Fresh off reprising Walter White for a Super Bowl ad, Bryan Cranston fans will be happy to know the actor is more than willing to return to his other iconic part, Hal Wilkerson from Malcolm in the Middle, provided he gets the right script tossed his way.
One of the most amazing things about Breaking Bad has always been Cranston's ability to shift to that kind of character after becoming known for smaller TV parts in the '90s and Fox's family comedy from the early 2000s. Cranston has always been among the first to highlight the energy and histrionic qualities a role like Hal demanded of him. Suffice it to say, Malcolm in the Middle has aged quite well due to foreshadowing the disappearance of laugh-track sitcoms.
To this day, Cranston is quite fond of Hal and, as he told The Independent in a recent interview, a Malcolm in the Middle movie is 100% percent “a possibility,” provided the material is good enough to get one of Hollywood's most coveted actors to pass on a lot of other work. In that sense, Cranston admitted he’s talked to the series’ creator, Linwood Boomer, about a Malcolm in the Middle return. “He said he would think about it [...] If they can come up with a great idea, a legitimate idea, then he’ll pursue it. But if not, then nah. I don’t need a job,” Cranston said before showing his appreciation for the seven years he got to work on Malcolm in the Middle.
Cranston's latest ongoing role is in Your Hono r, where his dishevelled appearance and acting range in season 2 have again marvelled viewers if that’s possible for a man of his trajectory. As for the Super Bowl, PopCorners' ad with him, Aaron Paul, and Raymond Cruz's Tuco Salamanca turned the Breaking Bad reunion into one of the weekend’s favorite commercials.
Besides his marketing endeavors, Cranston and Paul returned for Better Call Saul's final season, where Walter White handed Jimmy McGill some much-needed perspective. While Jesse's aging is evident, Cranston somehow seems to stay ageless. If Malcolm in the Middle does become a movie, its prospects are brighter than as a sitcom. After all, the sitcom is a genre in which many reboots or spinoffs of beloved shows have had a bad time recapturing the originals' success.
Shows like Malcolm in the Middle rarely get made nowadays, let alone the kind of comedies where Cranston polished his craft, like Seinfeld, unless it's in unruly Twitch AI form, at least.
Malcolm in the Middle is available on Hulu.
Source: The Independent