Virgin”) told USA TODAY in July. “And then I wanted the audience to enjoy being shocked by the underestimation. It’s a legal procedural, with a case of the week.”
“But at its deepest core, it’s a character study, a deep dive into the mind of Madeline Matlock, a fish out of water, a mastermind,” she told the TCA. “Just because you’re older doesn’t mean you can’t be a bad bitch.”
Contributing: Gary Levin