Kathy Bates denies retirement from acting: “It was misunderstood”

Bates stopped by ABC’s On the Red Carpet show before Sunday night’s 76th Emmy Awards, where she threw cold water on a New York Times story that Madeline Matlock in the forthcoming CBS reboot would be her final role.

As much as she said she was “flattered” that the retirement report “went around the globe,” Bates told ABC’s George Pennacchio that she was “misunderstood.”

“I think it was misunderstood because I … had one foot out the door until I read Jennie [Snyder] Urman‘s script and I was like, ‘OK, now we’re talking. And I want the show [Matlock] to run for years and years,” she said.

The original series of Matlock ran from 1986 to 1995, starring Andy Griffith as a defense lawyer named Benjamin Matlock.

The reboot show will chronicle Bates’ character, who rejoins the law workforce as a senior, scoring legal victories in courtrooms. In the interview with the New York Times to discuss the show, she said she felt like she was called to do the role, especially after experiencing some injustices in the early days of her career.

“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 at the time. “And it’s exhausting.”

Despite her success, when reflecting on her acting career, she only recalled some of the blunders, telling the New York Times, “I never felt dressed right or well.”

“I felt like a misfit,” she said. “It’s that line in Misery when Annie says, ‘I’m not a movie star.’ I’m not.”

Her comments notwithstanding, a source told ABC News on Monday that “it is understood that Bates changed her mind [about retiring] after doing Matlock.”

Matlock will premiere on CBS Sept. 22 and will be available to stream on Paramount+.