"Just another procedural": When Kathy Bates revealed she initially thought of rejecting Matlock

Matlock has become a major success for CBS, and the credit partly goes to the stellar performance of Kathy Bates. The veteran actor returned to television after a six-year-long break with the legal drama and left everyone awestruck with her nuanced act. While audiences can not imagine anyone else in Madeline "Matty" Matlock’s role, Kathy Bates initially thought of turning down the project.

Ahead of the series premiere in September 2024, the actress had an interview with Parade, where she revealed she felt the show was just another procedural drama. However, she changed her mind when she read the whole script and realized how deep the storyline actually is:

“I never really thought I’d be doing broadcast TV again. When I first read it [Matlock’s script], before I got to the end of the script, I was going, ‘Oh, this is just another procedural, I don’t know if this is something that I’d be up for doing.’ And then, bang, all of a sudden, I saw what was underneath, and that really excited me.”

Kathy Bates once talked about the challenges of playing the lead in Matlock

In the show, Kathy Bates stars as Madeline Kingston, an aged attorney who takes up the alias Matty and joins a law firm named Jacobson Moore. As she goes about fighting legal cases for the firm, her real motive is to find the culprit responsible for her daughter’s death.

As Matty has to put on a facade in front of her colleagues, Bates revealed it was challenging for her to play two different versions of the same character. While Matty can be free at her home and with her family, she needs to be on her toes while at the office:

“She can be much freer to express her emotions at home than she can be at the law firm, of course, and I think that’s a challenge for her to find a way to get herself out of these scrapes that happen that are unexpected. I love the challenge that I do get to play these two different women really.”

At the time, Bates also opened up about her wish to play Matty for years, stating that she would like to continue with the show till her physical health allows:

“As long as I’m physically able to. look at Betty White and I think, ‘Well, maybe. Maybe I could make it that far.’ I certainly love working on this show, and I love the complexity of the character.”

She further stated her love for the cast by saying,

“I love working with this cast, especially Jennie [series developer] because she’s such a brilliant writer, she hasn’t let us down once. So, yes, if all those systems are a go, if I am in good shape and the scripts are wonderful and all of that, which I anticipate they will be.”

Well, Bates is going to play the character for at least one more year, as Matlock has been renewed for a second season. The first season has had a record-breaking run, becoming the most-watched new show on network television in 2025-2026.

Apart from Kathy Bates, the show stars Skye P. Marshall as Olympia Lawrence, Sam Anderson as Edwin Kingston, David Del Rio as Billy Martinez, Jason Ritter as Julian Markston, and Leah Lewis as Sarah Franklin.

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Matlock is available to stream on Paramount+.

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