King of the Hill, an essential part of the entertainment diet of ’90s kids while an acquired taste all the same, is looking incredibly promising to be brought into the current era with one of the show’s writers essentially shouting such news from the tree tops via his recent Ask Me Anything on Reddit. While no hard facts have been provided yet, according to writer Brett Forrester (The Office, The Simpsons, Love), discussions to revive the popular series are in “hot negotiations”.
When prompted on the possibilities of Arlen’s favourite folk returning to the small screen, Forrester responded with a very firm: “HELL YES”.
“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”.
At this stage, neither Daniels or Judge (who is set to helm the upcoming Beavis & Butt-Head reboot) have confirmed this, but they also haven’t denied it, meaning things just got interesting.
King of the Hill premiered in 1997, featuring propane and propane accessory maven Hank Hill, award winning substitute teacher Peggy Hill, women’s self-defence participant Bobby Hill and a ragtag of local characters including sad-sack Bill and motormouth Boomhauer. The show separated itself from The Simpsons / Futurama scene with an even more pointed assessment of the every day. The series would stay strong until 2009, when it would wrap.
Per Forrester’s description, it sounds a lot like the characters will have aged in real time, and setting the series to the backdrop of the MAGA movement will be more than enough to reinstate its relevance. Hell, we can already see Dale pitching Q drops mid-alleyway drinking session.
One big change will also pertain to fan-favourite character, the ne’er-do-well niece Luanne Platter, who was of course voiced by the irreplaceable and late Brittany Murphy.
“Hot negotiations” is a vague reference point as to where the project is in terms of development, but considering the timely subject matter, it feels like we might be watching new King of the Hill episodes sooner than later.