Frankie Muniz had a candid response to a fan who asked about Erik Per Sullivan's whereabouts.
Best known for portraying Dewey in 2000s hit sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, the child actor largely disappeared after the show wrapped in 2006 following its seventh season.
The fan favourite character was the youngest of the four Wilkerson boys, with the 33-year-old choosing a different path in life compared to his TV co-stars.
Per Sullivan was recently photographed for the first time in years, seen making his way around Boston after getting a coffee.
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Despite Malcolm in the Middle getting a long-awaited reboot, with its four episodes set to drop on Disney Plus, it was also confirmed that Dewey would not be portrayed by Per Sullivan, but by Caleb Ellsworth-Clark.
It should come as no surprise, though, as on-screen mum Jane Kaczmarek said that ‘he wasn't interested in acting, at all,’ instead studying Victorian Literature as a grad student.
But just a few years ago, Frankie Muniz, who plays Malcolm in the sitcom, revealed what he knew of his on-screen brother, years on from the show.
With so many people asking for updates on Per Sullivan, Malcolm France decided to ask Muniz if he could provide some insights - and the 38-year-old star was more than happy to oblige.
"To be honest, I don't know what he's up to," he explained. "I hate to say that because I've talked to him a few times since the show ended.
"I've talked to his parents a lot. When I was in the band, we went and played in the city where he lives and his parents came to the show but unfortunately he couldn't make it."
He went on: "So I got to talk to them, and he's been all over doing a lot of different things.
"But one thing I know, 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," Muniz concluded.
Kaczmarek explained when asked about Per Sullivan in 2024: "He's well, he's very, very well.
"He did Malcolm for seven years, he started at seven, he ended at 14. He wasn't interested in acting, at all. He goes to school at a very prestigious American university that he's asked us all to be quiet about and he loves Charles Dickens.
"He's doing graduate work in Victorian literature. I admire it because so many people think being in show business is the greatest thing in the world, it's not for everyone."
Muniz previously said during Mayim Bialik’s podcast Breakdown that the cast had been sending emails together regarding a reboot, with everybody insisting ‘we gotta do this, we gotta do it’.
When they got in touch with the show’s creator, Linwood Boomer, he apparently said: “I think it would be amazing but I don’t want to do it."
Explaining he didn’t have the time, he said he’d give his blessing if the team got two specific writers on board.
While Muniz didn’t disclose who they are, he explained Bryan Cranston (who played Malcolm’s dad, Hal) is leading it and has been working with the writers ‘for the last two years’.
Fitting then, that Cranston and his on-screen wife got to announce the whole thing.
Topics: Frankie Muniz, TV, Celebrity
Joshua Nair