Bryan Cranston Played The Devil Himself In This Forgotten Show With Buffy Vibes

Bryan Cranston famously broke bad in one of the best shows of the 21st century, but can Walter White compare with Lucifer? Cranston played the Devil himself in a forgotten ABC Family miniseries called "Fallen."The show, loosely based on the novel series of the same name by Thomas Sniegoski, came out as three TV movies. The series follows Aaron Corbett (Paul Wesley), a teenager who discovers he's actually half-angel — a Nephilim. He soon finds himself in the middle of an ancient conflict as the prophesied, Redeemer, who can redeem fallen angels. Think "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" without the monster of the week or slice-of-life elements.

Part 1 premiered in 2006, but Cranston doesn't appear as Lucifer, Aaron's father and the first of the fallen angels, until a year later. In August 2007, ABC Family reran the movie on a Friday and followed it up with two more installments, "Fallen: The Journey" and "Fallen: The Destiny," on Saturday and Sunday night, respectively. Cranston shows up in the trilogy-capper, where he initially presents himself as a friend to Aaron, before the reveal that he's trapped in Hell and wants to use his son so he can be freed and wage war against God.

The "Fallen" movies were fairly successful. Variety gave the first film a pretty good review, and a later report from the trade magazine stated that a respectable 2.6 million viewers tuned in to watch in 2006. The next summer, 1.7 million people watched the middle chapter before 2.3 million sat down for the Cranston-featuring finale.

Perhaps it's not that surprising that a three-part cable TV movie series doesn't have a huge legacy two decades later, but "Fallen" remains a very interesting part of Bryan Cranston's filmography. "Fallen" falls right between Cranston's two biggest roles: "Malcolm in the Middle" — the Fox sitcom where Cranston played the family patriarch Hal – and "Breaking Bad," the AMC crime series where he played high school science teacher-turned-meth kingpin Walter White.

When Crantson had his devilish turn as Lucifer in "The Fallen," it was a bright spot in an understandable lull between two iconic roles. After "Malcolm in the Middle" ended, Cranston's screen appearances include small roles in two 2006 movies, "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Intellectual Property." On the small screen, he had voice roles on "Lilo & Stitch: The Series" and "Family Guy," along with a guest spot on "How I Met Your Mother."

"Breaking Bad" would cement Cranston's reputation as not only a great comedic actor, but an incredible dramatic one, too. And, you don't have to squint too much to see the connections between Walter White and Lucifer. Both are fathers who act nice, but make deals with the devil. In Walter's case, it's metaphorical. On "Fallen," he's the one making the pitch.