King of the Hill Revival Breaks Hearts With One Missing Character (& It’s Not Who You Think)

There’s one character who is conspicuously absent from King of the Hill’s new revival series so far, and there’s likely a heartbreaking reason behind their absence. King of the Hill is coming back with a new season of episodes nearly 20 years after the original show came to an end, and Arlen has changed a lot in that span of time. Due to the time skip seen in the first promotional materials for the new revival, it’s made clear that it’s been at least a decade of time leading into the new King of the Hill episodes with how much characters like Bobby have aged.

King of the Hill will naturally also change its core cast with the new series given all of the changes behind the scenes, but there’s one absence that is heartbreakingly apparent so far as Hank’s dog Ladybird is nowhere to be found. She was prominently seen in the opening for the original show, but unfortunately is not spotted in the new opening for the revival. When added to some of the new things Hank is up to leading into the revival, and it really hammers home that Ladybird has likely died and will not be seen in the new episodes.

Is Ladybird in King of the Hill Revival?

Ladybird is likely not going to be seen in the new King of the Hill revival series maybe outside of a brief mention or photo. Through details revealed about Bobby and some of the other characters, it has been confirmed that it’s been nearly a decade of events since the original show. This timeline unfortunately all lines up for a rather heartbreaking reveal in the new revival series. Ladybird was already a very old dog in the original, so it sadly does make sense that she would not have survived the near decade of time since those events.

What also seems to unfortunately prove this is the fact that Hank and Peggy have also been spending the last eight years living in Saudi Arabia. Hank has been working a special propane job to save up for retirement, and had to move out of the country to do so. It’s already wild to consider Hank would leave the country for that long (unless it was something spurred on by Buck Strickland, whose survival has also yet to be confirmed), and especially so if it meant leaving Ladybird for that long too.

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What Will Hank Be Like Without Ladybird?

Hank’s connection with Ladybird in the original King of the Hill was not only one of his most emotional, but it was also one of the most hilarious. Hank loved his dog like no other real person in his life, and went to great lengths to make sure she was happy. He was already coming to terms with her older age in the later seasons of the original, but it seems like Hank has had to deal with this loss in the time since. Which also could have ushered in his move to Saudi Arabia in an emotional sense too.

King of the Hill’s revival is teasing that Hank and Peggy are returning to a much different Arlen than they knew when they left, and that includes Ladybird as well. Hank’s not going to have this central figure in his life while all of this new change continues to happen around him, so it’s a matter of seeing how Hank deals with all of these new changes in the coming series. That’s always been the emotional core of the show, but it’s going to hit that much harder now when the new episodes premiere with Hulu on August 4th.