No matter where life takes him, Frankie Muniz will always have a TV dad in Bryan Cranston.
The 2x Golden Globe nominee recently revealed that his Malcolm in the Middle co-star still checks in on him “every couple of weeks” after playing his dad Hal on the Fox sitcom that ran for seven seasons from 2000 to 2006.
“I started working with him when I was 11, 12 years old. He really became like a father figure to me,” he explained on Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast. “And then even still to this day, he’s essentially like a Hollywood god at this point. You know what I mean? He’s done incredible films, incredible shows, won tons of awards. He’s literally It.”
Muniz added, “He still reaches out to me every couple of weeks, check in on me. He really cares about what I’m doing, comes to the races, if my band was playing, came to shows. I mean, he’s such an inspiration, and like I said, that’s what I strive to be that for someone else in the future.”
Malcolm in the Middle starred Muniz as the titular pubescent genius, whose parents Hal and Lois (Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek) struggle to raise their working class family, including Malcolm’s three trouble-making brothers (Christopher Kennedy Masterson, Justin Berfield and Erik Per Sullivan).
Last year, Cranston discussed the “possibility” of reuniting for a revival of the series. “There was some talk about the possibility of doing, like, a reunion movie of Malcolm in the Middle,” he told E! News in January 2023.
“We had such a great family on that, and I certainly would be open to that if there was a good idea that came up — like, ‘Oh, that would be fantastic to explore what happened to this family 20 years later,’” added Cranston. “I can’t believe it’s already that, but that would be fun to do.”
After Muniz announced his NASCAR debut last January, he was promoted to full-time for the Reaume Brothers Racing team’s 2025 season, driving the No. 33 Ford F-150 in February. He continues acting as well, most recently starring in the comedy Half Baked: Totally High and an episode of Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens.
