King of the Hill fans have been waiting for a very long time for a revival of the popular Fox animated series, which originally ran for 13 seasons from 1997 to 2010. And finally that patience has paid off, because Hulu announced on Tuesday that the streamer has picked up a straight-to-series order from 20th Television Animation.
Creators Mike Judge and Greg Daniels are both on board and will executive produce the revival, along with new showrunner Saladin Patterson, who also developed and executive produced ABC’s The Wonder Years reboot. Original returning voice cast members will include Judge, who voices the titular Hank Hill and neighbor Boomhauer, as well as Kathy Najimy (Peggy Hill), Stephen Root (Bill Fontaine), Pamela Adlon (Bobby Hill), Johnny Hardwick (Dale Gribble), and Lauren Tom (Minh and Connie Souphanousinphone).
Speculation about a King of the Hill revival first gained traction in 2017, when Judge and Daniels reunited with the cast at a Sketchfest event in San Francisco to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series.
The following year, Judge revealed that his plans for the rebooted comedy involved an adult Bobby.
“It would have to have a passage of time,” Judge explained in a March 2018 interview. “People have grown up. I think The Simpsons are so iconic just the way they’re drawn, you can keep Bart that same age for 60 years. Our characters, it was starting to strain a little bit to have Bobby still be that age for that long.”
However, the project remained in limbo for several years until 2021, when former King of the Hill writer Brent Forrester was asked about the status during a Reddit AMA and let it slip that the creative team was in the process of negotiations.
“I am sure Greg Daniels and Mike Judge will murder me for sharing this but … HELL YES,” Forrester said at the time. “They are in hot negotiations to bring back King of the Hill. The Trump administration made it suddenly very relevant again. The characters have all aged 15 years.” He added: “The project is sooooo good. OK, I’ve said too much.”
It’s unclear when we can look forward to seeing the new episodes, but we can probably expect them in late 2023 or early 2024.
“We are all so excited to welcome back Hank, Peggy and Bobby, and to see what they have to say about the world we live in and continue the conversations we began years ago,” said Craig Erwich, president, ABC Entertainment, Hulu, and Disney Branded Television streaming originals in a statement, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “This show has all of the perfect ingredients to meet this moment in animation at Hulu, and we’re so thankful to be having those conversations alongside this talented group.”