Why Malcolm in the Middle Recast Dewey for its Hulu Revival

Hulu has confirmed that the role of Dewey has been recast for the upcoming revival Malcolm In the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair, entitled sparking speculation over why original star Erik Per Sullivan isn’t reprising the part.

Sullivan first debuted as Dewey when Malcolm in the Middle premiered in January 2000, and portrayed the character for the duration of its seven-season run. Now, though, he won’t be joining Frankie Muniz, Bryan Cranston, Jane Kaczmarek and other original actors in the revival, and Dewey has instead been recast with new actor Caleb Ellsworth-Clark.

So, why isn’t Sullivan returning?

The simple answer is, well, simple: Sullivan retired from acting when he was 18. In 2026, Jane Kaczmarek (who portrayed his fictional mother, Lois, on the show) told The Guardian that while the production “offered him buckets of money to come back,” Sullivan just said, “No thank you.”

According to a 2024 interview with Kaczmarek, Sullivan “did Malcolm for seven years; started at 7 [years old], he ended at 14. He wasn’t interested in acting at all.” Indeed, Sullivan only appeared in a handful of projects after the series concluded in 2006 — with the last being 2010’s Twelve — and since then has seemingly walked away from his on-screen past, even declining to participate in previous Malcolm In the Middle reunion events. For over a decade now, he’s kept a very low profile, with few public details about his whereabouts.

But Kaczmarek also assured the public not to worry, because he’s doing “very, very well.”

“He goes to school at a very, very, very prestigious American university, that he’s asked us all to be quiet about,” she said. “And he loves Charles Dickens. He’s doing graduate work in Victorian literature, Charles Dickens.”

Kaczmarek said in the same interview that Sullivan was “very grateful” to have portrayed Dewey, and described some of the magic of the character. “Dewey was just so beloved, he was a little hamster kid,” she said, relating a story from series creator Linwood Boomer that whenever the editors felt unsure about what to do, he knew he could always “just cut to Dewey, and the scene was going to work, because there was something about that kid that was just incredible.”

For his part, Muniz said in a 2017 interview that he had only talked to Sullivan “a few times since the show ended,” but heard that he’s “been all over, doing a lot of different things.”

Muniz also commended Sullivan’s decision to step away from acting, saying, “some actors or some people just got to do it when they were a kid and then they wanted to experience other things and kind of live a more normal life out of the spotlight. I think that’s what he wanted to do, so good for him.”

The Malcolm In the Middle revival began filming in April 2025, and will arrive as four 30-minute episodes about a grown-up Malcolm attending his parents’ 40th wedding anniversary party with his daughter, Leah (Keeley Karsten). In addition to Muniz, Cranston, and Kaczmarek, Christopher Masterson and Justin Berfield will return as Malcolm’s older brothers Francis and Reese, with Anthony Timpano and Vaughan Murrae joining the Wilkersons as younger siblings Jamie and Kelly.

Cranston is serving as executive producer, and has been hinting at a revival project for several years. Malcolm in the Midde: Life’s Still Unfair premieres April 10th on Hulu.