After years of delays since the project was first announced in 2017, King of the Hill fans finally have some good news regarding a first look at the Hulu revival series.
The project went through development hell as the animated comedy series’ co-creators, Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, shopped for a potential buyer to produce the sitcom. Eventually, Hulu—likely bolstered by the fact it had been acquired by Disney, who went on to purchase King of the Hill’s former network, Fox— struck a deal with the showrunners to develop the series for the streaming service.
The synopsis was revealed shortly into the revival series’ fruition, featuring a rarity in animation – a time-jump several decades on, aligning with the 1997-present jump of approximately 20-something years. The reboot also faced a significant, tragic hurdle when Johnny Hardwick, the voice actor of Dale Gribble and producer for the series, died in 2023, prompting several re-writes to overcome this unexpected absence.
King of the Hill‘s reboot also had to work around the deaths of various voice actors since the series wrapped in 2009. Notably, the deaths of Hill family members Luanne Platter and Lucky Kleinschmidt —voiced by Brittany Murphy and Tom Petty, who died in 2009 and 2017, respectively —required the core dynamic of the series to be radically reshaped.
The revival was given a vague “early 2025” premiere by Greg Daniels, with little sign of a teaser or first look, until October 25th, 2024, when voice actress Grey DeLisle posted a framed photo of a now-adult Bobby Hill, who was 12-13 years old in the original series.
Sporting some stubble and looking taller and generally more “grown up,” B0bby sports a chef’s outfit, with an accompanying short biography of his new life. Although not easy to discern from the photo’s reflection, the bio reads:
Chef Bobby Hill has loved food his whole life.
From weeknights around the dinner table eating his mom’s “Spa-Peggy and Meatballs,” to overindulging in lutefisk at church potlucks, to celebrations with family and friends at Luly’s Cafeteria, food and the people it’s enjoyed with are the foundation for his best memories. In fact, his career as a robata chef was inspired by his most cherished memory of all-weekends spent grilling with his dad.
A self-taught chef and one of the youngest contestants on King of the Grill, Chef Hill believes “good food can solve any problem.” He draws on the influences of his childhood by combining classic Texas dishes with flavors from around the world. With Robata Chane, Chef Hill hopes to honor the art of Japanese robata and the German heritage of the Texas Hill Country while pushing culinary boundaries through his innovative fusion dishes.
The bio contains several references to classic jokes from the original series, including the incident where Bobby accidentally burns down the church after trying to clear the smell with a match after scarfing – and quickly regretting – eating an entire serving of lutefisk, as well as Peggy Hill’s famous “Spa-Peggy and Meatballs”.
Bobby’s new job as a chef is in-keeping with the original run’s finale, “To Sirloin With Love,” where father and son Hank and Bobby Hill finally bond over their love of barbecuing meat. With this new, in-depth look at a major character from the series, fans will likely be treated to more insight very soon.