Prior to becoming a massive star on 'Breaking Bad', fans knew Bryan Cranston simply as Hal on 'Malcolm in the Middle'. Turns out, Cranston had a blast during his time on the show and as he revealed with NME, he was set to film the eighth season, before things came to an end, "In 2006 Fox said, ‘Keep the sets up. We might do an eighth season of Malcolm in the Middle‘,” Cranston said. “And everyone was like, ‘Yeahhh that’d be great.’ “In late April and early May, they called, when the upfronts are going on, they said, ‘Nope, we had a very good pilot season. Thank you guys, you did well. You’re on your own.’ So we thought, ‘Ahh, that’s too bad."
The show ended after seven seasons and 151 episodes in 2006. Although the cast and Cranston included were heartbroken at the time, it would lead to Bryan's biggest role of his entire career. Had an eighth season taken place, he could've kissed that role goodbye.
Enter 'Breaking Bad'
In the world of Hollywood, things have a way of changing quite quickly. Although Cranston was ready to film the eighth season as Hal, it wasn't meant to be and ultimately, it would lead to another role. A phone call from Vince Gilligan changed everything, "Later that month, I get the call to go see a guy called Vince Gilligan. ‘Do you remember him from X-Files?’ ‘Kinda.’ ‘He wants to see you about a new project called Breaking Bad. I read it and I thought, ‘Oh my god this is amazing.’ I met with him. He said, ‘I want to turn Mr. Chips into Scarface and I think you’re the guy to do it.’ We shot the [Breaking Bad] pilot in February and March of 2007. So had we got that eighth season of Malcolm In The Middle, I would not have been available to shoot that pilot and someone else would be talking to you."
Cranston would also admit with NME, luck was on his side, "It is absolutely my belief, I dogmatically believe this, that a career in our business cannot be fully realized without a healthy dose of luck sprinkled throughout.”
Would He Do A 'Malcolm in the Middle' Reboot'?
When asked back in 2015, which project would be worth revisiting, Cranston said without hesitation alongside ET, it would be 'Malcolm in the Middle', "Right now, I think, I look back on “Malcolm In The Middle.’ It’s been 10 years since we went off the air, and it’d be fun to pick up that guy’s clothes again and be fun and sweet and adorable and hapless and clueless and afraid of everything.”
The likes of Frankie Muniz would also agree, rebooting the series and looking at everyone's mid-life crisis would be quite the spectacle. Great to see how much Cranston appreciated the role despite all his success after.
Sources: ET & NME