Why Malcolm In The Middle Almost Made Bryan Cranston Turn Down Breaking Bad

Few television characters played by the same actor are as different as Walter White from "Breaking Bad" and Hal Wilkerson from "Malcolm in the Middle," both of whom were portrayed by Bryan Cranston. Hal is a happy-go-lucky dork who doesn't really raise his five sons so much as he grows up alongside them, while Walt is a narcissistic egomaniac who goes from high school chemistry teacher to methamphetamine kingpin. In fact, the characters are so different that executives at AMC originally didn't think Cranston could portray Walt after seeing him shave his whole body as Hal. It's understandable that they might have their doubts because Hal is so very, very silly, but Cranston is also an incredible actor with stupendous range.

A few nervous execs weren't the only thing that nearly stopped Cranston from playing Walt, either. On an episode of the podcast "SmartLess," hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett, Cranston revealed that his role on "Breaking Bad" was almost stopped short because he nearly ended up playing Hal on "Malcolm" for one more year.

Cranston explained that in 2006, right when "Breaking Bad" was in development, the folks at Fox told everyone they might do another season of "Malcolm in the Middle," which would have created a pretty big scheduling conflict:

"Fox said, 'Keep the sets up. We might do an eighth season of 'Malcolm In The Middle.” And everyone was like, 'Yeahhh that'd be great.' In late April and early May, they called, when the upfronts are going on, they said, 'Nope, we had a very good pilot season. Thank you guys, you did well. You're on your own.' So we thought, 'Ahh, that's too bad.' Later that month, I get the call to go see a guy called Vince Gilligan. 'Do you remember him from 'X-Files'?' 'Kinda.' 'He wants to see you about a new project called 'Breaking Bad.” [...] So had we got that eighth season of 'Malcolm In The Middle,' I would not have been available to shoot that pilot and someone else would be talking to you."

While an eighth season of "Malcolm in the Middle" would have been pretty great, because it's one of the best sitcoms of all time, losing Cranston as Walt wouldn't have been worth it. He probably feels the same way, seeing as he won four Emmys playing the character and the city of Albuquerque even built a statue of him (and Aaron Paul's Jesse).Then again, it might not be the last time we see Cranston play Hal...

It's been a few years since he's said anything about it, but Cranston was allegedly writing a "Malcolm in the Middle" reboot back in 2022. It was actually star Frankie Muniz, who played Malcolm, that told Fox News Digital that Cranston was working on a revival of the hit Fox series. The cast of "Malcolm in the Middle" have had varying levels of success since the show ended, but Cranston definitely had the most explosive rise to fame because of "Breaking Bad." It would be a lot of fun to see the gang from "Malcolm in the Middle" all return for a reboot more than 20 years later. The Wilkerson kids probably have kids of their own, and they would be about the age that the boys were on the original series, so the timing is as close to perfect as possible.

Obviously, it's good that Cranston was able to play Walter White, even at the loss of "Malcolm in the Middle" season 8. Nevertheless, a reboot could be the perfect way for Cranston fans to have their cake and eat it, too.