One King Rules Forever: King of the Hill returns (and it’s a good way to kill time during today’s WoW maintenance)

With today’s eight hour downtime due to WoW patch 11.2, now is the perfect time to take in the return of the king — King of the Hill that is. King of the Hill has returned after 15 years as an exclusive series with all 10 episodes of season 14 now on Hulu and Disney+.  When the original series ended, we were still fighting Arthas in Icecrown Citadel, but now it is back… and we are still fighting Arthas waiting for Invincible to drop.

Picking up 10 years after the original series ended — the show is set in modern time, but characters have only aged 10 years as opposed to the 15 that have passed — we see the newly retired Hank and Peggy Hill returning to Arleen after years away for Hank’s new job. A fair bit of the series is Hank and Peggy getting used to the new way of life at home in a home that has passed them by. Boomhauer is married with a step-son, Bill has become a shut in, and Dale… well, Dale is still Dale. Even Bobby has moved on and owns his own Japanese-German barbecue restaurant in Dallas. The series feels like checking in with old friends at a reunion and seeing how life turned out for them.

While the revival is hilarious, it is bittersweet, and in some places you can really feel the time that has passed. Johnny Hardwick passed away in 2023 suddenly and was only able to record half the episodes as Dale. Johnathan Joss — the voice of John Redcorn — was brutally murdered earlier this year. Both actors receive a tribute for their respective final episodes. Chuck Mangione, who passed away just last week, has a visual cameo. Luanne, voiced by the late Brittney Murphy, and her husband Lucky, voiced by the late Tom Petty, only have cameos in picture frames. Toby Huss, the voice of Cotton Hill in the original series, takes over for Dale in the remaining episodes.

With 10 30-minute episodes, you can watch the entire season in the expected Warcraft downtime. King of the Hill season 14 is available on Hulu, which also means it is on Disney+.