By JUDY SLOANE

Front Row Features

HOLLYWOOD-The popular TV legal drama “Matlock” starring Andy Griffith as Ben Matlock, a folksy criminal defense attorney, aired on NBC and later ABC from March 3, 1986, to May 7, 1995. Now almost 30 years and a gender switch later, Academy Award winning actress Kathy Bates (“Misery,” “Titanic,” “Richard Jewell.” “American Horror Story”) brings a novel take to the series for a new generation.

Reimagined by writer/showrunner/executive producer Jennie Snyder Urman, Bates portrays Madeline “Matty” Matlock, a brilliant septuagenarian who tactically uses her unassuming demeanor to rejoin the workforce and attains a position with the prodigious law firm, Jacobson Moore, where she uses her skills to help win cases.

Kathy came to the TV Critics Association this summer to talk about her new series, which has a special preview on September 22 at

8 PM, ET/PT, moving to its permanent time slot of Thursdays 9-10 PM, ET/PT beginning October 17, 2024.

Q: I imagine you might be more familiar than your costars with the original “Matlock?”

Kathy Bates: Actually, I was starting out in New York in theatre, and I wasn’t watching television at night. All of it is a blur. But I did watch it a little bit. And of course, I’ve been a huge fan of Andy Griffith.

Q: When you’re playing Matty, do you take any mannerisms from Andy Griffith’s character?

Kathy Bates: I think part of it may come out in terms of her relaxed, casual folksy manner, but not consciously.

Q: The diversity of your career is amazing. Why was this the role that you wanted to do at this time in your life?

Kathy Bates:  Because a woman my age would never have such a role.  Never.  And the complexity of the role and the writing.  I pinch myself every day.  This is certainly a business where a lot of ageism exists. And to be able to bring in all those facets that I’ve learned from doing all those different kinds of roles into this, I’m glad I stuck around for it.

What excited me about this was going in to sit down with Jennie. I read it on a Friday and went in to meet with her on a Monday. I think the first thing I said to her was, “Don’t change a word.” And then I said, “Don’t leave me,” because I knew what a challenge it was and also how much I would need her to create this amazing character. I always think of Jennie as Matty.

Q: You’re in almost every scene, how hard is that?

Kathy Bates: That’s been hard. I’ve got my dialogue for my scenes for [next] Monday and Tuesday. There are a lot of lines to learn, so after this I’m going to be going home and learning line. I don’t think I could have done this without taking really good care of myself, because it’s a tough schedule.

Q: There are several levels to Matty where she is performing a bit for her colleagues when she is interviewing suspects and witnesses in front of them, and when she comes home is she being totally honest or is there a level of performance with her husband and her grandson? How do you juggle those different levels of performance?

Kathy Bates: I just feel lucky. I get to play all of those levels with everything I’ve learned in the last 50 years. And it’s interesting that you say is she honest at home, because I think she even keeps things from her husband, every now and then and — without giving too much away — I think there’s a struggle [with] her relationship with her husband. And I think she begins to love [her work,] that part of her life even more than she does home.

Q: Do you feel like this has given you multiple roles to play? Or is it just one role that weaves its way through the story?

Kathy Bates: I agree with that totally. One minute she’s at the office and she’s trying to figure things out, the other minute she’s with her husband at home and they are very tender moments. It’s because of all those layers that I love [it.] My mother, God rest her, would always wish that I’d not play all these characters that were afflicted. Why does she have to play all those women that have affliction? I think she’d be very happy because, A), she wanted to be a lawyer, and B), I’m not afflicted, and it’s just so fun to play all those different facets of the same woman, and facets that she’s learning about at the same time as they’re happening. Oh, my God, I didn’t know I could do this!

Q: Assuming you can fit it into your schedule, is the door open for another “American Horror Story” at some point?

Kathy Bates: I don’t know, never say never. Certainly Ryan (Murphy) when I was sick with breast cancer and I thought it was all over gave me an opportunity to play a wonderful role and many after that, so who knows. But I hope we’ll be doing this show for a long time.