Apparently, it wasn’t goodbye after all.
Deadline recently reported that writer and director Tyler Perry is bringing his iconic character Mabel “Madea” Simmons out of retirement for a 12th movie in collaboration with Netflix.
There’s no word on what the plot will consist of. However, the “Alex Cross” star will write and direct the film. Will Areu and Mark Swinton will be producing. Perry and Michelle Sneed will executive produce.
Madea made her last appearance in the 2019 Lionsgate film “A Madea Family Funeral,” which made $75 million at the global box office, the outlet revealed. Perry initially shared his plans to wrap the era of Madea back in 2018.
During an appearance on SiriusXM’s “Bevelations” in October 2018, the actor jokingly expressed, “It’s time for me to kill that old b-tch.” He added, “I’m tired, man. I’m tired. I’m doing one last tour in 2019, the farewell tour, and the last movie is ‘Madea Funeral’ that I shot two years ago. So, we gon’ say goodbye to her. Don’t tell her. I just don’t want to be her age playing her.”
Madea was 68 when Perry introduced her to the world in 1999. The slick-mouthed senior has since earned the director over $1 billion. While talking to Variety, Perry said he thought he was officially done with the character but realized she was still needed especially with in our current social climate. “As I’ve been looking at the state of the world — and I finished a tour in January, just before the pandemic started to break in the country — and the amount of joy and laughter that it brought to so many people, that’s what I think is missing. We need that laughter and that joy,” he explained.
Perry announced the news in a hilarious clip uploaded to his Instagram account. As he attempted the reveal, he was continuously interrupted by his senior alter-ego, who blurted out the information before Perry, as himself, could get a chance.
Reactions to news of Madea’s return were mixed. Many fans expressed excitement, including one Instagram user, who wrote, “I can’t wait❤️❤️❤️Madea gives me some of the best laughs of my life 😂 I can’t wait❤️❤️❤️Madea gives me some of the best laughs of my life 😂.”
However, on Twitter, the feeling wasn’t so mutual. One user wrote, “Didn’t he discontinue her character???”
Another person commented, “you just did a farewell show 4 seconds ago—”
“I told ppl that man was not letting that character go. She is his easy money. I knew it when the madea funeral was about someone else and not her but he kept saying ‘she dead.’”
“A Madea Homecoming” is scheduled to release on Netflix sometime in the summer of 2022.
