After 15 long years, King of the Hill is finally coming back. But its iconic cast of voice actors tragically won’t be returning in full.
Stars Pamela Adlon, Lauren Tom, and Toby Huss, along with showrunner Saladin K. Patterson, stopped by the EW Studio at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 to discuss the long-awaited revival, which is set for an Aug. 4 premiere on Hulu. The celebrated animated paean to small-town Texas aired its final episode in 2009. In the 15 years since, several key voice cast members have passed, including Johnny Hardwick, the man behind Dale Gribble, who died in 2013 at the age of 64.
Huss, who’s taking over as Dale for “our old friend Johnny Hardwick,” tells EW Editorial Director Gerrad Hall about his approach to stepping into the shoes of one of the series’ most irreplaceable staples.
“He was a super sweet fellow, we miss him,” Huss says. “His Dale is one of a kind. I’m not taking over anything, I’m just trying to do some justice to his voice.”
Patterson adds that Hardwick was able to voice Dale for six episodes of the upcoming 10-episode season. A revival was discussed as far back as 2017, but took six more years to be announced. The majority of the major voice cast is returning, including Adlon (Bobby Hill), Tom (Minh and Connie Souphanousinphone; Cindy Wassonasong), Huss (in addition to Dale, Huss voices Kohng Koy “Kahn” Souphanousinphone, Cotton Hill, Joe Jack, Coach Kleehammer, Ted Wassonasong for a time, and M.F. Thatherton, who was originally voiced by Burt Reynolds).
Mike Judge, the original series’ co-creator and co-showrunner, will also return as Hank Hill and Boomhauer, Kathy Najimy will again lend her voice to Peggy Hill, and Stephen Root is back as Bill Dauterive.
There are, sadly, two more fan faves who died before the revival will see the light of day.
Mike Judge/Disney
Hank, Peggy, Dale, and Bill on the ‘King of the Hill’ revival
Prolific musician Chuck Mangione, who played himself on several episodes of the original series, between 1997 and 2003, died on July 24 at the age of 84.
Jonathan Joss, the Native American actor who lent his voice to the character of John Redcorn for most of the show’s 13-season run, died in June 2025. Patterson confirms that, like Hardwick, Joss “thankfully [was] able to join us because he’s part of the family as well and do episodes for the season.”
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Check out more of EW’s coverage from San Diego Comic-Con 2025.
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