A 'King of the Hill’ Cast Becomes An Emotional Reminiscence About the Late Johnny Hardwick
There were a few notable absences at tonight’s King of the Hill at the ATX TV Festival. Stephen Root (who voices Bill) was at work on another unnamed project — that’s according to ist Toby Huss, who is co-starring with him in it. Kathy Najimy (who voices Peggy) was described with glowing compliments for her work, but we didn’t find out why she sat this one out; if she just wanted to avoid the revolting early-summer Austin weather, that’s reason enough.
Then there are the performers we’ve lost since the show’s former series finale back in 2009: Brittany Murphy (Luanne), Tom Petty (Luanne’s husband Lucky) and Johnny Hardwick (who both voiced Dale and wrote on the show). Hardwick’s death, in 2023, still seems to be fresh in his colleagues’ minds, based on the frequency with which he was mentioned, and the emotion his memory evoked.
Earlier today, Variety pre-empted what could have been an exciting announcement at the : In the show’s forthcoming 14th season, Huss will be taking over the role of Dale. As JM McNab notes in his post, Huss had originally voiced both Hank’s father Cotton and next-door neighbor Khan, but since Cotton died before the end of the original series run and Khan will be voiced by Ronny Chieng going forward, fans didn’t know until today whether Huss would be part of the imminent 14th season. Co-creator Mike Judge (who also voices Hank) was quick to note that it won’t be for the whole season: Hardwick will be heard in the six episodes he recorded before his death.
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When Michael Schneider of Variety mentioned the news for anyone who had missed it earlier, Huss recalled his late co-star warmly. “He was one of a kind,” said Huss, audibly choking up. “He was a wonderful weirdo,” and would make vocal choices that impressed Huss and left him marveling, “Where did he get that?”
Huss wasn’t the only one with memories of Hardwick to share. Co-creator Greg Daniels ed that, as a writer from New York City writing on a show set in Texas — Pace Picante’s famous disdain for his hometown ringing in his ears — it was important for him to ensure that the show was authentically Texan. Naturally, that included hiring as many Texan writers as he could, but Daniels said he and Judge brought their writers to visit Texas and learn about local culture; Daniels even distributed reporters’ notebooks, which were quickly dubbed “suck-up pads.” Judge recalled that one field trip brought them to a gun show, where Hardwick snapped a photo for reference later. A paranoid patron ordered him in no uncertain to destroy it, and “cops got involved,” Judge said. “That sort of inspired Dale.”
Though Dale will, inevitably, not sound exactly the same as he did during the show’s first run, fans can rest assured that the role has been handed on to an actor who takes the silliness seriously. Turning to Judge and Daniels, Huss said that knowing they trusted him to take on the role is “really humbling,” and told the audience he intends to “hold on to that Daleness.”
If you hurry, you can buy an orange Mack trucker hat to hold on to that Daleness at your own premiere viewing party August 4th.
