I Tell Ya What: An Early Look at the Anticipated "King of the Hill" Revival

At long last, the King of the Hill revival series is closing in!

News of a reboot of the hit animated series started about three years ago, and it definitely gained my attention. The buzz increased as time passed, with more and more proverbial fruit growing from the seeds that were planted. The revival became official in January 2023, and finally, on May 30, 2025, the last piece of the puzzle was announced. It had been long established that Hulu would pick up the revived series, but the premiere date wasn't known until now: August 4, 2025.

A little history lesson on this show. King of the Hill originally premiered on January 12, 1997 on Fox; a midseason premiere during the 1996-97 season. As a kid, I remember Fox making attempts at airing a second successful animated series following The Simpsons, but I did have a feeling that KotH would have lasting power, and it certainly did. We have Mike Judge and Greg Daniels to thank for this gem, which became a hit even as the show moved slots quite a bit, but was a Sunday show for a vast majority of the show's tenure.

The series centers on Henry Rutherford "Hank" Hill, who--as he often humbly boasts--"sells propane and propane accessories." Seriously, I love when he says that, and I really love imitating that line (among other things). Other than being a proud propane man, Hank's a proud family man, married to Margaret "Peggy" Hill (nee Platter), and the father of their only offspring, Bobby Hill, with Hank attempting to adjust to Bobby's varying interests. The family also include Hank and Peggy's niece (from the latter's side), Luanne Platter, who was introduced as a practicing beautician.

The setting of the show is the fictional Texas town of Arlen, and other characters do include (but aren't limited to) Hank's three main buddies: Dale Gribble (an exterminator and all-around conspiracy nut), William "Bill" Fontaine De La Tour Dauterive (I can't resist saying the whole thing; a former high football star turned Army barber), and Jeff Boomhauer (the slick, thick drawl talking ladies' man). Another character introduced in the middle of Season One was Kahn Souphanousinphone, Hank's Laotian neighbor, along with his wife Mihn and daughter Connie (aka Kahn Jr.). I could name pretty much every character from that show, but I'll stick to the main ones.

Speaking of main characters, I have to talk about this man: Mike Judge. This was not Judge's first successful show; he also created a little show called Beavis & Butthead, which aired for six years on MTV, hit the big screen, and got a revival recently. Much like on B&B, Judge also provides voice work on KotH, providing the voices of both Hank Hill and Boomhauer. I love both voices, especially Hank's, though I do know that the Hank Hill voice is actually the same one Judge used for Tom Anderson on B&B. Even so, I love that voice; I imitate it a lot.

As for the rest of the voice cast, Kathy Najimy (aka Mary Sanderson from Hocus Pocus and the recent sequel) voiced Peggy Hill, while Pamela Adlon (nee Segall) voiced Bobby Hill--a role she's immensely proud of. Brittany Murphy voiced Luanne Platter and also originated the voice of Bobby's friend, Joseph Gribble (Breckin Meyer later voiced a post-pubescent Joseph). Dale Gribble was voiced by Johnny Hardwick, and Bill Dauterive was voiced by Stephen Root.

The original series lasted for 13 seasons, originally ending its run in the fall of 2009. The revival's timed setting will place the series 14 years after the events of the series finale, and the logline reads as follows:

“After years working a propane job in Saudi Arabia to earn their retirement nest egg, Hank and Peggy Hill return to a changed Arlen, Texas to reconnect with old friends Dale, Boomhauer and Bill. Meanwhile, Bobby is living his dream as a chef in Dallas and enjoying his 20s with his former classmates Connie, Joseph and Chane.”

I couldn't help but love the Chane mention. "Chane" is Chane Wassonasong, the son of businessman Ted Wassonasong and a rival of sorts for Connie's affections. So the revival is on the horizon, but even as the time passed since the first announcement, I couldn't help but think about some things that need to be addressed:

Toby Huss CANNOT Return as Kahn

The glaring elephant in the room has to be Kahn. Rather, his voice. From Kahn's debut up until the show's original end, Kahn was voiced by Toby Huss, who also voiced Hank's cantankerous WWII-vet father, Cotton Hill, until the character was killed off. This was one of the main thoughts I had regarding this revival, because it comes during the current climate where racial awareness is at an all time high. This included a number of White actors stepping down from voicing characters of color on animated shows, with the main changes being Harry Shearer stepping down from voicing Dr. Hibbert (who is Black), Hank Azaria no longer voicing a number of characters of color on The Simpsons, and Mike Henry no longer voicing Cleveland, among many other changes. All of those characters are currently voiced by actors of color.

It's all about authenticity when it comes to that. For decades it was basically White voices imitating a belief of what characters of color sound like instead of actually having an authentic and representative voice. The same needs to apply to Kahn. Yet according to TVLine's story, Huss is listed as returning to voice Kahn. Huss can voice any other characters, but regarding Kahn, it can't happen.

Luanne and Lucky Re-cast?

I remember how happy I was when Luanne found somebody. As we all remember, Luanne's original love interest was Buckley, an employee at the Mega-Lo-Mart, but as we all remember, Buckley was killed in an explosion at the store. I still, to this day, remember the "Buckley's Angel" episode, especially the moment where Luanne sees Buckley and that song Life in a Northern Town plays; I always come close to crying. Anyway, it was in Season Eight that Luanne found love again with Lucky Kleinschmidt, and they became husband and wife on the show.

I liked Lucky; he was a hell of a character and very hilarious, voiced by the legendary Tom Petty (yes, that Tom Petty). Sadly, just months after KotH ended, Brittany Murphy passed away at age 32, and it was in October 2017 that Petty passed away as well. Regarding the revival, I hope that they do appear and they are recast. Luanne was a very important character on the show, and Lucky was a very hilarious addition as well.

Last but not least:

Dale Gribble

Two years ago, another member of the KotH family left us. I remember reading the news that morning: Johnny Hardwick, the voice of Dale Gribble, passed away at 64. Originally, one of the main topics I was going to discuss was "Who will replace Hardwick?" It was stated back then that Hardwick had recorded some dialogue for Dale in a couple of episodes, but still, the question lingered... until just now. As I'm writing this, I just read that Dale Gribble will have a new voice, and it's none other than Toby Huss. I'm imagining it now; Huss can pull it off, he really can.

So that's one question answered, but there's still something else regarding Dale:

Dale Has to Know About Joseph

It still bugs me to no end that Dale was in the dark about wife Nancy's affair with John Redcorn, but everyone else knew about it. Everyone else also knew that Joseph was the result of the affair, but poor Dale? Unaware. Or was he? I've seen theories that Dale had known all along but never let Nancy know that he knew. While the thought of that theory does put my mind at ease, I still need to see it play out, for my sake. Something like this should have been known to Dale during the original run. They had many chances but didn't do it. Dale, for all his nuttiness, loves Joseph. He's proud of his son, I've seen it many times on the show. I think Dale would still see Joseph as his son even if he finally learns the truth (or if he had already known all this time), but still, I think it's about high time that Dale knew the whole truth about everything. And shame on Dale's close buddies for never telling him.

King of the Hill is back, baby! I'm very excited for this revival to hit Hulu on August 4, and it will be a full season release--all 10 episodes hitting Hulu (and Hulu on Disney+) at once. I loved the show when it aired, I watch the reruns quite a bit, and I know this: the revival will be absolutely epic as hell, I tell ya what!