Frankie Muniz Reunites With TV ‘Dad’ Bryan Cranston in New ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ Reboot Teaser
Long before he was known for his work in Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston was simply Hal — a dad of four boys with wife Lois (Jane Kaczmarek) on Malcolm in the Middle. I grew up loving this early ‘aughts sitcom and had a huge crush on one of its leads, Frankie Muniz, who played Malcolm. As a mom of three boys myself, I’ve never related to a sitcom mom more. Now, all these characters (and more!) are reuniting in an epic reboot, and the teaser trailer is making me emotional.
In the teaser shared on YouTube today, it’s been 19 years (!!) since the ending of the first show, and Malcolm teases that he’s doing “fantastic” as long as he stays away from his family. Unfortunately, that doesn’t last long. The short teaser is full of hilarious hijinks, a make-out scene with Hal and Lois, and brotherly love that we already know will be our new favorite show this spring.
“After shielding himself and his daughter from his family for over a decade, Malcolm is dragged back into their orbit when Hal and Lois demand his presence at their 40th anniversary party,” a logline for the limited series read, per PEOPLE.
The new, four-part revival Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair premieres on Hulu on April 10. In addition to Cranston, Muniz, and Kaczmarek, Chris Kennedy Masterson will return as Francis, Justin Berfield will return as Reese, and Emy Coligado will return as Piama.
Despite almost two decades passing since the series ended, the actors have still kept in touch. Cranston told Entertainment Tonight in Jan. 2024, “Playing a father on television was easy for me because I’m a father in real life and, and so on Malcolm [in the Middle] for seven years, these boys were my boys,” he said. “And that doesn’t stop when the camera stops. You still have this love and affinity for them. And I’m very very proud of them as now, adults. They’re all adults and they’re all doing very well. And that makes me the happiest because they made it through the gauntlet of child actordom.”
In Oct. 2024, Muniz had similarly nice things to say about Cranston. “Bryan has been always such an incredible human,” Muniz told PEOPLE, adding that Cranston has “almost become like a father figure to me, I spent probably more time with my fake family on TV than I did with my real family when we were filming.”
Muniz added, “Throughout the last 18 years since the show ended, [Cranston has] always been so kind to reach out and whatever I’m doing right. I’ve done a lot of things since the show ended. I went racing, I stopped racing. I joined a band, I opened an olive oil company. I did a lot of things. Now I’m racing again. And he’s always been so supportive of all those things.”
I love how they’ve stayed close off the screen, and I can’t wait to see how that chemistry translates when they’re back together in April!
Before you go, check out what these celebrity parents had to say about their privacy-free life with kids.