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The real reason the original Dewey won't be returning to Malcolm in the Middle is surprisingly wholesome, Bryan Cranston reveals
The Wilkersons patriarch shared on a recent podcast that Erik Per Sullivan is concentrating on his education instead of returning to acting in Disney+'s Malcolm in the Middle revival
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When Malcolm in the Middle returns to screens as a special Disney+ event, one cast member in particular will be missing — but former Dewey, Erik Per Sullivan, isn’t going to be showing up for a very good reason, according to family head Bryan Cranston.
“I talked to Erik and I said, ‘Hey, we got the show! It’s going to come back.’ He goes, ‘Oh, that’s fantastic!’ And I go, ‘Yeah, so we’re looking forward to having you back.’ He goes, ‘Oh, no, no, I don’t want to do it. But it’s fantastic,'” Cranston said on the latest episode of the “Fly on the Wall” podcast. What’s keeping him from signing up? The desire to better himself, as it turns out.
Sullivan is “actually going to Harvard,” Cranston revealed. “He’s really, really smart, and he’s getting his Master’s at Harvard right now. He said, ‘Oh God, no, I haven’t acted since I was 9 or something. So I’m not into it.'”
Instead, Fargo’s Caleb Ellsworth-Clark will play Dewey in the four-episode revival of the show, which is currently in production. Otherwise, the rest of the original cast — Cranston, Frankie Muniz, Jane Kaczmarek, Christopher Masterson and Justin Berfield — will be returning to reprise their roles from the original series, which ran on Fox from 2000 through 2006.
The Malcolm in the Middle revival is unscheduled as yet; episodes of the original show are already available on Disney+.
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