Malcolm In The Middle's Dewey chose Charles Dickens over "buckets of money" to return for revival

According to Jane Kaczmarek in a new cast interview with The Guardian, Sullivan “turned down buckets of money” to return for the revival. Despite the cash offer, Kaczmarek says he offered a simple, “No, thank you,” in return. He’s reportedly getting his master’s at Harvard, where he studies Victorian literature and is “an incredible student,” says his TV mom. Previously, Cranston had already explained that Sullivan wasn’t interested, saying that Dewey Prime found it “fantastic” that the show was returning, but “‘Oh, no, no, I don’t want to do it.'” A good question, like why was Dewey recast, is always worth asking again. 

Sullivan’s on-air siblings weren’t as turned off by the buckets of cash Disney apparently offered them, despite having also quit acting. Frankie Muniz took up race car driving, olive oil bottling, and cyber-stalking Lizzo; Justin Tyler Berfield, who plays Reese, launched a production company; and Christopher Masterson became a DJ. Nevertheless, the parents soldiered on, and Kaczmarek confirms that the whole reunion is basically happening because Bryan Cranston, who had “been murdering so many people on other shows,” found the idea of playing Hal again appealing. Cranston, more or less, confirms this, saying that he returned to a show where he gets covered in 60,000 crotch-stinging honey bees because he wanted to. “It was seven great years of my life—in which I met the most wonderful people,” Cranston said. “There’s no better job than going to work and thinking of how to be funny.”