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'King of the Hill' showrunner discusses diversifying reboot cast: 'The world has changed'
Reboot showrunner Saladin K. Patterson discussed the new cast with original series creators Mike Judge and Greg Daniels at San Diego Comic-Con 2025.
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."
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