“It’s so hard to say goodbye…”
It has been announced that Tyler Perry, who burst on to the entertainment world with a literal rags-to-riches story that began with stage plays then transitioning to both films and television, is retiring the iconic character he is known for: Mabel “Madea” Simmons.
On the Sirius XM show Bevelations with Bevy Smith, Perry announced it is time to finally end the Madea franchise after nearly two decades of playing the character, which began with the stage play I Can Do Bad All by Myself. He told Smith:
“We’re gonna say goodbye in ’19. I just don’t want to be her age playing her.”
The final film will be A Madea Family Funeral, which is due for release in March 2019 and will be the final collaboration with Perry and Lionsgate, who had released all of the Madea films. Perry signed with Viacom recently and he will continue to make films, television series, and even shorts for VOD/Digital platforms.
Perry is also planning a “farewell” stage tour for the iconic Madea, but he jokingly told Smith that Madea doesn’t know so “don’t tell her”.
Perry had originally planned to end Madea in the mid-2000s, until his mother’s last wish was to keep going before her passing. Perry decided to keep going for as long as he could and even went ahead to make other successful shows based on his works such as For Better or Worse and The Have and Have Nots.
So, come 2019, it’s time to say goodbye to Madea…here’s Madea as the new White House Communications Director as a tribute to a modern-day icon
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