‘King of the Hill’ Season 14 Is the Perfect Reboot

After 15 years, King of the Hill has finally returned, and fans couldn’t be happier. The revival of the popular animated series from the late 1990s and 2000s, King of the Hill, on Hulu, picks up 10 years after the events of the series finale to find Hank and Peggy Hill returning to Arlen, Texas, after a stay in Saudi Arabia for a propane contract. Their son, Bobby Hill, is all grown up and navigating his early 20s as the owner of a Japanese-German fusion restaurant in Dallas. The series’ return has received near-universal acclaim, racking up 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, with fans joyously celebrating the return of the Hill family and the rest of Arlen, Texas.

Although TV series revivals have been popular for years, with Fuller House and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life kicking off the modern trend in 2016, the results have been mixed. At best, you get something like The Conners, a continuation of the characters of Roseanne. However, there have also been plenty of revivals like Heroes Reborn or Dexter: New Blood, which many viewers feel would have been better left unmade. King of the Hill perfectly captures what audiences loved about the original while also not being afraid to move the series forward. The revival feels classically King of the Hill but is also very much of the moment, embodying the level-headed nature of Hank Hill now more than ever.

Not All Change Is Bad

The ‘King of the Hill’ Revival Proves It

King of the Hill, set in the fictional Arlen, Texas, and centered on a conservative family, has often gained a reputation among some fans for expressing a conservative viewpoint. One of the funniest bits is Hank going “Obama was born in Hawaii, that’s reason enough not to vote for him without making stuff up” regarding the conspiracy that Obama wasn’t born in America, one popularized by the current President of the United States.

Yet neither King of the Hill nor its lead character, Hank, has ever been motivated by political beliefs. Hank Hill’s worldview is dictated by common sense more than any political ideology. Multiple times across the series, Hank finds himself embracing more left-leaning tendencies because they make sense. Hank Hill not only recognizes the importance of recycling but also understands the dangers of climate change and even chooses organic food because he knows it will make for a better-tasting steak. Much of the show focused on Hank Hill being befuddled by modern trends and engaging with pop culture through his son Bobby. The series often found a balance, showing that Hank’s old-fashioned ways had a place, but also emphasizing his need to grow and evolve.

The new series takes that idea and runs with it in the first few episodes. After 10 years away, Hank Hill finds Arlen, Texas, drastically different. While the series could certainly have gotten plenty of jokes about Hank Hill raging against all the changes to the modern world, King of the Hill quickly shows that Hank accepts that not all change is bad. This is signified by his and Peggy’s encounter with a Girl Scout troop and the discovery that Samoas have been renamed Chocolate Delights, because “it is more polite to the people of Samoa.” Instead of raging against political correctness, Hank and Peggy smile and accept it because they understand that the change is motivated by a positive reason. The Girl Scout says, “It’s nice to be nice,” which Hank agrees with.

The idea of accepting change is the heart of the King of the Hill revival. The new King of the Hill won’t be entirely the same, as the series has undergone significant changes with the aging of characters like Bobby, Joseph Gribble, and Connie Souphanousinphone, altering the types of stories the series can tell. There have also been some changes behind the scenes, as actor Toby Huss takes over for Jonathan Hardwick as Dale Gribble midway through the season following Hardwick’s death. Meanwhile, Ronnie Chung takes over the role of Khan Souphanousinphone from Huss, as the series acknowledged it might not be the best call to have a white actor voicing an Asian character. Change is difficult, but it isn’t always bad. What matters is the heart of the matter, and King of the Hill gets everything right.

‘King of the Hill’ Is Tackling the Right Issues

Easily the best part of the King of the Hill revival is how of-the-moment it feels. Just as the original series tackled topics relevant to audiences in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the new series embraces the 2020s head-on and does so without missing a beat. It acknowledges how the world has morphed into thinking like Hank’s conspiracy-minded neighbor, Dale Gribble. In the original series, Dale’s conspiracies were a source of laughs while also clearly being on the fringes of society… but now an alarming number of people sound like him and do so openly. Now, conspiracy theories have become the default norm, and Hank Hill struggles to talk with people who reject objective reality.

A major plotline revolves around the reveal that Connie is practicing ethical non-monogamy. While the series includes a few jokes about the concept through Bobby Hill, it notably doesn’t shut down the idea entirely. It allows Connie to embark on this journey as part of something she truly desires. It doesn’t have to define her or be the endgame, but there is also nothing wrong with the choice. The ethical non-monogamy certainly seems more humane than the infidelity showcased by Nancy Gribble and John Redcorn in the original series (which the revival hints might have been picked back up). This plotline not only tackles a new reality of the dating world that wasn’t much of a conversation when the original series aired, but also echoes a subplot from the original series and invites viewers to reflect on how generations differ.

Season 14’s ninth episode sees Hank’s younger half-brother, G.H. (Good Hank), getting sucked into an online course run by an alpha-male, misogynistic influencer modeled after figures like Andrew Tate. Hank delivers a scathing talking-down to this manosphere stand-in, which provides a catharsis that is hard to put into words — it’s King of the Hill saying, ‘No, Hank Hill would think that’s silly; don’t lump him in with them.’

King of the Hill went off the air 15 years ago (which the series lampshades by calling out Fox for canceling “King of the Grill”), and much has changed since. It is nice to see, after all this time, that King of the Hill can still make audiences laugh as if it had never left. The positive reaction to the new season of King of the Hill hopefully suggests that Hulu will continue this revival for years to come, as it appears there could be at least a decade’s worth of stories for this continuation to explore. King of the Hill is back and better than ever, “I tell you hwat.” Stream King of the Hill on Hulu.