27 Years Ago, King of the Hill Finally Made an Iconic Texas Actor Part of the Cast (He Needs to Come Back)

February 10, 2026, 9:00am

King of the Hill made a name for itself in the animation space by not only being a series that was more concerned with semi-realistic storylines like sitcoms, rather than the limitless nature that preoccupied other cartoons. This is clear from the very first episode, when Bobby gets a black eye from a baseball, which coincides with Hank having an outburst in public and triggers an investigation by Child Protective Services. It was the most enduring aspect of the narratives in King of the Hill, which was only accented by the beloved characters that made up its cast.

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As the Texas-set series began to grow in popularity, though, it was able to use that appeal to bring in celebrities for surprise appearances, either lending their voice to the show as themselves or taking on the role of a new character. Eventually, this reached its absolute peak when Grammy Award-winning musician Tom Petty became a regular cast member, voicing Lucky for 29 episodes across a major storyline. This week, though, marks the anniversary of another major guest star, a fellow native Texan whose voice appeared briefly but left a mark when none other than Matthew McConaughey became a King of the Hill character.

King of the Hill Finally Brings In Matthew McConaughey

27 years ago this week, on February 9, 1999, the fourteenth episode of King of the Hill Season 3 aired with “The Wedding of Bobby Hill.” The start of the episode is one that has a pretty distinct sitcom premise: Boomhauer is going out of town, so Hank wants to teach Bobby some responsibility by having him take care of their neighbor’s home while he’s away (Boomhauer is leaving to meet a woman he met on the internet). At the same time, Luanne is cutting hair at the Arlen Beauty Academy for a man named Rad Thibodeaux (which he pronounces “Thib-uh-day-ox” rather than “Tib-uh-dough”) and who happens to have the sultry tones of none other than Mr. McConaughey.

Very quickly, it becomes clear that Rad is a smooth talker who uses this ability to simply drift through life and get whatever he wants out of people, specifically targeting anyone that is easily impressed, something that he exploits quickly after chatting up Luanne for just a few minutes. Things move fast between Rad and Luanne, who begins hanging out with him a lot, even at home, where he quickly impresses Bobby Hill with his chatter and even, very briefly, Hank, who quickly sees through him, especially the pronunciation of his name.

At the time of this episode, Matthew McConaughey’s career hadn’t fully formed into the rom-com icon he would become, which itself would give way to the “McConaissance,” where he rebuilt his image and took on more challenging roles. By this point, though, he’d already appeared in Dazed and Confused and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, two major feats for the Texas-born actor, plus roles in A Time to Kill, Contact, and Amistad (with EdTV premiering just weeks later). Funny enough, Matthew McConaughey is out of the episode by the end of the first act break, as the episode itself is largely about a prank war between Luanne and Bobby that goes a little too far, spurred by Rad using Boomhauer’s empty house to throw a party, getting them both in trouble with Hank.

King of the Hill’s Guest Stars Are Unbeatable

Before Matthew McConaughey made his debut in King of the Hill, the series had already gone through its fair share of guest stars, though initially bringing them in to voice themselves, including the likes of Dennis Hopper, Willie Nelson, and, who else, Chuck Mangione. The second season of the series is when King of the Hill started hiring famous voices to play characters, tapping the likes of Wallace Shawn, Burt Reynolds, Carl Reiner, and Jennifer Jason Leigh to appear for an episode. McConaughey getting his time in the spotlight in Season 3 made him an early participant in the series.

King of the Hill would continue this trend through its original run, mixing the voices that famous performers would bring to the series with either original characters or them appearing as themselves. The Season 4 episode “Peggy’s Fan Fair” is perhaps the best example of this as the family attends a Nashville music festival with a slew of Country music artists appearing as themselves, like Brooks and Dunn, Charlie Daniels, Vince Gill, Wynonna Judd, and Randy Travis.

The most recent season of King of the Hill, the Season 14 revival that moved the calendar ahead by a decade, was largely without major guest stars. Luckily for fans of the series, there are already three more seasons in the pipeline, meaning that celebrity cameos and even all-new characters with familiar voices could return. Who knows, maybe even Rad Thibodeaux will return, having not changed in the slightest in ten years.