‘Malcolm in the Middle’ Erik Per Sullivan rejected ‘buckets of money’ pay to return for Disney+ reboot

“Malcolm in the Middle” is again — however one acquainted face walked away from a serious payday to return for the hit present.

Erik Per Sullivan, who performed the titular character Malcolm’s youthful brother Dewey, turned down “buckets of money” to star in the Disney+ rebootin accordance to his former co-star Jane Kaczmarek.

Instead, the former little one star, now 34, has centered on teachers, pursuing a grasp’s diploma in Victorian literature at Harvard and staying out of the highlight.

“He’s studying Dickens and is an incredible student,” Kaczmarek advised Guardian. “They offered him buckets of money to come back, and he just said, ‘No thank you.’”

The four-episode revival reunites Frankie Muniz as Malcolm, Bryan Cranston and Kaczmarek as Malcolm’s dad and mom Hal and Lois, together with Chris Masterson and Justin Berfield as Malcolm’s older brothers Francis and Reese, with the story now following a grown-up Malcolm elevating a daughter.

Speaking to The Post in November 2025, Muniz revealed Sullivan is “very happy in the life that he’s created outside of the entertainment world.”

“He made the decision that he didn’t want to get back into it — which we completely respect,” he mentioned, including that nobody from the solid needed to “force” Sullivan “to do something he didn’t want to do.”

“We had his blessing from day one to have the role be in the show and recast it. So I hope people aren’t too upset that he didn’t come back, but it was by his choice.”

Sullivan starred in “Malcolm in the Middle” from 2000 to 2006. He hasn’t acted since 2010, final showing in the crime thriller “Twelve,” and has largely stayed out of public view since then.

In April 2025, Sullivan was photographed out in public for the first time in 18 years when he was noticed leaving his home in Boston to seize a espresso.

The present later tabbed “Fargo” actor Caleb Ellsworth-Clark to painting Dewey in the reboot.

“We started talking about doing the reboot over ten years ago,” Muniz advised The Post.

“And then Bryan Cranston actually sort of took the lead in pushing it. But early on, we despatched out an e mail, me and Bryan, to all people sort of saying like, ‘Hey, if this occurred, would you guys have an interest?’ Just to gauge.”

“And we knew early on that Erik was not going to be apart of it,” Muniz added.