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When CBS brought Matlock back in 2024, it wasn’t just about tapping into old memories. It was about trusting Kathy Bates to lead something new. This wasn’t a series trying to revive the past. It nodded to it, sure, but from the start, it chose a different way forward. The script didn’t just have her in mind. It was hers from the beginning.
And that shows. This wasn’t a matter of casting a famous name into an old frame. Everything here was built around Bates, her presence, her rhythm, her lived-in experience. What came from that wasn’t just a refreshed legal drama. It was something that felt personal, something that breathed.
Matlock: a familiar name, but not the same old show
Matlock made its return in September 2024, delivering a full season of nineteen episodes. But it became clear right at the outset: this wasn’t Ben Matlock’s courtroom, not anymore.
Instead, we meet Matty Matlock, a retired defense attorney who steps back into the world she once left, not for status or ambition, but because something inside her won’t let go. She carries loss, and that loss shapes everything she does.
The series sticks to a weekly case format, like the original, but this time there’s something running deeper underneath. The emotional thread doesn’t just support the story. It drives it.
When justice stops being a job and becomes a reason
Matty isn’t looking for high-profile wins or flashy courtroom drama. She’s following something quieter and heavier. Her daughter died in the midst of the opioid crisis, and she believes a powerful law firm helped cover up what really happened. So she joins them. From the inside.
Matlock doesn’t deal in easy answers. It asks hard questions. It explores the choices people make to protect what they shouldn’t. It looks at silence, guilt, and the blurry lines between right and wrong. In this version of Matlock, justice doesn’t come neatly wrapped.
Kathy Bates brings more than performance — she brings truth
Bates has always chosen roles that demand something raw. This one is no different, but the energy she brings here is quieter, more deliberate. It doesn’t shout. It just settles in.
Over the years, she’s been through enough — illness, personal loss, the long shadows cast by time in an industry that doesn’t always make room for women past a certain age. She changed her routines, took care of her health, and prepared for the role on every level. But what makes this performance resonate isn’t preparation. It’s recognition. She knows this woman.
That connection comes through in every look, every pause. There’s no acting in those moments, just presence.
A role created around her
This wasn’t a part someone wrote and later thought, maybe she could play this. It was hers from the start. The character wasn’t built and then filled in. It was grown from her voice, her tempo, her way of holding a room.
That’s why Matty feels real. She doesn’t come off as a character playing through a plot. She feels like someone who’s lived through too much to pretend. And it’s in that space, between story and memory, that the Matlock finds its soul.
A team that understood the assignment
Matty’s alias isn’t just a clever nod to the past. Inside the story, it was the favorite show of her daughter. That detail isn’t loud, but it anchors everything. It gives meaning to a name most viewers already knew.
The team behind the series brought care to every layer. Jennie Snyder Urman, the creator of Jane the Virgin, didn’t just structure the show. She gave it rhythm and breath. The dialogue is sharp without feeling scripted. The pacing lets scenes land without rushing them out of the way.
Even with all her experience, Bates said she was scared before filming began. Not just nervous, truly unsure. She held onto small rituals to stay grounded. She kept going anyway.
And the people around her mattered. Jason Ritter added warmth, and Beau Bridges brought quiet strength. But it was Skye P. Marshall who became her anchor on set. No drama, no big gestures. Just the kind of presence that reminds you you’re not alone.
The audience that stayed
Matlock didn’t just pull in viewers. It held them. More than sixteen million people watched each episode, a number that feels almost impossible in today’s TV landscape. But even more telling was the reaction. Critics responded. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a perfect score. Metacritic followed close behind. Kathy Bates won Best Actress in a Drama at the Critics’ Choice Awards, and the show picked up nods across the board.
What worked wasn’t spectacular. It was sincerity. People didn’t come for a name. They came for the feeling that something in this story was speaking to them.
A revival that speaks softly, and hits deeply
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This new Matlock doesn’t try to recreate what once was. It wants to say something else. About aging. About grief. About starting over when you thought you were already finished. About what it takes to get Matlock up again when everything in you would rather disappear.
In a sea of reboots and returns, this one doesn’t flash or chase attention. It just tells a story. A true one. And the reason it works is simple. It begins and ends with Kathy Bates.
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