Two decades after the original series drew to a close, the landmark sitcom Malcolm in the Middle is back with the four-episode revival, Life’s Still Unfair, dropping on Hulu and Disney+. Amid a flurry of publicity and audience nostalgia, it has gone on to become the most-viewed new show in 2026 at the time of writing.
The response has been mostly positive, though has also left a number of viewers confused as to why new characters are taking up so much screen time at the expense of the original cast – some of which have not been seen since the original series’ conclusion. Almost all of the original cast have returned to the roles (and been explaining the only holdout’s absence at length) and they all do well to keep alive one of the original themes of the show that made it a standout – the complicated dynamics within dysfunctional families.
When the show began, the oldest son, Francis (Chris Kennedy Masterson), pushed his parents, Hal and Lois, so much with his disruptive behaviour they sent him to military school. His younger brothers, Reese (Justin Berfield) and Malcolm (Frankie Muniz), idolised him even though he picked on them relentlessly. They in turn did the same to their younger brother, Dewey, who, did not see them as cool and was left feeling resentful, undervalued and ignored by how he was treated.
Yet over the series events led them all to grow: Francis found a job which saw him mature, Reese accepted his place in the world as being a jerk, Dewey learned to become self-sufficient and became an older brother himself to Jamie, which left him conflicted as to whether he should be kind to him or continue the cycle of brotherly hazing.
What’s more, each brother learns in their own way that their parents may be strict with them, but they would still do anything for them, with multiple instances throughout the seven years of Hal and Lois coming out to bat for them when no one else would. The way the characters have grown, and continued to grow off camera, is explored once again in this revival, and how this has happened is best exemplified by use of one of the new additions to the cast.
That is the sixth child of Hal and Lois, whose coming was foretold in the series finale, but Life’s Still Unfair marks the debut of said child, Kelly. Played by Vaughan Murrae, who identifies as non-binary in real life, so does Kelly, but within the context of the show this doesn’t feel preachy or done for the sake of it. Some viewers have been left unhappy that the new characters distract from the original cast that they have turned out to see, but in the case of Kelly, people are missing what this new presence in the family is saying about qualities of the existing cast that were there all along, but only rarely came out.
The show introduces Kelly perfectly: with no introduction. Instead, they walk into scene as if they have always been there, while Hal and Lois are talking with Dewey (Caleb Ellsworth-Clark) over Zoom. Kelly shows the same disdain to the parents that the brothers had done in the original series, before catching up with Dewey, in which we learn the first things about this new character: never in trouble, studious and helpful. (Though it may be just a way of gaining leverage over Hal and Lois.)
Even though Dewey’s presence in the revival is minimal, this interaction with Kelly tells us a lot about what has happened to him in the interim: not only has he become a professional pianist, but he seems to have served as a more nurturing and considerate older sibling than Malcolm and Reese were to him. That he and Kelly communicate openly and warmly indicates that Dewey was big enough to not subject his younger siblings to the same torture he was.
Following this, (Trigger alert for Anti-PC people) Hal fumbles Kelly’s pronouns. It’s an honest mistake that Lois defends by saying, “He’s trying.” These two words speak volumes: the family may be dysfunctional and don’t get everything right every time, but they accept Kelly for who they are and unquestionably do all they can to make them feel that way. Trying to show that they had each other’s back, in their own unique ways, was something that was touched on all the way throughout the original series.
This is further, and again subtlety, explored with Kelly’s interactions with Francis. By his own admission, Francis treated his younger brothers poorly, but over the course of the original series learned responsibility and empathy, coming to terms with how he had acted when he was younger and learning from it. Previously Francis might have ribbed Kelly for their gender identity, but here he shows simple yet powerful gestures of support for his youngest sibling.
What’s good also is the show doesn’t paint Kelly as perfect: they may be a good student and on their best behaviour, but they are also shown to be, like their brothers, manipulative, obnoxious and have a sense of superiority we previously saw in Malcolm. They may do the right thing in Life’s Still Unfair when they call out Reese for exploiting their father and reporting him to the IRS for undeclared income, but Reese does not go easy on Kelly and vows revenge. As Reese has shown before, no one is off limits from his retribution.
Most notably in Life’s Still Unfair, during a video tribute to Hal, Kelly opens up about when they first asked Hal if how they were wrong for how they felt about their identity in a truly emotional monologue which seems to be drawn from some of Murrae’s own experiences. “I was terrified…” Kelly admits after seeing that Hal had always known that about them, before showing his youngest child acceptance by not treating them any differently.
Some might question why Kelly gets a big emotional payoff in a show called ‘Malcolm in the Middle’, but what they say here about their experience coming to terms with who they are says just as much about Hal: that he loves and accepts all of his kids for who they are, that he has no prejudices or looks down on anyone, that no one is invisible to him and that nothing could ever change how he feels about his loved ones.
Over the course of the original series we see that Hal sacrificed a lot: He distanced himself from his wealthy family, who did not approve of Lois, worked a job he hated in order to provide for his children, but didn’t think of himself as special for always putting others first and never sought recognition for anything he did. It’s clear that nothing has changed in Hal over time by showing his non-binary child acceptance and love no matter what.
To those who question Kelly’s presence in the revival; first, their part in the series is small, yet significant; second, their presence is just as much about the original characters everyone came back for. In regards to their gender identity, there are only two total references, running to only two minutes, and it’s never mentioned explicitly. The show’s creator and writer, Linwood Boomer, has said Kelly was drawn from his own experiences with his LGBTQ+ children, which shows in his writing of the character. For its faults, Life’s Still Unfair should be lauded for showing that the best way to be inclusive is to not draw attention to diversity, because that diversity is not the only thing that defines a character.
While billed as an epilogue to the series, Boomer and some of the cast have already expressed an interest to make more if Life’s Still Unfair is well received. The four episodes they have given us has left me wanting more, not particularly because of its quality-it’s the best three out of five show out there- but because the addition of Kelly to the family has breathed a lot of new life into this family, and updated the show in a way that it can continue to work and be relevant in the modern day while retaining the feel of the original series.
The anti-woke were never going to like the revival once they heard there would be a non-binary character, but given that Life’s Still Unfair leaves a number of doors open for a follow-up, there is a lot of potential to be had with Kelly should we see Malcolm in the Middle again in some form. Buoyed by Vaughan Murrae effortlessly fitting in with the rest of the cast, whose family bond had grown over having already worked together for seven years, it would be interesting to see both Kelly develop as a character and what they add to the exisiting family chemsitry.
(And for everyone reading this who is thinking of saying something like ‘Why are you referring to one person as they’ or ‘Say that she is female’ or ‘Woke liberal nonsense’, heard all of those already, so come up with something original.)
