On the ninth day of June 2021, a familiar cry of “Hallelujer!” was suddenly heard by many unexpecting ears from coast-to-coast, which can only signal one thing: Madea is back.
On Tuesday evening, Tyler Perry tweeted a short video announcing the return of the character that helped make him a billionaire media mogul and a household name. After portraying Madea onscreen and onstage for what was initially advertised as the final time in 2019, Perry will once again don the wig, glasses and pearls for a movie that’ll only be available on Netflix.
Netflix says that the upcoming movie will be called A Madea Homecoming and will be streamable in 2022.
You, like myself, might be curious why Perry is deciding to step into the role of the gun-toting, foul-mouthed matriarch once again after saying this to CNN back in 2019:
“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,” he said. “This character has been amazing. So many people have loved her. It’s been a great franchise.”
Well, as explained in his video announcement—which was kind of like his own take on that scene from Eddie Murphy’s The Nutty Professor where Buddy Love tried and failed to suppress Sherman Klump—Perry’s reasoning was that the people “need to laugh, man.”
“Too much is going on in the country,” he said. “... I was done, but she’s coming back.”
That’s understandable, because he’s right. The last year or so has been straight basura.
Also, we all know those Netflix checks hit a little different, based on the company’s previous dealings with Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy.
If the streaming giant’s front office managed to persuade him to give Madea another chance to shine based on the financial aspect alone, I wouldn’t judge him in the slightest for agreeing.
We’ll see how Madea’s Netflix debut on goes next year. Meanwhile, Perry’s still showing off his famous (and labor union disputed) work ethic with his endless number of shows on TV and his work on the upcoming movie A Jazzman’s Blues, which will also stream on Netflix soon.
May the people say “Praise the Lordt.”