Bryan Cranston didn’t just want to bring Malcolm in the Middle back for nostalgia’s sake; he had something a bit more urgent in mind.
The actor opened up to “The Guardian” on Friday, April 3, about why he pushed to revive the beloved sitcom, and his reasoning goes well beyond family comedy. For Cranston, 70, humor is a necessity right now.
“It’s not even important; it’s essential,” he said. “Because it’s a break from the bombardment of nonstop information. People who have the news on 24 hours a day in their homes, I don’t think they realize the damage they’re doing. You might as well make a house full of asbestos or just have radiation constantly emitting through your house.”
The four-part limited series “Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair” debuts April 10 on Hulu and Disney+, reuniting the Wilkerson family for Hal and Lois’s 40th wedding anniversary. Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek are back, Frankie Muniz returns as a now-estranged adult Malcolm, and most of the original cast follows suit.
And Cranston is looking forward to being back in his element. “I think it’s because he’s been murdering so many people on other shows,” Kaczmarek, 70, joked to the outlet. The revival features a full supermarket dance routine, a hallucinogen mishap that ends with him imagining himself as Trent Reznor, and a lot of nudity.
“Taking my clothes off seems to be my whole life,” he laughed, referencing his Emmy-winning leopardskin thong appearance in “The Studio.”
“So here I am, a 70-year-old man parading around in his skivvies — or less.”
It’s all very on brand for someone who has spent decades going to extremes for a laugh. “I can’t even recall all the things that I’ve done, but all in the name of comedy, man. You gotta go for it,” he said.