King of the Hill Showrunner on Why Television Needs Hank Hill

This article contains spoilers for King of the Hill season 14.

During a time when TV revivals and legacy sequels have become increasingly common, it’s that much harder to stand out and make an impact. King of the Hill has always been an unpredictable outlier that genuinely stays true to itself and its character-driven comedy. It should perhaps come as no surprise then that King of the Hill’s revival – the 14th season in the show’s run – is not only as strong as the original, but is a crowning achievement in how to bring back old properties with passion, love, and reverence for its source material. 

Fifteen years later, King of the Hill is as sharp and subversive as ever, with its storytelling and sense of humor not missing a beat. If anything, it’s even grown a little more sophisticated with age, much like its characters, who are now eight years older. Saladin K. Patterson, King of the Hill’s showrunner and executive producer, speaks with Den of Geek about the pressures of bringing back such a coveted classic, what a changed world and older characters bring to the equation, how King of the Hill taught Pamela Adlon how to write, and the story behind that one bombshell needle drop callback.

DEN OF GEEK: So many revivals can feel soulless, unnecessary, or driven by social media trends, but King of the Hill’s return is so genuine. Why does the world need more King of the Hill and what does it offer that’s absent in many other family sitcoms?

SALADIN K. PATTERSON: So the idea first started back in 2017, before I was on board with it. Greg [Daniels] and Mike [Judge] did a table read with the original cast at Sketchfest and they said the response to that – they read an episode from the original series – the response was so overwhelming from the fans. Greg and Mike started having internal conversations amongst themselves about the fact that, “Hey, there seems to be an appetite for these characters.” The fans still love it. And we all know King of the Hill memes have lived online forever. They’ve always been some of the more popular memes. I think it speaks to what you’re saying. I think the reason that fan appetite was there was because when King of the Hill went away, the TV landscape lost a character like Hank Hill who always represented a very strong point of view, but a common sense middle ground.

Whether you lean left or right, Hank Hill represented common sense. You follow the rules. You trust the rules. The rules need to be changed. You trust the rules to change the rules, right? And that was a way to tell small, relatable stories about family dynamics, relationship dynamics, neighborly stuff, husband and wife stuff, that people could relate to no matter where you fell on the cultural aisle, political aisle, racial aisle, or gender aisle. You can relate to it. Hank’s character in the show federalized the extremes, but brought people towards the middle.

The show went away. No one really stepped in to fill that void, right? And I think the reason why now makes sense is because, you know, there’s a need for a show that represents that commonality; that common ground. And I’m not necessarily talking politically because the original show, even though people project politics on the original show, was really making cultural social commentary more than anything political. Politics came up every now and then, but it’s more about culture and ideology. We’re trying to carry it on with this one and there aren’t that many shows right now that are trying to purposefully show what we have in common and show that point of view where most of life happens in the middle, right? 

No, I think that’s really well articulated. The world can change so much in a decade, but the past 15 years have been especially seismic. Hank and Peggy literally being out of the country when many of these things happened is a smart way around it. You have some really effective episodes that explore Hank’s ignorance to modern services, like Taskrabbit. Was it difficult to find a balance between telling stories about how much the world has changed versus just telling stories? Was that on your mind at all?

It was a tricky thing to navigate because, while we certainly wanted to have fun with what would be new to Hank, we wanted to make sure that it didn’t come across like the Beverly Hillbillies. It wasn’t Hank looking at an iPad saying, “What is this talking paper?” He was aware of these things. What we did want to show is that Hank knows what a cell phone is, right? But Hank may have an issue with how we use our cell phones. They shouldn’t be used in lieu of human interaction. In terms of the Taskrabbit thing, Hank has a hard time wrapping his head around how people share everything on these apps now, as opposed to certain things being private. So that felt like the sweet spot for the show in terms of what’s quote unquote “new” to Hank. Now, we certainly have fun with things that he’s just not used to using. But that’s like any character of this age.

Watching Hank and Peggy negotiate retired life and who they are beyond their jobs is really fulfilling material that goes to deep places. It’s territory that’s not always explored in a sitcom. Is there an exciting level of freedom when it comes to looking at them through a different lens?

