‘Malcolm in the Middle’ Star Says Leave Dewey Alone

Malcolm in the Middle star Justin Berfield has just one regret about the show’s recent revival: how it’s affected co-star Erik Per Sullivan.

While Berfield, Bryan Cranston, Jane Kaczmarek, Frankie Muniz, and Christopher Kennedy Masterson all returned for the Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ series Malcolm In the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair, Sullivan was MIA.

The youngest of the original cast decided against returning as Dewey, instead choosing to focus on pursuing his Master’s at Harvard. Caleb Ellsworth-Clark replaced him for the new episodes, which dropped earlier this month.

Berfield Says ‘Leave Erik Alone’

Berfield, who played Reese on the series, appeared on the How Mandel Does Stuff podcast this week, where he was asked whether he believes Sullivan is “upset” he said no to returning.

“Erik? No. I know they asked him a whole bunch. They asked him like 4 or 5 times, and every time he's like, ‘No,’” said Berfield.

The actor said that while they have kept in touch, he last spoke with Sullivan “a couple of years ago.” He added, “I have his number, but we don’t text like all the time.”

Mandel then asked Berfield to text his former co-star, seeing if he had any interest in joining the podcast to chat. Justin, however, was skeptical he would respond.

“I think he’s out of the business. We all love him. No hard feelings. He’s a good guy. I love Erik,” Berfield said, before revealing one downside of the revival.

“I actually feel bad because he wants to stay out of the business and I've been seeing like paparazzi shots of him. And I'm just like, ‘Leave Erik alone,’” added Berfield. “He didn’t want to come back to the show, no hard feelings, everybody loves him.”

More Praise for Sullivan’s Decision

Ahead of the premiere, Men’s Journal spoke with both Cranston and Kaczmarek about Sullivan’s decision to sit out the big reunion, as well as how their bond with their TV children continued in the two decades after the show went off the air.

The pair said it was Cranston who really pushed for new episodes, after fans continued to ask him what he thought happened after the finale. Eventually, after pestering creator Linwood Boomer enough, the revival started to come into focus.

“Everybody was over the moon, ready to go, except for Erik Per Sullivan,” Cranston told Men’s Journal. “I said, ‘Erik, it looks like we’re doing the show.’ He says, ‘Fantastic!’ I go, ‘Oh, I’m glad you wanna do it!’ He said, ‘No, no, I don’t want to do it. I’m just happy that you’re doing it.’ We lost him to academia.”

“I have to say, I respect that kid so much for knowing who he is, knowing that he’s so happy with what he’s doing, studying Dickens and Victorian literature,” added Kaczmarek. “Even if you throw a bucket of money at him, he says, ‘Thank you, I’m good.’ He’s my favorite American alive.”

All three of the boys on the show were, well, boys when it first debuted. When the series premiered, Masterson was the oldest, at 19, Muniz was 14, while Berfield was only a couple of months younger than him. Per Sullivan, meanwhile, was just 8.

“Bryan used to bring Erik, who played Dewey, his parents lived out of town, and the mother would be here with him, and there were occasions where Bryan would take Dewey home with him for the weekend,” said Kaczmarek.

“That sounds like a to-go meal!” quipped Cranston, before his on-screen wife added, “I was like, I love those kids as much as any TV mom, but I’m not going to bring one home for the weekend!”

Cranston explained that his daughter, The Pitt star Taylor Dearden, was around the same age as Per Sullivan.

“And they were friends, so for Halloween and stuff, they would dress up and go off together,” he told Men’s Journal. “It was nice, it was good.”

Malcolm In the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair is streaming now on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.