King of the Hill will not return to Fox.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the revival of King of the Hill will not be returning to its original network, though co-creator Mike Judge confirmed that the animated series still "has a very good chance" of happening. "That’s not going to be with Fox," Fox Entertainment president Michael Thorn said. "We love that team, and we love that show. It’s obviously part of our animation legacy. But we’re really focusing on animation is launching the kind of the next wave of our signature animated series, while still having our great legacy shows."
It was revealed in January 2022 that King of the Hill co-creators Judge and Greg Daniels were in the early stages of development on a revival of the fan-favorite animated sitcom through their animation company, Bandera Entertainment. At the time, it was stated that the company would "rather keep the specifics under wraps for now." For the entire original run of King of the Hill from 1997 to 2009, the series was produced by 20th Century Fox TV which is now owned by Disney under the name 20th Century. According to Thorn, the reason the series won't return to Fox is that the network would prefer to partially or outright own any series that it airs.
King of the Hill Must Find a New Home
"We’re really focused on what are the new shows that we believe can creatively break out, that we also have a significant ownership stake in, and if not outright own 100 percent of it," Thorn said. "And on a show like King of the Hill, which we love, there’s really no opportunity for us to have an ownership stake in that show. It’s not a move that we can make as we grow out our next wave of animation, where ownership is so, so crucial to the long-running success of these series."
Created by Judge and Daniels, King of the Hill originally premiered on Fox in 1997 where it ran for 255 episodes across 13 seasons, before finally coming to an end in 2009. Four additional episodes of Season 13 were aired in 2010. The series followed the Hill family -- Hank (Judge), his wife Peggy (Kathy Najimy) and their son Bobby (Panela Adlon) -- and their small-town life in Arlen, Texas. Rumors of a potential King of the Hill revival have been circulating since 2017.
At the time of writing, it is unclear where a King of the Hill revival will air, though it does appear to still be in development. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim regained the rights to the series in 2021, where the original run of the series returned to syndication. Reruns of the show currently air on FXX and Adult Swim, and the series is available to stream in full on Hulu.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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