When King of the Hill returned in 2025 after a 16-year hiatus, it was a spectacular, if not jarring, homecoming for one of the greatest animated series of all time. The characters that we had come to love over 13 seasons were suddenly back in our lives, aged up and facing new challenges big and small. They were the same Hank, Peggy, Bobby, Dale, Nancy, Boomhauer, Connie, Minh, Khan, and Bill that we\u2019d always known but they, like the rest, of us had evolved.<\/p>\n
Hank was semi-retired after he and Peggy spent years building a nest egg in Saudi Arabia. Bobby was the head chef at a Japanese-German fusion restaurant in Dallas. Connie was in college. Dale had served a stint as mayor of Arlen. Bill, well, he was still Bill.<\/p>\n
As that season progressed we moved past the excitement the new episodes provided and slowly sank into the warm bath of the King of the Hill we\u2019d always loved, even if the characters had changed and grown. If Season 14 was slightly burdened by being novel (Hank and Peggy moved to Saudi Arabia! Look at how much older Bobby is! Will we get answers about what happened to Lucky and Luanne?), Season 15 is completely unshackled from any need to explain, indulge, or prove anything to anyone, and stands as one of the most expertly crafted and profound seasons of television of the past 20 years.<\/p>\n
The show walks a tightrope of being one of the few animated series that actually allows its characters to change and grow while still feeding its audience a steady diet of what truly makes the series great — a beautiful, steady rhythm of slice-of-life stories and familiar characters that resonate episode after episode. <\/p>\n
In true King of the Hill fashion, every episode of Season 15 centers around a storyline that is instantly relatable: Hank is annoyed that someone keeps parking their electric truck in front of his house; Hank is frustrated that the toothpaste is locked up at Mega Lo Mart; Bobbie and Connie decide to \u201chard launch\u201d their relationship; Hank and Peggy get scammed; Dale raises chickens; Hank and Bobby visit a fan convention; Peggy experiences menopause; etc. Yet nothing ever feels tired or dull. The beautiful writing and expert voice acting are always hand-in-glove, so realistic and relatable that you often forget that you\u2019re watching a cartoon.<\/p>\n Mike Judge (Hank, Boomhauer) and Kathy Najimy (Peggy) are still at the top of their game after all this time. They deftly lean into their characters\u2019 golden years and breathe life into every \u201cyep\u201d and \u201cho-yeah!\u201d There\u2019s nothing particularly new that they\u2019re doing here, but their continued grasp of what are easily career-defining characters after nearly three decades is a testament to their incredible skill. Similarly, Pamela Adlon (Bobby), Stephen Root (Bill), Ashley Gardner (Nancy), Lauren Tom (Minh, Connie), and the rest of the cast continue to shine. Adlon and Tom in particular excel in aging up their two main characters in a nuanced way. Thanks in no small part to their performances, Season 15 lets us grow more comfortable with the grown-up versions of Connie and Bobby as Tom and Adlon transform them into distinct yet familiar versions of the characters we love.<\/p>\n Similarly Toby Huss, who took over voicing Dale Gribble from Johnny Hardwick, who passed away in 2023, has fully come into his own as the lead voice for one of the show\u2019s most iconic characters. In Season 14, Huss shared the role with Hardwick, but this season it’s fully his. I\u2019ll admit that it was originally a bit of a jolt to hear someone new voice Dale last year. But over the course of Season 15, Huss flawlessly performs the difficult task of paying homage to Hardwick\u2019s creation while making Dale fully his own.<\/p>\n Outside of the core group of characters, Season 15 is full of fan-favorites who we haven\u2019t seen in a while. Hank\u2019s Strickland Propane colleagues Joe Jack, Booda Sack, and Enrique come to Hank in a bind late in the season. Hank\u2019s propane nemesis M.F. Thatherton makes an appearance. Reverend Stroup shows up for an episode. Even ne’er-do-well Jimmy Wichard makes a cameo.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n