Women's Health October 10, 2025 0 Comments

Uncover the Unexpected Link Between ‘Matlock’ and Andy Griffith That Fans Swear Changed Everything!

When the new Matlock premiered last year, I’ll admit—I braced myself for just another rerun of that classic ’80s legal drama. But oh boy, was I in for a surprise! This isn’t your granddad’s Matlock anymore. With Kathy Bates stepping into the shoes of the iconic lawyer once played by Andy Griffith, you’d think it’s just a simple gender-flipped reboot. Yet, this fresh take dives way deeper—it’s meta, it’s quirky, and it veers off in directions that old-school fans never saw coming. Season 2, dropping Sunday, October 12, promises even more twists that keep you guessing. So, what links this new Matlock to the original? And more intriguingly, is Kathy Bates herself a fan of the show that inspired her role? Let’s peel back the layers and get into the fascinating evolution of Matlock. LEARN MORE

When Matlock debuted last year, viewers assumed the show was going to be a straightforward reboot of the popular ’80s legal drama, but this quickly proved not to be the case. The new Matlock, which stars Oscar-winner Kathy Bates in the title role of the septuagenarian lawyer originated by TV icon Andy Griffith, seems like a gender-flipped take on the original on paper but as it turns out, the show, which debuts its highly anticipated Season 2 on CBS and Paramount+ on Sunday, October 12 at 8:30 p.m. EST, is surprisingly meta and takes wild twists and turns that Griffith’s folksy lawyer could never have imagined.

Read on to see how Matlock connects to the original series and learn about whether Kathy Bates is a fan.

How the new ‘Matlock’ connects to the original

On the surface, the two Matlocks seem pretty similar, as both of the shows are centered on aging lawyers with down-home personalities that belie their savviness in the courtroom. The commonalities end there, as in the very first episode we find out that Bates’ character, Madeline “Matty” Matlock is actually Madeline Kingston, a wealthy retiree who returns to the legal world in an attempt to avenge her daughter’s death in the opioid crisis.

In a postmodern twist, the original Matlock exists in the world of the show. When meeting her new coworkers at the law firm, Matty introduces herself as “Matlock, like the old TV show,” which amusingly leaves some of the younger lawyers confused, as the show aired before their time.

While fans might’ve originally expected Matty to be a relative of the original Matlock, Andy Griffith’s character remains fictional within the show, and her grandson chose the alias for her as Matlock was her late daughter’s favorite series—plus, the lawyer connection makes it even more appropriate.

Kathy Bates in the pilot episode of Matlock — Kathy Bates in the pilot episode of *Matlock*Brooke Palmer/CBS ©2023 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Does the original Matlock appear in the new show?

Andy Griffith may have passed away in 2012, but his presence can be felt in a dream sequence in the second episode. During this scene, the Matlock theme music plays as Matty stresses over the fact that when she first introduced herself, she forgot that Griffith’s legal drama moved to ABC for three years after it was canceled by NBC in 1992 (a mistake that the show’s creator, Jennie Snyder Urman, admitted she made herself while writing the pilot). On top of all that, in the dream Matty is wearing a seersucker suit similar to the original character’s signature look. Yep, this Matlock contains multitudes!

What has the creator of the new ‘Matlock’ said about the original show?

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Matlock creator Jennie Snyder Urman said that in order to come up with her unique twist on the show, “I watched a lot of Matlock. I wanted to absorb the rhythms, I wanted to absorb the feeling, and I wanted to absorb what the expectations would be. I’ve seen it before, but this was a different kind of rewatch, so that I would know, when we’re doing these small moments, if we were referring to the original or not.”

Reflecting on the appeal of the original Matlock, Urman praised the show’s pacing and characterization, saying, “I understand why we watch it. We want to feel the rhythms. We want to feel that things work out the way they’re supposed to. He’s funny. I wanted all those pieces where you can have humor, you can have a character who is beloved, everyone knows them, and they’re always going to give you what you expected. Our Matlock was going to trade on the familiarity of the original, both in terms of tone for the show and for the viewers, and then inside the world too; that she was going to be that folksy, knowable person who you didn’t have to fear because she was going to help you out.”

Andy Griffith in Matlock — Andy Griffith in *Matlock*Gene Trindl/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Urman also spoke about putting some Matlock Easter eggs in her show, telling Collider, “Whenever they’re eating hot dogs, it’s deliberate”—a cute homage, as Griffith’s character loved hot dogs in the original show. She continued, “If she meets an older person, they’re gonna say, ‘Matlock!,’ and then she’s gonna talk about it. She’ll use it as a way to ease into conversation sometimes. Just that word gives us a lot of different layers of meaning because it’s a generational word . . . You get the generational world, which our show is so much about, off of that title in interesting ways. We bring it up when it’s useful and we put Easter eggs in there occasionally, but we’re very conscious of her being on her own mission and this is its own show.”

Kathy Bates in Matlock — Kathy Bates in *Matlock*Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty

What has Kathy Bates said about the original ‘Matlock’?

In an interview with Parade, Kathy Bates said that while she watched a few old Matlock episodes and occasionally took certain cues from Griffith’s performance, she actually wasn’t too familiar with the show. As she put it, “I looked at Andy Griffith and he was very subtle in what he did, and Matty is much more complex than that. Also, I didn’t watch the show at the time, I wasn’t a TV watcher. I was working in New York in the theater, so at the time when television was on at night, I was performing, so I didn’t use the Andy Griffith Matlock as much of a template. His folksiness is what I tried to capture.”

Bates elaborated on her relationship to the original Matlock in a Variety interview, saying, “I didn’t watch it. Everybody always asked me that—did I watch the show? . . . it was a conscious choice. I watched a couple to see what I could get out of it, but our show is just so different. I feel like this part was written with me in mind. Jennie Snyder Urman created it. And I’m lucky because I heard, originally, they wanted to make [my character] Andy Griffith’s great-great-granddaughter. So she’d be 30-something. But Jennie took a walk, and it came to her that she wanted to write something about older women and feeling invisible.”

Clearly, Matlock isn’t the typical reboot, and that’s just what we love about it.