'King of the Hill' showrunner discusses diversifying reboot cast: 'The world has changed'
The creative minds behind the King of the Hill reboot are excited to introduce fans to "some new people" that've joined the family.
The whip-smart animated sitcom chronicling the suburban exploits of the Hill family and their friends and neighbors in the fictional small town of Arlen, Tex., is returning after 15 long years off the air. During a Friday panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, showrunner Saladin K. Patterson, original series creators Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, and returning stars Pamela Adlon, Lauren Tom, Toby Huss, and Kathy Najimy discussed their return to Arlen, including some of its brand new residents.
"It was important in the show, the world has changed a little bit since Hank and Peggy have been gone," Patterson said. "Casting has changed a little bit too since Hank and Peggy have been gone, as far as, actors fit the characters that they're portraying."
The King of the Hill panel began with a screening of the full second episode of the new season. While some things about the Hills, the alley gang, the residents of Rainey street, and the world around them are comfortingly familiar, there are plenty of fresh new additions. And tweaks too — King of the Hill season 14 not only introduces new characters, but recasts the voices behind several characters of color.
The most exciting new addition to the King of the Hill cast is the legendary Keith David, who plays a character named Brian Robertson. Brian moved into the Hill house while Hank (Judge) and Peggy (Najimy) decamped for Saudi Arabia on an Aramco project during the show's hiatus.
The Hills have not only moved back to Arlen, but into their old house, and Brian's happy to join Hank, Dale (Johnny Hardwick/Toby Huss), Boomhauer (Judge), and Bill Dauterive (Stephen Root) during the alley gang's alley hangs.
Though it was always savvily written along cultural lines and already boasted a cast of characters from a diverse array of backgrounds, King of the Hill was criticized during its original run for casting several white actors to voice characters of color.
The reboot recasts several of these characters, with Kenneth Choi taking over for Huss as the voice of Laotian-American businessman Ted Wassanasong, Ki Hong Lee replacing Adlon as his boastful son, Chane, Ronny Chieng relieving Huss of the role as Kohng Koy "Kahn" Souphanousinphone, the Hills' Laotian-American next door neighbor, and Native American actor Tai Leclaire taking over the role of Bobby's friend Joseph Gribble from Breckin Meyer, who himself took over for Brittany Murphy in 2000.
Patterson enthused that the reboot's creative team "got very lucky in being able to have so many people who were big fans of the show, like Ronnie Chieng, who grew up watching the show. He was a fan of it and came and joined us.""Such a natural Kahn," Daniels added. Patterson said that the switch-ups have "been really fun. That's added to some of the excitement, the family feeling, just inviting some new people to the family."
Check out more of .
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Geek Tyrant
14 minutes ago
- Geek Tyrant
THE BOYS Final Season Comic-Con Footage Reveals Homelander's 'Safer, God-Fearing Nation' — GeekTyrant
The Boys made sure to leave its mark at San Diego Comic-Con, capping off the Gen V panel with the very first teaser for its fifth and final season. Shown to fans in Ballroom 20, the teaser didn't waste a second serving up bloody chaos, shocking moments, and some big surprises that the fans loved. The footage was a rapid-fire glimpse into the carnage we've come to expect. Among the standout moments: a mysterious new supe vomiting what looked like a bloody hairball onto someone else, and a gruesome scene involving a violent explosion inside a bathroom stall. So, it's still very much The Boys we know and love, unapologetically brutal and darkly hilarious. One of the more crazier moments came from Antony Starr's Homelander. In the teaser's most chilling line, he declares, 'This is a safer, more god-fearing nation,' his voice echoing like a sermon to an unseen crowd. After the events of Season 4, Homelander's grip on America has only tightened. He's essentially the power behind the White House now, the country is under martial law, and those who refuse to 'make America super again' are being hunted, including Butcher and his crew. Fans also got a few unexpected cameos. Seth Rogen, an executive producer on the series, pops up once again. Then Supernatural 's Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins also both make appearances in quick shots. This marks yet another reunion for showrunner Eric Kripke, who previously brought Jensen Ackles ( Soldier Boy ) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Joe Kessler) into the fold. Longtime Supernatural fans have been begging for more of their favorites to join The Boys, and Kripke delivered. At least one familiar face from Gen V makes the leap, with London Thor's Jordan Li spotted in the footage. That crossover shouldn't surprise anyone, given that Gen V characters Maddie Phillips and Asa Germann showed up in Season 4's finale as Homelander loyalists. The synergy between the two shows continues this fall when The Boys stars Erin Moriarty and Chace Crawford appear in Gen V Season 2. Returning cast members for this final chapter include Jack Quaid, Karl Urban, Jessie T. Usher, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara, Laz Alonso, Nathan Mitchell, Colby Minifie, Cameron Crovetti, Susan Heyward, and Valorie Curry. New faces joining the chaos are Daveed Diggs and Paul Reiser. As for Seth Rogen's role? That remains to be seen, but given his track record of stealing scenes, fans are ready for whatever he brings. The endgame for The Boys is coming, but it's not arriving tomorrow. The fifth and final season will premiere sometime in 2026 on Prime Video.