Exactly. When Mike, Greg, and I talked about doing this revival and I came aboard to write the first episode with them, we were talking about things that we’re all experiencing in our real lives. We all have kids who are in their 20s, who are experiencing adulthood, whether it be kicking and screaming or they’re going into it excitedly. We’re experiencing what it’s like to be parents of kids, who are now adults, that we have to now see in a different way. They’re out of the house now and that kind of redefines who we are as parents. So it’s interesting to have Hank and Peggy explore some of those things as well. Specifically, like you said, the retirement angle – someone like Hank, who not only has always had a job, but whose whole identity was wrapped in that job. Once that’s gone, who is Hank to himself and can he be satisfied? And so that felt like interesting things to explore that the audience could relate to in different ways that they would want to see.

On that note, what this new season does with Bobby is so extremely satisfying and I think that he gets a lot of the best material. Was it challenging to figure out where he would be in his life, that he’d be working in food, rather than comedy, and finding the right tone for him?

It certainly was, because there’s so many things about Bobby that people really, really love. There are some people who would have loved to see him become a prop comic or a rodeo clown. However, speaking specifically to the choice of Bobby’s career, owning a restaurant has been a couple of things. Bobby is very much Hank Hill’s son, for one. He’s going into his own business. Hank Hill was a good businessman and Bobby’s doing something that he’s passionate about. Hank Hill was passionate about being a propane and propane accessory salesman. So, we thought that was a good way to show Bobby’s good, hard work ethic. Nothing’s harder than making a restaurant run and so we wanted to show that Bobby has the work ethic that Hank would have always hoped he had, right? Bobby and Hank don’t always see eye-to-eye though. Bobby’s cooking with charcoal.That’s sacrilege to Hank. But as a parent, Hank has to learn to respect Bobby as his own man. That’s growth for that character. 

It was very tricky for us to realize what things we want to say are part of Bobby’s character now. What things should we hold on to? Like at his heart, he’s still going to feel like the same Bobby because Pam Adlon is magical. She is so great at doing Bobby and what she created is now just being applied to an older Bobby. Pam’s older, which is a natural thing. We wanted it to still be the same voice because we thought that’s something that the audience is going to really respond well to. We do feel that Bobby as a chef is also tapping into Bobby as a prop comic because he’s not on stage, but he’s certainly being funny. He’s certainly using props still with how he’s cooking and interacting with people. He’s being creative with his food, which is something that was a very important part of young Bobby – his love of food. So it does feel like we’re still tapping into all those things that made Bobby want to pursue those things as a kid, but we kind of wrapped them all in one. 

It feels super authentic. You mentioned Pamela Adlon and what she brings to Bobby is so glorious and it’s always been one of my favorite performances. She’s gone on to become such an accomplished writer in her own right. Is there any chance that she’d be interested in joining the writers room and writing an episode? 

I mean, Pam’s an amazing writer. I love Pam as a writer. I love Pam as a showrunner. You know, she – and I’m speaking for her here – but I think she would reiterate that she has compartmentalized her experience on King of the Hill from other experiences. She’s been one to say, on numerous occasions, that she learned how to be a writer from being on King of the Hill, playing Bobby, and watching how the staff handled and told stories. Now, I think Pam is  an amazing writer. She’s probably given King of the Hill a little too much credit there, but I do think there’s some truth to that though in terms of how she sees this as an opportunity to grow and learn, which she then takes and applies to other projects. I’m not sure she’d want to write for an episode of King of the Hill, but she certainly has her writer cap on when she’s doing the show.

Dale has always been such an interesting character and it’s kind of wild to see how so much of the world has become more like Dale and the idea of something like Operation Infinite Walrus isn’t even that outrageous anymore. Can you talk a little on modulating that character and finding what the best vibe for him would be in the modern world?

Similar to the statement we were making about Hank’s common sense middle no longer representing the middle anymore, the extreme now looks like the other extreme. When I sat with Mike and Greg, I was very interested in the Dale character in that real life has run way past what Dale represented on the fringes of an original. The reality is that there are beliefs and theories that people take as truth and fact and news that are way more extreme than anything Dale ever said. So, it’s still like an interesting way to revisit that character by having him still represent the fringe for the core group of characters. He’s still the fringe of Hank and all the alley guys. But in terms of the rest of the world – the rest of the country – he’s not fringe anymore. Dale, now, for the first time can point and say, “I’m not that crazy,” you know? So that feels like an interesting, fun, funny way for us to revisit that character now.

