Dewey is now in the middle of the conversation surrounding the Malcolm in the Middle sequel series.

Erik Per Sullivan, who starred as Dewey in the early-2000s fox sitcom, is the lone original-series star that will not return to the Disney+ revival. On Wednesday, Bryan Cranston, who played the hapless dad Hal on the sitcom, explained why.

I talked to Erik and I said, Hey, we got the show! Its gonna come back. He goes, Oh, thats fantastic! And I go, Yeah, so were looking forward to having you back. He goes, Oh, no, no, I dont want to do it. But its fantastic that you are, Cranston said on Dana Carveys and David Spades Fly on the Wall podcast. Hes actually going to Harvard, Cranston said of Sullivan. Hes really, really smart, and I think hes getting his masters at Harvard right now. He said, Oh God, no, I havent acted since I was nine or something. So Im not into it.'

Caleb Ellsworth-Clark will play Dewey in a recasting.

Malcolm in the Middle starred Frankie Muniz as the titular character, a young genius growing up within a dysfunctional family. The kids from Malcolm in the Middle aint kids no more.

Its amazing how these boys who were my boys on that show are now around the same age I was when we first started, Cranston told Carvey and Spade. Theyve got children of their own.

Muniz has a child and a totally different career. These days hes a professional racer in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The Malcolm in the Middle revival had to work around Munizs racing schedule; it just wrapped production.

Cranston says he is the one who was pushing for the series to come back. It took him a decade to get series creator Linwood Boomer on board, he said.

Its something I was pushing for for the last 10 years, Cranston said. I just started wearing [Boomer] down until he said, Ive got an idea. I said, Good.