The anticipated King of the Hill revival would feature a time jump, confirms the series creator. Created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, the series primarily focuses on the day-to-day life of the Hill family and friends in the fictional town of Arlen, Texas. King of the Hill, which premiered in 1997, was a major hit for Fox that ran for 13 seasons with the final episode premiering in 2010, and the series gained a passionate fanbase.
With many popular series from the '90s and 2000s getting revivals like Fuller House and Roseanne spin-off series, The Conners, many wondered if the same would happen for King of the Hill. Discussions had happened for years, but no official word had ever been given, and it appeared unlikely with how busy many of those involved in the original series were from having moved on to other projects. It was recently reported that a revival of King of the Hill was in development, with Daniels and Judge returning to the project.
In an interview with Collider, while promoting Space Force season 2, Daniels was asked about what the plans for the King of the Hill revival are. Daniels did confirm that the revival would feature a time jump. He did say the series has not officially been ordered yet, and no contracts have been signed, so it may be a bit of time until the revival hits the airwaves if it ever does. Daniels said:
"Well, here's the weird thing about the way that article ran is... there isn't any change yet. We don't have a deal to do it. I'm not exactly sure if we phrased it wrong, maybe, but it's still not 100%. Currently, the idea is a time jump where the characters are a bit older. Well, we haven't worked out the contracts yet. We had the idea floating around that we pitched a while ago, and I think we need to figure out how we would do it well and who would do it with us because we're both pretty busy."
A time jump creates a number of interesting narrative possibilities to explore for the revival and one that Judge is doing with his revival of Beavis and Butthead. Despite running for 13 years, like many animated series, King of the Hill's story remained stuck in time with only a few minor details hinting at the passing of time like Joseph's growth spurt and the arrival of Hank's half-brother, G.H. Seeing an adult Bobby, Connie, and Joseph, as well as an older Hank, Peggy, Bill, Dale, and Boomhauer allows the series to possibly explore new children-parent dynamics and revisit concepts of the original series.
The time jump may also provide the series with some explanations for some natural challenges with the revival. With the real-world passing of both Brittany Murphy and Tom Petty, who voiced Luanne and Lucky respectively, the time jump could be used to explain the character's absence as having moved away. While it will be different for fans of the original series, reviving King of the Hill and showing what happened to the characters since the finale feels like a chance to revisit with some old friends and catch up.
Source: Collider