‘Malcolm in the Middle’ reboot features non-binary sibling played by non-binary actor
“I was like five when I started feeling wrong.”
“I was like five when I started feeling wrong.”

The "Malcolm in the Middle" reboot is out on Hulu and the 4-episode mini-revival features a new addition to the family, a non-binary 6th child of Lois and Hal. Malcolm's best friend Stevie is also back and his character is now in a gay relationship with an adopted son, showing that the creators leaned into the trendy LGBTQ ideology since ending the show in 2006.
The character of Kelly is given a monologue in the show where she describes how it felt to know she was non-binary, which apparently was at 5 years old.
"I was like five when I started feeling wrong," Kelly, played by Vaughan Murrae, says to her parents in a video celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. "Thought I was great at hiding it, because you guys never said anything. Then I had this one really sh*tty day in fifth grade, the other kids and even my teacher. When I had little kid problems, I'd just go to dad and he'd clown around and make me feel better.
"And I wanted to do that. But instead, I just blurted out, 'dad, am I wrong?' And he was looking at me and I knew that he knew, and had always known, and I could tell he was thinking, like really hard. I was terrified. And then he finally said 'could be nicer to your mom sometimes.'"
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The parents, Lois and Hal, played by Jane Kaczmarek and Bryan Cranston, smile with pride at their non-binary daughter as though a 5-year-old believing they are neither male nor female is just the most normal thing in the world. The concept of non-binaryness only emerged as a gender identity within the past few decades and is part of the trans umbrella of gender identities.
The existence of a 6th child was teased in the final episode of the original series where the parents reveal that Lois is pregnant while Malcolm stresses over his high school graduation. The existence of the 6th child is a payoff for fans from that cliffhanger.
Murrae identifies as non-binary herself and made history as the first non-binary actor to be awarded the coveted Boccalino d'Oro prize at the Locarno Film Festival. She posted about it on her Instagram in 2022, saying "To adapt to my nonbinary gender, the jury changed the name of the award from Best Actor/Actress to Best Acting Performance. How awesome is that?"


Many non-binary people say they sometimes feel male and at other times feel female, but this is primarily expressed as a fashion choice. There is no non-binary biological distinction, people are either male or female. No child is born in the "wrong" body and the notion that they are has been used to cause severe medical harm to children and teens both with prescription drugs, including cross-sex hormones, and debilitating surgeries to erase the secondary sex characteristics of their natal sex.
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