'King Of The Hill' In The Middle Of "Hot Negotiations" For A Series Revival, Which Would Be Set 15 Years After The Original Finale
In recent years, many shows from the past have been given revivals. Twin Peaks, Gilmore Girls, Reno 911!, Roseanne, Animaniacs, and more have all reinvigorated fan favorite shows whose time in the sun had seemingly run out. Soon we may be able to add another animated revival to the list.
Writer Brent Forrester has revealed that King of the Hill co-creators Mike Judge and Greg Daniels are in the middle of "hot negotiations" to bring back the animated series that originally aired on FOX for 13 seasons.
Brent Forrester participated in a Reddit AMA yesterday (via TechRadar) to answer any questions fans may have had about his time working on shows such as The Office, The Simpsons, and King of the Hill. One fan asked about the possibility of the King of the Hill revival coming back around after it was originally teased as a possibility back in 2017 but ultimately didn't go anywhere. Forrester's response brought the potentially exciting news:
"I am sure Greg Daniels and Mike Judge will murder me for sharing this but... HELL YES. 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. The project is sooooo good. Okay I've said too much :)"
It's not hard to see how a show about a middle class family living a mundane life in Texas would find plenty of new comedy to mine in the wake of the Donald Trump presidency. But hopefully it doesn't revel too much in comedy that would be fueled by the rotten politics of that administration, because I think we could all use a break from that nonsense for a long, long time.
It's interesting that the King of the Hill revival would have all the characters aged 15 years. Most animated sitcoms never actually see their characters age, even after episodes where they have birthdays. But in this case, it would make sense to have the characters of the show grow older. Not only does it make for an entirely new comedic dynamic, but it also allows them to explain away the potential absence of Luanne Leanne Platter Kleinschmidt, who was voiced by the late Brittany Murphy, as well as Elroy "Lucky" Kleinschmidt, voiced by the late Tom Petty.
Just last spring, co-creator Greg Daniels said there was no movement on a potential King of the Hill revival. Perhaps a little time in pandemic quarantine got the creative juice flowing and made it more appealing. Maybe it has something to do with the new leadership that came with Disney's takeover of 20th Century Fox Studios. King of the Hill already had an exclusive deal to stream all 13 original seasons at Hulu, and since Disney now owns the majority stake of the streaming service, perhaps they now see a lot of value in bringing back the popular series. No matter what the reason, someone clearly changed their mind.