The ‘King of the Hill’ Revival Didn’t Mention Luanne Once
Of all the recasts and returning guest stars in Hulu’s revival of King of the Hill, the late, great Brittany Murphy and her character Luanne Platter didn’t get so much as a mention in the new season, and that deserves a round of applause.
Back in December 2009, just a few months before King of the Hill would end its original 13 seasons on linear television, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a medical request at Murphy’s house and found the TV and film star unresponsive. Murphy died that night from cardiac arrest, devastating the King of the Hill fandom and casting a pall over the final four episodes of the series’ Fox run.
For the last 15-plus years, Murphy’s tragic demise has been an inextricable part of the show’s legacy, complicating the feelings of King of the Hill fans toward that last season and leaving us with a feeling of un-resolution toward the series’ original finale.
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Today, the Hill family is back after its extended hiatus with an aged-up new season that brings Arlen into 2025 and revitalizes our connection to the immaculately crafted animated world, but a certain well-meaning, proudly ignorant niece and her layabout husband didn’t join Hank, Peggy and Bobby in their journey to the modern day. And, frankly, that’s the only way Hulu’s King of the Hill could have possibly respected the memories of Murphy and Tom Petty.
Sadly, tragedy has become a running theme for King of the Hill behind the scenes — legendary voice actor Johnny Hardwick passed away halfway through recording the lines for Dale Gribble in the new season, and Jonathan Joss’ murder just a few months ago further shocked the show’s family and fandom. The revival series features end-of-episode tributes to both Hardwick and Joss, but, otherwise, Dale and John Redcorn go about their in-universe lives unaffected by the tragic losses of their voice actors.
While some fans may interpret the lack of in-universe explanations for the losses of Murphy, Joss and other late members of the King of the Hill family as callous and ungrateful, the simple fact of the matter is that no throwaway line or closing frame can properly express the complexities of these tragedies, and any attempt to provide fans closure for these dearly missed artists wouldn’t be in service of these actors’ lasting legacies. Murphy’s death is already too closely associated with the show’s original finale, and King of the Hill already dedicated one of the episodes from the final season to her memory — providing some canonical explanation for Luanne’s absence would just be poor taste.
Shortly before the premiere of the King of the Hill revival, showrunner Saladin K. Patternson explained his decision not to include Luanne and Lucky in the new season to IGN, saying, “The analogy I use as a sports fan is, sometimes the best way to honor someone’s work is to hang their jersey up in the rafters as a show of respect and what they meant to the organization.”
As such, any flippant remark from Peggy about how Luanne is off in Houston shooting a pilot for Manger Babies or something equally shallow would have undercut the respect the series has for Murphy and her legacy.
Sometimes, a death is too tragic and too sensitive for a sitcom to do it justice. In these cases, when you can’t find the words to express the gravity of the loss, it’s better to just say nothing at all.
