King Of The Hill Revival Is Leaving Its Original Home
It has been announced that the King of the Hill remake will not be airing on Fox.
Fans of Hank Hill and the other citizens of Arlen, Texas have been waiting to hear when the show would come back ever since it was announced there would be a King of the Hill revival. It’s now confirmed that wherever King of the Hill lands, it won’t be at its original home on Fox. However, the revival is still supposedly in the works, so fear not.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the decision comes from Fox’s desire to only go for shows that they have a controlling interest or total ownership of. Fox Entertainment president Michael Thorn said, “We’re really focused on what are the new shows that we believe can creatively break out, that we also have a significant ownership stake in, and if not outright own 100 percent of it and on a show like King of the Hill, which we love, there’s really no opportunity for us to have an ownership stake in that show.” So, it looks like the King of the Hill revival won’t be returning to Fox, which makes it seem likely that it could land at Hulu instead.
Fox is unable to have a controlling interest or total ownership due to Disney’s acquisition of Fox’s assets such as 20th Century Fox Pictures and FX. This puts King of the Hill squarely in Disney’s stable, but Fox can still acquire new programming of their own since Fox Broadcasting, Fox Sports, or Fox News weren’t part of Disney’s acquisition. Since Disney owns Hulu and all 13 seasons of King of the Hill are currently streaming there, it seems like the King of the Hill revival will end up there. Disney already has a controlling interest in Hulu and the House of Mouse will gain full control in 2024 when Comcast sells its shares. This would allow King of the Hill to join Futurama, which is getting a revival of its own on Hulu. Futurama was also formerly on Fox.
The King of the Hill revival will be brought to us by original creators Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, who first announced the return of the show in January of this year. The two teamed up to form a new animation company called Bandera Entertainment, which will include the King of the Hill revival among its produced shows. King of the Hill first aired in 1997, following the everyday life of propane salesman and family man Hank Hill along with his wife Peggy, his son Bobby, and his nearby neighbors Dale Gribble, Bill Dauterive, and Boomhauer. The series was canceled in 2009, much to the chagrin of fans.
Not much is known about the King of the Hill revival at this point, but it’s been confirmed that there will be a time jump. Presumably, the show will tackle some more modern topics. The original series mined a lot of humor and heart from Hank Hill’s more traditional beliefs being challenged by modern society, especially when those beliefs involved his son Bobby. Presumably, most of the original cast will return for the revival, though the passing of Luanne’s voice actor Brittany Murphy and Lucky’s voice actor Tom Petty means that we may not see the married couple return, as it seems unlikely, they’d be recast. One way or another, it does seem like the King of the Hill revival will make its way to our screens. We’ll just have to wait and find out where that might be.
