Does Nancy Love Dale? ‘King of the Hill’s Ashley Gardner Weighs In

For the first several seasons of King of the Hill’s original run, Dale Gribble’s wife Nancy was having an affair with her masseuse John Redcorn. It was also clear to everyone but Dale that his son Joseph wasn’t his own. In the show’s fourth season, however, Nancy’s relationship with Redcorn came to an end. 

That said, from what we’ve seen of Hulu’s King of the Hill revival so far, it seems Nancy may have gone back to John Redcorn, as suggested by a shot from the opening sequence of her getting into his Jeep.

Given that we’re just 24 hours away from said revival, I reached out to the woman who voices Nancy, Ashley Gardner, to ask if she thinks Nancy loves Dale or not and what it was like working with the man who played him, the late Johnny Hardwick.

How did you end up getting cast in King of the Hill to begin with?

I auditioned for Luanne, which Brittany Murphy ended up playing. I tested for the role, and later my manager called me and she was like, “You’re the first choice for the studio.” Then she called me back half an hour later and went, “You didn’t get it.” I said, “What happened to being the first choice for the studio?” and she said, “I guess you weren’t the first choice for the network.” 

I laid down on my living room floor and cried for a half hour, and a little while later, she called back again and said, “Hey, they would like to cast you as this character Nancy. She’s married to one of the regulars. Do you want to do it?” and I was like, “Yeah, sure, of course.”

In comparison, what was it like getting that more recent call about the show coming back?

I can’t say that I was extremely surprised because the fan base is really solid. And we were canceled before we were ready to go.

Oh, really?

I can’t quite speak to what happened, but we had a read-through one day and we were all sitting around the table. John Altschuler, who was the showrunner at the time, said, “Hey guys, I got a call from Fox yesterday. I thought they were calling to congratulate us on our Emmy nomination, but they called to tell me that we’re being canceled.” Everybody was just like, “This cannot be real.”

So is this kind of vindicating?

Yes, definitely.

I wanted to ask about the Season Four episode “Nancy Boys,” where Nancy ends her affair. Was there anything different about playing Nancy before and after that episode?

I was glad to see that storyline come to an end because it made Nancy kind of unlikable in some respects. I don’t mind playing an unlikable character, but it just didn’t really seem right and I think the writers started to feel that. They started to feel like, “Let’s go in a different direction.” So, I was happy to see that come to an end. I can’t say that there was a difference in playing Nancy after that, but you could feel the vibe between the characters changing.

What was it like back in the day recording with Johnny Hardwick?
He was such a goofball. Just really creative and funny and fun to be around. He always called me “Shug.” He also called me his second wife because he was married at the time. We had a great relationship. He was just a load of fun.

How similar was he to Dale? Because you hear that Dale was all him.

Johnny wasn’t a conspiracy theorist, but every now and then, he’d say something and I’d be like, “Johnny, what are you talking about?” So, there was some similarity in terms of the vibe between the character and him as a person.

When you came back for the revival, did you ever get a chance to record together?

No. We’d miss each other by like, half an hour. We’d hope to see each other in passing, which you often do, but no, I didn’t get to see him.

Do you want to talk about his passing?

It was just shocking. He’s greatly missed. I’m still very, very sad about it. There was a lot of crying. 

His funeral was in Austin, so for the rest of us — the cast and the writers and all of us — there was no closure. So I said, “I’m throwing a party for Johnny.” I threw a big party for him in my backyard, and everyone came. There were like 50, 60 people, and I made dinner myself. I made what I thought he’d like, and we were able to get up and talk. Everyone got a chance to speak if they wanted to. It was really soul-soothing. 

Last question: Does Nancy Love Dale?

Yes. She really, truly does.