It looked like Fox was going to give the cartoon series King of the Hill a second chance at fame, but recent rumours indicate that the show has met an untimely end at the network. Given that co-creator Mike Judge had just recently voiced hope that the programme will return, this latest development comes as something of a shock. His remarks had attracted the interest of viewers, who promptly began speculating about what would happen to the show’s protagonist, the ever-stoic Texan family man Hank Hill. Fox’s decision to cancel King of the Hill was made with the network’s long-term economic strategy for the animation division in mind.
Though Michael Thorn, president of Fox Entertainment, told The Hollywood Reporter that the resurrection is in the works, “We love that crew, and we love that programme,” he said, expressing his appreciation for the show’s creators and Fox’s decision to not renew their contract. Naturally, this is a part of the tradition of animation in our culture. He did, however, remark that Fox was planning to put more effort into creating “new hallmark animated programmes, in addition to our great classic series. Thorn continued his analysis of Fox’s choice to cancel the King of the Hill revival by saying; “We’re really focused on what are the new shows that we have a significant ownership stake in, and if not outright own 100 per cent of it, that we believe can creatively break out.
And there’s really no way for us to have a financial investment in a show like King of the Hill, which we like. Due to the importance of ownership in ensuring the continued success of animated programmes, this is not a decision we can make as we develop our next generation of cartoons. Fox may have shown the cartoon series throughout its original run, but the show’s creators, Judge and Greg Daniels have retained all rights to the show. Bandera Entertainment, which Judge and Daniels co-founded, is an animation studio under which they’ve gathered all of their previous projects. Considering Fox’s decision to cancel the show, it’s possible that the creators were unwilling to share ownership rights with the network.
Plans to bring back King of the Hill have been discussed since 2017, but the project has yet to get off the ground. It doesn’t look like things are hopeless, though, as the creators are more committed than ever to get the show on the air. At Comic-Con in July, Judge was asked about the show’s potential return, and he said, “King of the Hill has a very strong possibility of coming back.” Judging by the track record of Judge’s Banderas Entertainment, which has produced shows including Bad Crimes for Netflix, Praise Petey for Freeform, and Chelm: The Smartest Place on Earth for HBO Max, we shouldn’t be surprised if the revival moves to stream.