King of the Hill has made a major change for Hank’s future with its Season 15 finale, and the showrunner behind it all teased ComicBook about what this promotion means for Hank in future seasons. King of the Hill has finally returned for a new season of its very successful revival season with Hulu, and it finally delivers on something fans had been curious about during the first season. It’s finally gone back and revealed why Hank and Peggy ultimately went to Saudi Arabia in the first place. But Hank’s not done with Strickland Propane.
King of the Hill Season 15 ends with an episode that reveals what actually led Hank to leave Strickland Propane and move to Saudi Arabia in the years before the start of the revival series. But it ends with an even bigger move for its future as Hank has now become the owner and manager for Strickland Propane moving forward. Speaking to ComicBook, King of the Hill showrunner Saladin Patterson explained what this actually means for Hank’s future now that he’s working again in this manner.
When asked whether or not this origin story for King of the Hill’s time skip was something they had planned from the start of the revival, Patterson explained that this actually came up more organically as they started working through the latest season, “It’s something that organically came out of us just exploring story areas and exploring what these characters would be experiencing, what they would be challenged by, and what they would be missing.”
But also the team was cognizant of the kinds of nostalgic elements that fans wanted to see more of in the revival like Strickland Propane. Wanting to not only satisfy that nostalgia but “staying true” to the fact that it’s currently a “different version of the show,” the team felt like there was “no harm” in exploring this story, “As much as we are in new phases in life, sometimes life comes back in full circle, and what would that look like for Hank?” Then it became more of the question of what new point of view they could give Hank for the revival.
That’s how they landed on the idea of Hank being the new owner and manager of Strickland Propane, “We established that he had done well financially. And so it’s like, ‘Okay, what do you do with that? How do you satisfy your human and life needs if you have access to this. I was like, ‘Oh, maybe he applies it back to Strickland?’”
But with Hank working at Strickland again, thankfully it doesn’t mean he’s going to have less time with the guys and their shenanigans in his off time. He’s going to have to balance both moving forward, “You will not miss any alley guy shenanigans. If anything, there’s just the added complication now of Hank has to be involved in those things, and shenanigans at work.” Revealing that writing has already been completed on King of the Hill Season 16, Patterson teased Hank’s life getting more chaotic.
“We also have figured out ways to bring work to the alley, that I won’t necessarily spoil now, but you know, that was something that we thought was important as well.” King of the Hill‘s team is exploring a new version of the series where Hank is more adjusting to his new life, and this change in direction is certainly going to bring him to a new place moving forward in the future too. You can now catch up with King of the Hill’s revival now streaming with Hulu.
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