The whole idea of him running for mayor in the years we didn’t see also makes so much sense. Why did that feel like something that should happen off screen instead of an ongoing plot for the season?

It felt true to Dale’s character for sure. It felt like a funny way to kind of satirize the way the world was during the pandemic and the things that people rallied behind. But it came down to us not wanting to harp too much on politics. The show wants to do more with cultural statements than necessarily political statements. It just became a fun thing to do in the background for Dale as part of his backstory, but then getting back to telling our small, relatable stories about these characters.

Luanne and later Lucky were such a big part of King of the Hill and I fully understand how difficult it would be to recast those characters. Is there a chance that they’ll at least be referenced in future episodes and we’ll learn what they’re up to or if their daughter, Gracie, could at least appear?

That’s a great question. You know, those were beloved characters and as you said, it felt like the proper thing to do with those characters. It felt like, from a sports analogy, to hang up their jerseys and retire their numbers because no one else could fill it the way they did. That being said, they still do exist in the world. If we’re blessed to be able to move forward with more episodes, we certainly do have plans to at least reference them in a very respectful way that the audience will feel is honest to their characters. 

That’s great. I love that. Fan service and callbacks in this type of revival series can be a double-edged sword, but I think you truly killed it with how you bring back “How Do I Live” by LeAnn Rimes for Bobby and Connie. It’s genuinely perfect. Why did that feel like such an important part of their history to reference and was No Doubt under consideration at all, since they’re also used in a similar context?

SKP: No Doubt certainly came up. I mean, look, if you look in the writers’ room we have a list on the board of Easter eggs that we want to try to do. The general rule we tried to follow was it had to be organic to the story we were telling now. Like you said, with the karaoke, that felt like a very good way to do it romantically for Bobby and Connie in terms of tapping into that nostalgia, but also tapping into that childhood crush kind of feeling. We also do a little bit of an Easter Egg in the episode where Peggy goes to Dallas and stays with Bobby and has the MRI; the end of that one. That one felt like it was more about going for the joke than something that was necessary. We didn’t have to do that one, but it felt like it still fit the story that was being told. That’s the general rule and we kind of police ourselves. It’s fair game as long as it’s organic to what we’re telling now.

You feature the return of many expected characters, but there are also some appreciated deeper cuts like Junichiro and even GH. It’s really incredible that you tell this sort of estranged brotherly story now that GH is old enough to be a real character. Why was this a character you wanted to bring back and explore, especially through the whole “men’s rights” angle, and will there be more of GH and Junichiro in the future?

I mean, that felt like a uniquely King of the Hill thing we could explore because GH is Hank’s brother, even though there’s a big age difference. Bobby being grown now clearly leaves a little bit of a void, a vacuum for a character that occupies that kid’s space. Boomhauer’s girlfriend has a son, Luke Jr., Brian Robertson has a son, but they’re not seen as much. So it felt like an interesting conundrum to put Hank into where this is his brother. And so we start off with how GH has equal inheritance to Hank, but Hank is still more like a father figure. That felt like a good, uncomfortable position to put Hank in, in the way that you love to put your main character in uncomfortable positions for the comedy to play out. However, it also felt like an opportunity for this revival of King of the Hill to be able to tell some father story or older man/younger boy stories like the original did with some characters that were organic to the show’s history.

One of my favorite episodes from the original run is “Pigmalion,” with Michael Keaton as Trip Larsen, a twisted Pork Product CEO who embroils Luanne in a disturbing scheme that ends in his death. I loved how King of the Hill would occasionally deliver these surprisingly dark character pieces. Do you see room in the revival for darker and more subversive stories like this?

Yes, I do. Like I said, my prayer is that when the fans see these episodes, that they have a response that’s just as strong as what the critical response has been. And if that’s the case, hopefully Hulu will then greenlight not just the second season, but more seasons. I would love to be able to then have what is known as a “departure” for the revival, just like those episodes that were known as a departure for the original. You have to have enough of a basis, though, before you can do a departure like that. So hopefully, given enough episodes, we’ll be able to do some fun departures like that.

All 10 episodes of King of the Hill season 14 are available to stream on Hulu now.