The next cult series returns under a new guise. As the US site "Entertainment Weekly" reports, broadcaster CBS is planning a new edition of the famous crime series "Matlock". According to this, a pilot episode has already been commissioned and a well-known star has already been chosen as the title character: Oscar winner Kathy Bates (74) will portray criminal defense attorney Madeline Matlock in it.

She succeeds actor Andy Griffith (1926-2012), who played the famous TV lawyer Benjamin "Ben" Matlock from 1986 to 1995 in nine seasons and almost 200 episodes. The report does not reveal whether the two characters share a common background story or whether it is simply a reinterpretation with a female title character.

The series' official description reads: "Having found success at a young age, the brilliant Madeline Matlock (Bates) returns in her seventies to work at a prestigious law firm, where she leverages her humble demeanor and shrewd tactics to win cases and expose corruption."

It is probably not yet certain whether the project will really become a complete series. So far there has only been talk of the pilot episode, which, as is usual in the TV business, could then result in a season order depending on the response. However, many formats never made it beyond this status and disappear unseen by the public. The best example was a planned "Game of Thrones" offshoot with Naomi Watts (54). According to reports, it cost over 30 million US dollars and still did not receive a series order.

The question of when the "Matlock" pilot should be turned off has apparently not yet been clarified. It is assumed that this year or next year.