Life Is Still Unfair: Revisiting "Malcolm In The Middle" with Series Creatives Ahead of New Revival

Just a few days after we entered the new millennium, the first lesson that we got was that Life is Unfair. That's because that's when the hit Fox series, Malcolm in the Middle arrived. For an additional seven seasons, the lesson was reiterated time and time again as we followed the adventures of Malcolm (Frankie Muniz), a gifted (and often stressed) middle child in a wildly dysfunctional working-class family. We felt as though we were directly involved in the chaos, mostly because he would break the fourth wall and talk to us directly about his frustrations with life, school, and his family.

It's that family that also contributed to the success of the show, with Lois (Jane Kaczmarek) barely keeping the family in some kind of control while goofy and lovable dad Hal (Bryan Cranston), tries to help as best he can. The siblings also added to the mayhem, with eldest Francis (Christopher Masterson) causing or surrounded by his own chaos (sometimes at Military School), while another older brother to Malcolm, Reese (Justin Berfield), had his own kind of dim-witted yet aggressive brand of mischief. Malcolm's younger brother, Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan) was the youngest (at first), and most quiet - deemed odd because of this - but was secretly quite clever on his own as well. This wacky group, combined with the realistic family chaos like financial struggles and messy home life, helped the show stay grounded more than a typical television family of the era.

In addition, the show had a unique format for the time, with a single-camera and no laugh track, later influencing other shows like The Office and Modern Family. Before the show wrapped in 2006, we saw a special roller skating routine from Hal, we saw Reese accidentally join the Army, Dewey outsmarting his brothers, and Malcolm often ranting and pleaing to the audience to sympathize with his plight throughout the show. It all came to a head after seven seasons with the finale, "Graduation." In it, we see that Malcolm is graduating high school and has the chance to go to Harvard thanks to scholarships. However, he realizes that he doesn't actually want the struggle anymore, just wants the easier life for once. It was also revealed that Lois had been intentionally making Malcolm's life harder, believing he had the potential to even become President of the country - but only if he understood hardship, responsibility, and ordinary people. Malcolm was furious, but eventually decides to follow her plan, going to Harvard, and working his way through school. Lois had another reveal of her own, as we learned that she was pregnant again.

Now, twenty years later, we're learning that life is still unfair as the four-episode Malcolm in the Middle revival event is on approach.

"I had a good idea for it," says Linwood Baker, Malcolm Executive Producer, Creator, and Writer, "A lot of people, especially Bryan Cranston, have been asking about doing that. I love all those guys and we all love each other...but I didn't have any good ideas. I was tapped out. [Tracy Katsky Boomer] sort of gave me the idea to let me start writing it, which is 'what if Malcolm had a daughter that was just like him?' That kid would be miserable. That would be hilarious."

And that's exactly what viewers are about to see. After shielding himself and his daughter from his family for over a decade, Malcolm's parents - Hal and Lois - are throwing a 40th anniversary party and demand Malcolm's presence at the festivities.

Linwood Baker goes on, "I called it a good idea because even if something is funny or whatever, if it's a good idea, it's something that makes me think of other ideas. And that one just set off this whole chain... once I had a story I liked, Brian was already in. He had also been keeping the other actors...it was all sort of just all done on a very personal basis between us and Frankie and Jane... we all sort of want to do this before we ever talk to a studio about it."

Almost the entire original cast from the series has returned, including Frankie Muniz as the titular Malcolm, Bryan Cranston as Hal, Jane Kaczmarek as Lois, and more. The only one missing is original Dewey actor, Erik Per Sullivan, who has retired from acting, though he is replaced (almost unnoticeably) by Caleb Ellsworth-Clark. That said, each of the other siblings has returned, including Justin Berfield (Reese) and Christopher Masterson (Francis). Getting the original cast and crew though must have been quite challenging though, right?

"The only difficulty was the scheduling," says Linwood, "Like I said, we all love each other. We stayed in touch. We're all friends." Fellow executive producer, Tracy Linwood Baker, adds "We wanted to do even more. We originally had a lot more in the script... Some of it had to get cut for all kinds of different reasons... [the revival] was written long on purpose, because it didn't occur to us that everyone would want to come back." Linwood continues, "It was like, 'well, I'll write seven things and maybe four of them, three of them will be able to get the people. And if we can't, we'll just cut it and it'll still be the right size. And then we got so many people."

And, those returning characters aren't the only cast involved in Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair. Malcolm's daughter and girlfriend had to be cast for the series, as well as new siblings in Malcolm's family. When we last left the show, Lois was pregnant with new sibling Jamie, who is portrayed in the revival by Anthony Timpano.

Kiana Madeira appears in the series as Malcom's girlfriend, Tristan, and Keely Karsten as Leah, Malcolm's daughter.

"Seeing Keely," says Linwood, "it's just such a demanding role being able to do all this technical stuff of talking to the camera without breaking character or staying in the emotional moment of the scene when you're like heartbroken or furiously angry, that turning and talking to someone doesn't take you out of that. Plus, being really genuine with a pretty wide range of emotion that that poor kid has to go through and hit a joke, like make a joke land is really tough. When Keely came in to audition, we were just like hugging ourselves. We were bouncing up and down trying to be cool."

As for Malcolm's girlfriend, Tristan, Linwood says, "I really like that it's the kind of character that when she says, 'I don't know if we're getting back together,' like you believe her, and you believe like she's sad about it, but it's like - one of the things I really want to know when I'm writing something is what does this guy want and how bad does he want it? - And I think because of the kind of character that girl is in the way Kiana played it."

There is also another new sibling in the mix, one that has a new depth that Linwood made sure we didn't forget about, saying "Kelly is amazing, too. Vaughan [Murrae]."

Kelly is the youngest sibling in the family, who came along after Jamie. They are a non-binary sibling who blends into the chaos of the family quite well, though Hal's old-school ways might precede him when referring to the newest of his children. The creator shared that Vaughan was the perfect fit. "The confrontations with Reese and the confrontations with Malcolm," he said, "it is so funny and that kid is so like solid and powerful and really embodies like, 'oh, that's kind of what Lois is like, it's like that is really Lois's kid"...and they can hit a joke like a Borscht Belt comic."

While there are a lot of jokes and laughs with Kelly, there is quite a bit of emotion as well, especially when it comes to their relationship with their father. "It made us cry when Vaughan auditioned," explains Tracy. "It made us cry while we were shooting it...Every time it made Linwood cry. And then we went to the editing room where you watch everything over and over. You watch every frame 1000 times. And every time until the end, it made him cry. And then we went to sound mixing. And then in sound mixing, it made him cry. And just now, trying to talk to you about it, made him cry. That is how powerful that [scene] is for him. It's very meaningful."

With the new cast, Malcolm's daughter breaking the fourth wall, and more elements we don't want to spoil, we had to ask - is this it for this new revival? Or could it be the start of something more?

"For now, yes," Linwood explained, adding that "It wasn't going to happen if it wasn't like a closed thing. You know, Bryan has too many fancy movies to do and Frankie's got fancy race car driving and fancy entrepreneur stuff. You know, they're these people are busy." "They have obligations!" Tracy added while the pair were laughing. So, at least for now, we have this four episode revival to enjoy, where we get to check in with not only Malcolm, but the rest of his family as well.

You can watch the four-part revival Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair on April 10 on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.