Kathy Bates Clarifies Retirement Comments

Kathy Bates isn’t moving on from Hollywood just yet.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly at Sunday’s Emmy Awards, Bates took time to clarify recent comments she’d made in reference to her forthcoming role in the CBS reboot of “Matlock” that led many to believe she was retiring from acting.

Though the Emmy and Oscar winner didn’t deny that the role of Madeline “Matty” Matlock would be her final one, she said she’d happily play it for years to come if the new series is successful.

“What I meant was, I had one foot out the door until I read the script for ‘Matlock,‘” she explained. “And then I read ‘Matlock’ and I said, ‘Ooooooookay, close the door. We’re gonna do some more.’ I want it to run for years. It’s that great.”

Bates shared similar sentiments in a separate interview with Deadline.

“I was thinking about maybe going into semi-retirement until I got Jennie Urman’s script for ‘Matlock,’” she said. “I read it and said, ‘Oh, yeah, baby, I gotta do this. It’s amazing.’ It’s not just an episodic; there’s this over-arching mystery that goes through the series. Big twist at the end of the pilot.”

When pressed about an actual timeline for her retirement, Bates simply stated: “Never.”

Rumors that Bates was planning to call it quits after “Matlock” began to swirl following a New York Times profile published earlier this month in which she referred to the series as her “last dance.”

“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 told the publication. “And it’s exhausting.”

A representative for Bates, however, offered a slightly different take when asked by Entertainment Weekly last week about the “Misery” actor’s comments.

“Personally I don’t think that is going to be the case,” the rep said. “She wants ‘Matlock’ to go on for many, many years.”

The new “Matlock,” which debuts Sept. 22, is a gender-flipped reboot of the long-running legal drama starring Andy Griffith that ran from 1986 to 1995.

As the title character, Bates finds herself grappling with ageism and adversity when she rejoins the workforce as a senior citizen. Along the way, she finds ways to use her profession as a conduit for personal grief.