How 'King of the Hill' rediscovered its voice with new Hulu revival

USA Today

2 days ago

SAN DIEGO – Most of us have changed and seen our world evolve over the past 15-plus years. Even the animated Texans of 'King of the Hill.'
Most of them at least. Chain-smoking conspiracy theorist Dale Gribble used to seem like an outlier, but over the years, Dale has ended up more 'mainstream,' Toby Huss, who voices the character on Hulu's Season 14 revival (streaming now) of the popular sitcom, says with a laugh. 'He got out-righted on the right.'
Created by Mike Judge ('Beavis and Butthead') and Greg Daniels ('The Office'), 'King of the Hill' ran for 13 seasons, fostering a loyal fan following until it exited the Fox lineup in 2009. The new season again centers on Hank (voiced by Judge) and Peggy Hill (Kathy Najimy), their son Bobby (Pamela Adlon), and their friends and family around small-town Arlen, Texas. And just like most folks, the Hills need to acclimate to all-gender restrooms, rideshare apps and Zoom.
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Hank and Peggy are returning to a much different America than they left, after years spent in Saudi Arabia where Hank worked a propane job to build up their retirement nest egg. 'When we were first doing the show, at the very beginning, we used to say it's like Andy Griffith is back and he's pissed off. Now it's kind of like Hank is back and he's pissed off,' Judge says. The revival is full of 'a whole new world of things to be annoying to someone like Hank.'
And Bobby is now in his early 20s, living his dream as a chef at a Japanese BBQ-German fusion restaurant in Dallas and inheriting his dad's work ethic.
Executive producer Saladin K. Patterson, who headed ABC's 2021 'The Wonder Years' revamp, was 'a big fan of the original' show. When Judge and Daniels approached him to head up the new 'King of the Hill," Patterson saw a way to again tackle social and cultural commentary through family and relationships, but in a more modern fashion.
'Hank always represented a common-sense middle, and the show tried to pull people toward that middle,' Patterson says. "People love the show because they relate to Hank. So if those same people can relate to Hank now, maybe we can then have some fun with the commentary. ... Things have changed around him, and where does he fit in? Maybe that helps us also deal with the way things have changed in 2025.'
Adlon recalls fondly the early days when everyone recorded in the same space.
'The show started to change toward the later years" as the cast members got other Hollywood gigs, Adlon says. "Brittany (Murphy), God bless her, she was never there because she was becoming a movie star. But we used to sit in the green room all day with like No Doubt and Green Day. We'd be like, 'Are you kidding me?' '
Returning to their old characters has been a treat for the cast. Bobby's 'just been inside me, dormant, this whole time,' says Adlon, adding that she has woven in 'a little nuance and a little subtlety' now that he's in his 20s.
Lauren Tom is happy to see one of her characters, Bobby's old friend Connie Souphanousinphone, break from "trying to be the good girl that her stereotypical tiger parents wanted,' she says, and grow into "someone who's finding her own voice more.' Connie even taps into the world of ethical non-monogamy as an 'open-minded' young adult. 'I was like, 'You go, girl,' " Tom says. "I'm proud of her.'
Peggy Hill, though? 'Peggy is freaking Peggy no matter where she is,' Najimy says. 'It made sense to me that she didn't come back a philosopher or a stripper. She was out of place (in Saudi Arabia) and now she's home.'
Huss, though, returns to play a character he never has before. In the earlier seasons, he voiced Connie's dad, Kahn (now played by Ronny Chieng), and now Huss inherits Dale from Johnny Hardwick, who died in 2023.
'I think we smoked the same number of cigarettes,' Huss quips. 'It was a little intimidating because I didn't want to mess it up because of the memory of our friend. He was a really unique, gifted, funny, weird, touching guy. You don't want to step too heavy into his shadow. You want to just slip into it and then just try to do what he did.'
Over the years, the 'King of the Hill' cast often would imitate one another's characters, Judge says, 'so it seemed like maybe this was the right way. Keep it in the family.'
Huss reveals that the hardest role to do is Hank. He and Stephen Root (who returns as Hank's friend Bill) would often try it back in the day when Judge wasn't around, 'and we'd both just be able to go as far as, 'Well, Bobby …' and after that it would fall apart.'