Here's how the 'King of the Hill 'revival pays tribute to late stars Johnny Hardwick, Jonathan Joss, and Chuck Mangione

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Hulu's reboot led by showrunner Saladin K. Patterson envisions a new future for "King of the Hill," but takes care to memorialize its past.
It's been 15 years since the King of the Hill series finale, and a lot has changed in the show's fictional setting of Arlen, Tex. The beloved animated sitcom is back for a 14th season with 10 brand-new episodes, but not every member of the stacked voice cast was around to return.
Johnny Hardwick, who voiced Hank Hill's conspiracy-minded neighbor Dale Gribble; Jonathan Joss, who voiced the healer and Renaissance man, John Redcorn; and Chuck Mangione, the Grammy-winning musician who often appeared as himself on the series, have all died since the original run came to a close in 2010.
The new Hulu revival, helmed by Dave and The Wonder Years showrunner Saladin K. Patterson, pays tribute to each of the series' lost stars. Here's how:
Chuck Mangione
The prolific and polymathic musician Chuck Mangione, who appeared on series like Magnum P.I. and King of the Hill in addition to releasing dozens of albums as both a member of Art Blakey's band and as a solo fluegelhorn and trumpet player, died on July 22, 2025, less than two weeks before the new episodes were released.
Mangione regularly appeared as himself throughout the original run of King of the Hill. Whenever the characters found themselves bound to the local Mega Lo Mart, they knew they were also bound for a run-in with its charismatic spokesman and his brassy fluegelhorn. Mangione even performed at the season 11 wedding between two of the series' most sterling stars, Luanne Platter (Brittany Murphy, who died in 2009) and Elroy "Lucky" Kleinschmidt (Tom Petty, who died in 2018), and got a special mention in the original series finale.
The musician's special honors come early into the revival, which sees Hank and Peggy Hill (Kathy Najimy) return from the former's big Aramco project, for which they decamped to Saudi Arabia at the end of season 13. Freshly repatriated, they move back to Rainey Street and grapple with the changes that have rocked both Arlen and America in the ensuing years.
Episode 2, titled "The Beer Story," pits Hank and Bobby (Pamela Adlon) against each other in a battle of the home breweries. The elder Hill stands for unadorned tradition, while the next generation experiments with bold new notes and techniques. Hank needs the requisite equipment to be able to whip up his own batch, so naturally, he heads to Mega Lo Mart. Wandering through the aisles, Hank comes upon a table display presided over by a familiar face.
"Home brewing is a whole thing," a young, disaffected Mart employee tells Hank. "You gotta hook up a propane heater for the mash, there's like, five steps...and what they don't tell you is, propane's not included." The propane czar of all television himself lets out a knowing chuckle and replies, "Oh, that won't be a problem for me."
A cardboard cutout of Mangione sharing a friendly embrace and toasting glasses of ale with Snoop Dogg heads up the equipment stand.
"Brew up a new hobby, Snoop," Mangione's speech bubble reads, with season 13 guest star Snoop adding, "Drank responsibly, Chuck!"
Johnny Hardwick
Hardwick, who voiced the paranoid, hilarious, plotting, and conspiratorial Dale throughout King of the Hill's original 13-season run, died in 2023.
Of the core four members of KOTH's alley gang, including series star Hank Hill (voiced by co-creator Mike Judge), Boomhauer (also Judge), and Bill Dauterive (Stephen Root), Dale's penchant for magical thinking and creatively inept schemes marked him as an enduring fan favorite. Fortunately, Hardwick was able to record six episodes of the new season before his death. Toby Huss, who previously voiced Hank's father, Cotton Hill, and his Laotian-American neighbor Kahn Souphanousinphone (now voiced by Ronny Chieng), takes over as Dale in the season's remaining four episodes.
"He was a super sweet fellow. We miss him," Huss told Entertainment Weekly at San Diego Comic-Con 2025. "His Dale is one-of-a-kind. I'm not taking over anything, I'm just trying to do some justice to his voice."
"Any Given Hill-Day" splits its time between two main plots — Hank struggling to understand and accept Bobby's all-vegan-and-organic new girlfriend, while the trio compete at a Dallas Cowboys fantasy camp, and Peggy attempting to reintroduce community to post-COVID Arlen via a book nook established on the perimeter of the Hill lot.
"The last thing most of these rednecks read was their court summons, now they're reading books!" jokes neighbor Minh Souphanousinphone (Lauren Tom).
The episode takes a Dale-heavy turn when the book nook ends up introducing something else to Arlen: bed bugs. He puts his considerable experience as the owner and operator of extermination service Dale's Dead-Bug to rid Rainey Street of the pests, which are now dividing the community that the books had just brought together. The episode ends in a blaze of glory with Dale triumphant, before flashing to a touching title card that reads, "In loving memory: Johnny Hardwick," and features a photo of Dale beside a photo of the late actor.
Jonathan Joss
Jonathan Joss, the Native American actor who lent his voice to the esteemed, and also partly scheming John Redcorn across King of the Hill's original run, died in June 2025. (A running gag on the show is that John is the true father of Joseph, Dale's son with wife Nancy.) Joss was shot and killed by his neighbor, Sigfredo Ceja Álvarez, following an alleged dispute on their San Antonio properties. Álvarez was released from jail the day after the shooting after posting a $200,000 bond, and is currently under house arrest in advance of his first pretrial hearing on Aug. 19.
Due to the recency of Joss' death, fans will hear his voice when Redcorn speaks throughout season 14. Patterson confirmed Joss' presence in the season to EW at Comic-Con, saying the actor was "thankfully able to join us, because he's part of the family as well." The tribute to Joss comes at the very end of season 14. The final episode, "A Sounder Investment," finds Hank and Peggy frantic to restructure their investments following their long Saudi hiatus. John Redcorn conveniently enters with an attractive business proposition: John Redcorn's Red Corn, which the entirety of Rainey Street devours with glee.
But a problem arises, when wild hogs trample and eat the crops sprouting up in John Redcorn's red corn fields. Boomhauer's "Boom Boom Pig LLC" venture to set traps for the hogs running roughshod temporarily steals the spotlight from John Redcorn's Red Corn, but when he announces at episode's end that, "John Redcorn's Texas-grown red corn will have a projected operating profit margin of 38 percent," Hank makes his decision easily, saying "It is time Hill Family Inc. get into bed with John Redcorn."
The season concludes with a final title card, this time dedicated to Joss. "In loving memory: Jonathan Joss," it reads, with side-by-side shots of John Redcorn and Joss.
All 10 episodes of King of the Hill season 14 are currently streaming on Hulu.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly