A brand new season of King of the Hill is out in the wild, and now we have an exclusive, never-before-seen look at some of the concept art from the beloved series. As you can see from the images below, fan-favorite character Bobby Hill has gone through quite an evolution in the 15 years since we last visited Arlen.
The first image shows Bobby (voiced by Pamela Adlon), now 21, all grown up in the uniform he wears at Robata Chane, the German-Japanese fusion restaurant in Dallas where he works as the executive chef. The second image is actually a bit of a precursor to the first, showing 13-year-old Bobby in a hard hat and goggles from when he participated in a meat inspection competition during the series' original finale “To Sirloin, With Love.”
King of the Hill’s Executive Producer and Co-Creator Greg Daniels spoke with IGN about how aging up Bobby was essential to making the new season resonate with fans.
Bobby Hill was the most difficult character to create in the new season of King of the Hill
“Bobby was the most important and so the most difficult (character to age up),” Daniels says. “We tried different hairstyles, beard/goatee looks, earrings, how muscular he became, etc. We did the same with Joseph and Connie and Chane, but the Bobby character was so essential that we explored a lot more options before settling on his 2025 (look).
“Mike (Judge) and I had worked out what his life and friends were like in the present day as well as what the adults were up to,” Daniels continues. “We had the brilliant Wes Archer back on board as the supervising director and Mike brought in a talented illustrator named Songgu Kwon that he worked with on Beavis and Butt-head to do a lot of concept drawings.”
How King of the Hill compares to The Office spin-off The Paper
In addition to the new season of King of the Hill, Daniels also co-created the Office spin-off The Paper, which debuts on Peacock September 4th, 2025. He says that while the shows are inherently different, they share some of the same DNA.
“(The new season of) King of the Hill was almost all pre-existing characters with a couple new ones, Daniels says. “The Paper is all new characters with Oscar. With both shows, the most important thing is getting the tone right. The tones are similar in my head — I brought most of the touchstones I developed at King of the Hill to The Office in terms of small, real, relatable and observational storytelling, with a lot of twists and turns and three act structure. Each has a cast of decent ordinary Americans but King of the HIll is a family show and the emotion comes mostly out of father-son relationships or husband-wife, or the guys in the alley who’ve known each other since they were kids. The Office and The Paper are workplace comedies, so the relationships are between co-workers and friends, peers and lovers.
King of the Hill Co-creator explains why Hank Hill watches Fox News
In the premiere episode of Season 14, Hank HIll admits to his friends that while living in Saudi Arabia, he watched some CNN, but only during Fox News commercial breaks. Daniels says that Hank’s conservative upbringing is a key factor in his narrative arc.
“Hank always had a lot of cultural conservatism from his upbringing,” Daniels says. “The show has a lot of storylines about him bumping into modern life and having to make compromises and try new things, but we want to always laugh with him (and) not at him, and get the details of his life right. It felt in 1997 (when King of the Hill premiered) like there was a red state- blue state culture gap that we could write about and try to find ways to bridge, and with social media algorithms we are only more polarized and in need of that now.”
Why King of the Hill’s creators decided to send Hank and Peggy to Saudi Arabia
Between the events of the show’s original run and the new season, Hank and Peggy lived in Saudi Arabia for an extended period of. Daniels says the producers didn’t really consider any other places for the Hills to have moved and thought that the far-flung location would actually be appealing to some of Hank’s more traditional sensibilities.
“I know people who grew up on the giant Aramco bases in Saudi Arabia that are like perfect throwback Mayberry American towns for expats working in oil and gas,” Daniels says. “And it just seemed like a very plausible way to keep Hank and Peggy’s mindset back when we last saw them, so they can have a fresh reaction to the changes since the show went off the air. Putting him on the base, with glimpses of Saudi women modestly covered up from head to toe, was a way for him to be very comfortable and unchallenged for a spell. Mike and I used to say about Hank when the show began 'Andy Griffith’s back, and he’s pissed.'”
Season 14 of King of the Hill is now streaming on Hulu. Check out why we gave the revival a 10/10.
Michael Peyton is the Senior Editorial Director of Events & Entertainment at IGN, leading entertainment content and coverage of tentpole events including IGN Live, San Diego Comic Con, gamescom, and IGN Fan Fest. He's spent 20 years working in the games and entertainment industry, and his adventures have taken him everywhere from the Oscars to Japan to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Follow him on Bluesky @MichaelPeyton
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