Bryan Cranston Wore the Creator of ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ Down Until He Agreed to Write a Reboot

It sure seems as though most sitcom reboots were only spawned because corporate executives realized that exploiting the public’s nostalgia is a great way to maximize profits without having to go to the trouble of coming up with a fresh idea. How else do you explain recent soul-draining efforts like Girl Meets World and Fuller House?

Sometimes, it’s the stars of the original shows who are desperate to revisit their past TV glory. For example, Kelsey Grammer was instrumental in getting the Frasier revival made after years of struggling to launch shows about characters not named “Frasier Crane.”

So is the  Malcolm in the Middle reboot just another nostalgia-baiting cash-grab? Seemingly, no. In fact, the person spearheading the new show is the one guy whose career blew up the most after the original series went off the air: Bryan Cranston.

After Malcolm wrapped, Cranston, who of course played the Wilkerson family patriarch, went on to win six Emmys for playing Walter White in Breaking Bad, scored a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his work in Trumbo and landed a number of high-profile film and TV jobs, no doubt ensuring that he will never have to do another Preparation H commercial for the rest of his life. 

But Cranston was apparently very adamant about wanting to play the character of Hal again, even though it was the rare role that required donning a suit of live bees.

Cranston recently guested on Dana Carvey and David Spade’s Fly on the Wall podcast, and revealed that he’s been pushing for a reboot for years. “Linwood Boomer, who is the creator of the show, when I first pitched it to him, he said, ‘No, I’m not interested,’” the actor explained. “About a year and a half later, I said, ‘What about it?’ He goes, ‘No, I really don’t think it’s something I want to do.’ And I went, ‘Really? It’s starting to improve…’”

“And then the third time,” Cranston continued, “three years after that, (he) was like, ‘Well, I, you know, if someone else wrote it, maybe I’ll look at it.’ And I just started wearing him down until he said, ‘I’ve got an idea!’ And I said, ‘Good!’”

Cranston also noted that they shot the four-episode Disney+ series “a month ago,” and pointed out that the “boys who were my boys on that show are now around the same age I was when we first started.” 

It remains to be seen whether or not the entirety of Breaking Bad being one of Hal’s nightmares will be canon or not.