This summer, King of the Hill is set to return to Hulu for its fifteenth season, once again focusing on the older iteration of the Hill family. The previous season, season fourteen, highlighted how things had changed for Hank, Peggy, and Bobby during their time in Saudi Arabia, returning to an America that was quite different from the country they once knew. Despite having the opportunity to see quite a few supporting characters make a comeback, there are still plenty of figures that we have yet to return to King of the Hill proper. Here are three animated characters we’re dying to see return.
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3.) Jimmy Wichard
King of the Hill isn’t exactly a series that is filled with “villains,” but if there was any character that fit the bill, it would be Jimmy Wichard. Wichard was one of the rare characters from the series that viewers would “love to hate,” thanks in part to having a destructive attitude while caring for no one outside of himself. When he was Bobby Hill’s boss in the second season episode, “Life in the Fast Lane, Bobby’s Saga,” Wichard nearly killed Hank’s son by demanding Bobby pop over the fence of an active NASCAR race. The last time we saw Jimmy in action was in the thirteenth season, which originally aired in 2010. Having no part to play in the fourteenth season, Jimmy Wichard has been absent for over fifteen years at this point, and the revival could certainly use a familiar villain to mix things up in Arlen as the Hills continue to find their place in this brave new world.
2.) Luanne & Lucky
We couldn’t help but cheat when it came to having Luanne and Lucky take up one spot, considering the couple has long been a part of the franchise. Tragically, both the voice actors, Tom Petty and Brittney Murphy, passed away before the revival took place on Hulu. While it’s still uncertain whether we will see the characters return via new voice actors, even a brief glimpse into Lucky and Luanne’s lives would be a welcome story beat for many longtime King of the Hill fans. To date, the creators have been tight-lipped regarding what ever happened to the loving couple. Earlier this year, series showrunner Saladin Patterson hinted at a potential tribute to these characters, “It didn’t seem right to recast certain characters. I don’t want to spoil anything, but (we) figured out other ways in the storytelling to honor those characters.” Nothing has been confirmed for season fifteen regarding a potential Lucky and Luanne return, though there have been signs that we might not have seen the last of them.
1.) Ladybird
One of the most surprising characters that wasn’t referenced in King of the Hill’s fourteenth season was Ladybird, Hank’s beloved hound, who was routinely thought of in higher esteem by the patriarch of the family than the rest of his loved ones. To start, it’s a fairly safe bet that, considering Ladybird didn’t appear in the previous season, the beloved pooch is no longer amongst the land of the living. When last we saw the hound, she was clearly in her elder years, and while she did have some health scares throughout the thirteen seasons, she survived the original series finale. If nothing else, King of the Hill should at least confirm that Ladybird is no longer alive, hopefully putting a cap on the fate of Hank’s best friend. Ladybird didn’t have a voice actor attached to her, for obvious reasons, so hopefully fans of the long-running animated series might get a flashback to truly learn what happened to the good girl that remained a faithful friend to Hank.
What do you think of these long-lost King of the Hill characters who need a comeback? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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Courtesy of 20th Television Animation / Hulu
