Madea was first introduced to the world through Tyler Perry's film Diary of A Mad Black Woman. From there we got 11 installments of movies that explored the beloved character and her hardcore, tough love ways. Monday night was the official premiere of A Madea Family Funeral, which is the last film that will feature Madea.
"I don't want to be her age playing her, so it was time to shut it down and move on," Tyler told The Hollywood Reporter when discussing the character coming to an end. "I've got some other things I want to do, and in this next 50, I'm going to do something different."
On the topic of killing Madea off, Tyler explained how that simply wasn't an option. "It's always going to be open-ended because what you don't want to do is murder a family member," he explained. "And a lot of people feel like she's a family member."
KJ Smith, who's starred in Madea films spoke of the farewell and how she'll miss "the comedy of it all."
"I'm from the South, and Madea reminds me of several black mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers that I grew up with, so I'm going to miss that representation on film," she said.
Peep the trailer for A Madea Family Funeral below.
