Once upon a time, Malcolm in the Middle revolutionized the format of television shows. Muniz, who starred as the child genius titular character Malcolm in the show, revealed that Bryan Cranston, who played Malcolm’s doofus father, Hal, wants to play the character again and has even begun development on a script.
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In an interview with Fox News, Muniz admitted that Cranston has a strong desire to take on the project and, should a Malcolm in the Middle reboot get greenlit, Muniz himself would approve of starring in a revival. “I know Bryan Cranston is really into the idea, and he’s kind of heading writing the script and getting everything rolling. So, there might be something. I would be down 100 percent.” Muniz then added that audiences will have to wait and see. “But I don’t know - we’ll see what happens.” From the sounds of things, a revival is purely in the abstract, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
While it appears Cranston and Muniz are onboard to play their characters again 16 years later, it remains to be seen what the other cast members think of returning for a reboot. Christopher Masteron, Justin Berfield, and Erik Per Sullivan, who played Malcolm’s brothers, have all retired from acting in the years following the show’s ending, although Masterson and Berfield both still work in entertainment. Jane Kaczmarek is still in show business, and in fact, played Lois again when Breaking Bad showrunner Vince Gilligan created a short that bridged both Breaking Bad and Malcolm in the Middle. The show had a video chat reunion in 2020, where everyone except Sullivan showed up.
It would truly be something else to see Cranston, in particular, return to his role as Hal after all the time he’s spent playing suburban father-turned-drug kingpin Walter White on Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and El Camino ever since Malcolm in the Middle ended. Originally AMC laughed at the prospect of Cranston playing such a riveting antihero because of how expertly he portrayed the goofball Hal for seven years. Cranston’s comedic timing, combined with the dynamics he had with the show’s other actors, made Malcolm in the Middle one of the funnier shows of its era.
While it would be exciting to see Malcolm in the Middle come back, it’s hard to see how they would execute a reboot since the show’s appeal stemmed from the comedic timing of their child actors, who are fully grown adults now. Would they execute the same formula, just with Malcolm and his kids, while Hal and Lois play their stern grandparents? That could actually work. Especially if the previous three actors who have retired from the profession have no interest in coming back.
Malcolm in the Middle can currently be streamed on Hulu.
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Source: Fox News
