Why Tyler Perry Brought Madea Out of Retirement
Your favorite tough-talking, gun-toting granny is back for the new Netflix movie A Madea Homecoming. The film returns Tyler Perry as Madea and centers on her hosting family and friends for a party in honor of her great-grandson’s college graduation. Perry had retired from the role after almost a dozen films but had a change of heart after the chaos that was 2020.
Why Tyler Perry retired Madea
As CNN notes, Perry first introduced audiences to Madea with the 1999 play I Can Do Bad All By Myself before taking her to the big screen with 2005’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman. The success of the character led him to release countless other Madea movies, including the 2015 animated film Madea’s Tough Love.
By the late 2010s, Perry felt he had completed her story and was ready to move on to other things. He told CNN at the time, “I’ll be 50 this year and I’m just at a place in my life where this next 50 I want to do things differently. This character has been amazing. So many people have loved her. It’s been a great franchise.”
Still, he acknowledged that there was a small possibility she could return if she had new things to say. “But for right now, no, I think I’m done,” he added.
Perry was on a press run at the time for the 2019 film A Madea Family Funeral, which, to be clear, did not kill her off but focused on Madea planning an unexpected funeral.
Why it felt like the perfect time to bring back Madea
It was just over a year after the release of A Madea Family Funeral when the world was rocked by various issues, including the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and continued instances of police brutality. Although Perry had just recently retired Madea, he felt motivated in those moments to bring her back to try and bring some light and laughs to the world.
“She was [retired] until the world went upside down,” Perry said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “I was just looking at all the civil unrest, political unrest, everything that was happening [including] the pandemic. And I just wanted to do something to make people laugh.”
“So I thought, what do I have in my toolbox to make people laugh? And something said, ‘Heller,’ and I pulled it out, and there she is,” he joked. “And that’s what I want people to do. When you go see this movie, don’t go in there looking for something that’s gonna move you emotionally and transform the world. Just laugh. We need to laugh.”
What audiences are saying about ‘A Madea Homecoming’
Perry also spoke about what to expect in the movie.
“In this movie, her great-grandson comes home,” he shared. “He’s graduating, and the whole family’s there, and he and his mom both have a secret. And when they start telling these secrets, the family is shocked about one, but not shocked about the other. So it lends for a lot of comedy and a lot of drama.”
A Madea Homecoming was released in February to mixed reviews from critics. Some gave it low marks for the usual reasons such as its style of writing and comedy while Variety called it the “fastest, funniest Tyler Perry movie in a while.” The movie is streaming now on Netflix.
