King of the Hill fan favorite Kahn may not return for the upcoming revival. During an interview with TV Line, Greg Daniels, who co-created the hit animated series with Mike Judge, revealed he’s unsure whether Hank Hill’s next-door nemesis will be back.
“[I’m] not sure whether Kahn’s coming back,” he said. “But I think we would most likely replace Toby’s voice for Kahn. Like, if we were casting today, we wouldn’t have cast him. But we cast it in 1997.”
Kahn was originally voiced by white voice actor Toby Huss, which would be more than a little problematic these days. After all, The Simpsons put a stop to Hank Azaria’s tenure as Apu with the actor last voicing the character back in 2017.
“Most animation casts play multiple roles,” explained Daniels. “Toby Huss initially played [Hank’s father] Cotton Hill and was cast for that, and then Kahn came up later. And most productions, especially back then, didn’t have the budget to hire a special performer for each voice. But it’s different now.”
Unfortunately, there’s no hint whether or not Kahn will simply not appear in the revival or whether he’ll eventually end up being voiced by someone else. It certainly wouldn’t be the only character to get a different voice actor, after Luanna voice actress Britanny Murphy died in 2009.
As for when we can expect the upcoming revival back on our screens, TVLine said a premiere date hasn’t yet been set. In fact, they’re still working on the scripts. “[We’re] rewriting the third episode or the fourth episode and getting notes on the first episode,” said Daniels. “Yeah, it’s chugging along.” He also said the revival likely won’t hit Hulu until at least 2025.
IGN’s King of the Hill 200th Episode review gave it 8/10 and said: “It is rather remarkable that King of the Hill has made it to 200 episodes, since it's been under the radar for so long, never getting the media attention of shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park. Those series all have a broader tone, and perhaps bigger laughs. But King of the Hill has made a special niche for itself, and it's still great to have dependable Hank Hill and his family around to see how life in their particular neighborhood is.”
Want to read more about King of the Hill? Check out how Dale may still return in the new series and find out more about the upcoming season’s time jump.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
