Malcolm in the Middle Is Back

A very grown-up Malcolm turns to the camera at the beginning of the new Malcolm in the Middle revival and, weirdly, has nothing to complain about. "Yeah, I look different, but, hey, everything about me is different. I'm happy. I'm successful," he says. "My life is fantastic now. You want to know how I did it? All I had to do is stay completely away from my family." That's going to be very hard to do in Hulu's four-part return to Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair, which reunites one of the zaniest and chaotic families ever on prime time. The episodes premiere Friday, reports the AP.

Twenty years after the last episode aired, we learn that Malcolm—a nervous, sputtering Frankie Muniz—is now a father of a teen and desperate to shield her from his dysfunctional parents and siblings. "I'm not going to risk you," Malcolm tells her. "You have to think of it like they're the full moon and we're werewolves." Original series creator Linwood Boomer and his co-producer-wife, Tracy Katsky Boomer, batted ideas around on how to get the gang back together for years. Neither was willing to make just anything for a "shameless cash grab." Linwood Boomer recalls a light bulb went on when his wife wondered what it would be like if Malcolm had a daughter who was exactly like him. "I was just like, 'Oh my God, that kid would be miserable,'" he says.

In addition to Muniz, Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek are back as the barely-holding-it-together parents and Christopher Kennedy Masterson and Justin Berfield return as brothers Francis and Reese, respectively. Newcomers include Keeley Karsten as Leah, Malcolm's deeply empathic daughter, and Vaughan Murrae, Malcolm's whip-smart youngest sibling, who we last saw as a baby. Caleb Ellsworth-Clark takes over the role of Dewey.

Director Ken Kwapis, one of the original directors of the show, was tapped to return and was impressed with how the old and new cast members handled the physical and emotional tasks. "The original cast slipped back into their roles effortlessly. But equally important is they embraced the new members of the cast very quickly," he says. "There's a performance level that some people have described as high octane. ... And they all hit it out of the park."