'Malcolm in the Middle' creator explains revival delay despite Bryan Cranston’s push: 'There wasn’t any...'
'Malcolm in the Middle' ran for an immensely popular seven seasons before concluding in 2006. Ever since then, the show's fans have been steadily demanding a sort of reunion or revival to bring back their favorite characters. As it turns out, the fans weren't alone in their quest. 'Breaking Bad' star Bryan Cranston, who played the character of Malcolm's father Hal in the original series, has been diligently checking in with series creator Linwood Boomer and executive producer Tracy Katsky over the years to get them to make a revival show. Two decades later, the revival is finally on its way to see the light of day and is titled 'Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair.'
The upcoming four-part mini-series will find Malcolm, who has somehow distanced himself from his parents, getting invited to his parents' 40th marriage anniversary against his will. Speaking in a recent interview with ScreenRant, both Boomer and Katsky revealed that all that they needed for the revival to take shape was a genuinely good idea for the script, one that could do justice to the original series as well as cater to the wider audience in the present day. Boomer noted, "I finally had a good idea. It was really as simple as that. We had an idea of what the project was supposed to be before we ever talked to anyone in the business about it. And Bryan talking about it was him doing it personally. And even Frankie talking about it was he was doing it personally. There wasn't any agents or managers or studios or anything behind it. We just all really liked each other, and we really loved the experience."
In a similar vein, Katsky was quick to remark about Cranston's contribution to the entire creative process: "Also, Bryan has been, since 20 minutes after the original show went off the air, hassling Linwood to do some kind of reunion or revival or movie or something. I mean, just consistently, like two or three times a year. And it's been 20 years." The creator and executive producer also mentioned that Cranston would often forward them lengthy pages full of his own ideas for the direction the revival mini-series could take.
For Cranston, this marks his second consecutive comedy role in the last decade. Boomer remarked, "Bryan has a ton of ideas, and then a bunch of them will sort of resonate with something that's going on in my head. And then it's like, 'Oh yeah, that's great.' And then I take full credit for it, which I'm very happy to do. (Chuckles) I love the way that works." 'Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair' is scheduled to premiere on Hulu on Friday.