Forbes
15 minutes ago
- Forbes
Ryan Coogler's ‘Sinners' Ends Theatrical Run. How Much Did It Make?
Michael B. Jordan plays twins in "Sinners." Warner Bros. Pictures Sinners , Ryan Coogler's hit vampire thriller starring Michael B. Jordan, has ended its run in theaters. How much did the film make at the box office? Written and directed by Coogler, Sinners opened in theaters on April 18 before debuting on digital streaming on June 3 and HBO Max on July 4. The logline for Sinners reads, 'Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.' Forbes 'Happy Gilmore 2' Rotten Tomatoes Reviews: Does Sandler Sequel Make Critics Happy? By Tim Lammers Set in 1932, Sinners stars Jordan as the twin brothers, Smoke and Stack. The film also stars Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O'Connell, Wumni Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller and Delroy Lindo. Sinners last day in North American theaters was July 17, when it made $8,094 from 68 venues to bring its final domestic box office total to $278,578,513, according to The Numbers . Combined with the film's international ticket sales of $87,296,205, the film earned $365,874,718 at the worldwide box office during its theatrical run. A Warner Bros. production, Sinners had a production budget of $90 million and spent somewhere between $50 million to $60 million on marketing worldwide, Variety reported in April. Forbes 'South Park' Season 27 Media Reactions To The Donald Trump Episode By Tim Lammers Variety reported that since theatrical exhibitors typically keep 50% of the box office tally, Sinners would need to make somewhere between $200 million to $225 million to break even in theaters, citing 'knowledgeable sources.' Since Sinners made $365.8 million globally, Warner Bros. has plenty of reasons to celebrate the success of the film on the big screen. Since Sinners was a big hit in theaters, the next question, obviously, is whether Warner Bros. and Ryan Coogler are planning for a sequel. After, all, the Sinners' end- and post-credits scenes reveal that the story continues for three major characters 60 years after the events of the film. While Coogler has directed sequels before for Black Panther and Creed , the filmmaker told Ebony Magazine in an article published April 15 — three days before the release of Sinners in theaters — that he intended for Sinners' story to be told in one film and nothing more. Forbes Horror Thriller '28 Years Later' Gets Streaming Date, Report Says By Tim Lammers 'I've been in a space of making franchise films for a bit, so I wanted to get away from that,' Coogler told Ebony Magazine . 'I was looking forward to working on a film that felt original and personal to me and had an appetite for delivering something to audiences that was original and unique. 'I wanted the movie to feel like a full meal: your appetizers, starters, entrees and desserts, I wanted all of it there,' Coogler added. 'I wanted it to be a holistic and finished thing. That was how I was asked all about it. That was always my intention.' Forbes 'South Park' Season 27 Release Schedule For Episodes On Streaming And Cable By Tim Lammers In additon to being a big hit in theaters, Sinners was a big hit with Rotten Tomatoes critics, who collectively gave the film a 97% 'fresh' rating based on 401 reviews. The film also received a 96% 'fresh' Popcornmeter score on RT based on 25,000-plus verified user ratings. For viewers who missed Sinners in theaters, the film is available on digital streaming and HBO Max. Forbes 'Fantastic Four: First Steps' Defying Projections At Weekend Box Office By Tim Lammers
Associated Press
15 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Company involved in Coldplay KissCam drama hires Gwyneth Paltrow as spokesperson
BOSTON (AP) — Astronomer — the company whose CEO resigned after being caught on a KissCam at a Coldplay rock concert embracing a woman who was not his wife — is trying to move on from the drama with someone who knows the band pretty well. Actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who was married to Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin for 13 years, announced Friday on X that she has been hired by Astronomer as a spokesperson. Astronomer, a tech company based in New York, found itself in an uncomfortable spotlight when two of its executives were caught on camera in an intimate embrace at a Coldplay concert — a moment that was then flashed on a giant screen in the stadium. CEO Andy Byron and human resource executive Kristin Cabot were caught by surprise when Martin asked the cameras to scan the crowd during a concert earlier this month. 'Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy,' Martin joked when the couple appeared on screen and quickly tried to hide their faces. In a short video, the 'Shakespeare in Love' and 'Ironman' star said she had been hired as a 'very temporary' spokesperson for Astronomer. 'Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days and they wanted me to answer the most common ones,' Paltrow said, smiling and deftly avoiding mention of the KissCam fuss. 'We've been thrilled that so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation,' she said. 'We will now be returning to what we do best — delivering game-changing results for our customers.' When footage from the KissCam first spread online, it wasn't immediately clear who the couple were. Soon after the company identified the pair, and Byron resigned followed by Cabot. The video clip resulted in a steady stream of memes, parody videos and screenshots of the pair's shocked faces filling social media feeds. Online streams of Coldplay's songs jumped 20% in the days after the video went viral, according to Luminate, an industry data and analytics company.
