Malcolm In The Middle Revival Completely Lives Up To Its Hype

By TeeJay Small
| Published 1 hour ago

By now, we’re all sick of reboots, revivals, and legacy sequels. Sometimes it feels like Hollywood has no new ideas, and the entire industry is propped up on packaging our nostalgia for a time before we paid bills, and selling it back to us on a subscription-based model.

While I’m usually super wary of these things, I couldn’t help but tune in the very moment that Malcolm In The Middle: Life’s Still Unfair dropped on Hulu. Much to my surprise, the four-part reunion show actually holds up superbly, leaving me cautiously optimistic about the future of the franchise.

Malcolm’s Fourth-Wall Insecurities Still Prevail

In case you missed it, Life’s Still Unfair was announced all the way back in December of 2024, with nearly all of the original actors and producers returning to their respective roles. Breaking Bad‘s Bryan Cranston had been championing a return to the series for years, though I never thought I’d see the day that it would actually come to pass. The original Malcolm In The Middle series ended all the way back in 2006, so it was nice to see the old, no-last-name family aging into new roles, facing fresh challenges, and maturing in their own dysfunctional way.

Life’s Still Unfair picks up 20 years after we last saw Malcolm, finding him as a well-adjusted adult who has finally adapted to tolerate the stupidity of those around him. He’s a single father to a teenage girl, who seems to have inherited his otherworldly ability to break the fourth wall. Malcolm isn’t the President of the United States just yet, though he’s in the midst of making a “reluctant pivot” into politics, with a foundation in charity work. The only downside is that he can only keep his neurosis at bay by completely cutting off his entire family.

After spending the bulk of the first episode explaining his avoidance process, Malcolm’s charade is completely shattered. His parents, Lois and Hal, come barging into his home, not content to handle another wishy-washy email exchange. In doing so, we get several of the funniest moments in modern TV history, back, to back, to back. Lois, realizing she has a teenage granddaughter she’s never met, left me in stitches. Malcolm immediately losing his composure at the mere sight of his mother brought me right back to the early 2000s. Hal’s weepy, fainting spells had me genuinely crying.

Everyone brings their A-game to this reboot, but Bryan Cranston has to be my personal highlight. After spending years in other roles, including drug kingpin Walter White, it was shocking how seamlessly he blended right back into the same goofy, dorky, well-meaning Hal. Likewise, nearly everyone in the extended Malcolm In the Middle universe shows up for a cameo appearance without missing a beat. Stevie, Craig, Abe, and Francis’ old military school buddies feel so natural that it’s almost hard to believe they’ve been gone for two decades.

A Perfect Legacy Reboot

Most of these cameo appearances show up for the fourth and final episode of Life’s Still Unfair, at Hal and Lois’ explosive 40th anniversary party. It’s the perfect excuse to organically work all of the old characters back into the fold without making the experience feel like an obnoxious clip show. Meanwhile, we get a handful of new characters, including Malcom’s daughter and his younger, non-binary sibling, Kelly. Some viewers will complain that the brief mention of a non-binary person ruins the entire show, but Malcolm In The Middle has always struck a perfect balance between inclusive and realistic, so I thought it went over quite well.

My only major critique of Life’s Still Unfair is its uninspired shot composition and drab color grading. These things don’t ruin the show, and probably aren’t even noticeable to 90 percent of viewers, but it does strip the series of some of the original’s magic. Some social media users have slapped a filter on a few still images of the show to give it that warm, stylized, early 2000s look, and it’s a massive upgrade.

It’s Only Natural To Want More Of This Family

I’ve heard conflicting reports about the future of Malcolm In The Middle in the wake of the reunion special. Series creator Linwood Boomer has suggested that there are no plans to make more episodes, but there’s an uncanny backdoor pilot feel to the entire special. The introduction of new characters suggests, to my eye, that there might still be untapped adventures with this wild family, even if the original characters only serve as occasional guest stars. Either way, Life’s Still Unfair has courted millions of viewers, with Variety calling the show Disney+ and Hulu’s biggest premiere of the year.

It may not be perfect, it may not be for everybody, but I think Malcolm In The Middle: Life’s Still Unfair is a complete success. The four-part series is currently streaming on Hulu, along with the original show. I’d encourage any sitcom fan to give this one a shot, and maybe revisit a few of its classic episodes while you’re at it.

Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair SCORE