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King of the Hill is coming back later this Summer with a brand new series on Hulu, and with its new revival has raised some big questions about Bobby Hill’s future. The main core of the original series was largely focused on Hank Hill, a humble man living in the small town of Arlen, Texas reacting to the changing world around him. Most of this was through the lens of his 12 then 13 year old son, Bobby, who would be interested in things that were the complete opposite of what his father liked to spend his free time doing. It was that push and pull that made for the heart of the original.
Hank and his son Bobby didn’t always see eye to eye, and many of their stories together had Hank worrying about Bobby’s future. Bobby was interested in many kinds of things throughout the series like comedy and cooking, but the new King of the Hill revival has confirmed that Bobby has gotten a job as a chef in Dallas now that he’s become much older. So the main question heading into the new episodes is, what happened to Bobby that ultimately made him pursue cooking as his career? Thankfully, there are episodes that tease this path.
Did Bobby Give Up His Comedy Dream?
King of the Hill really put a divide between Hank and his son as Bobby clearly thought about things on a completely different kind of level than his father ever did. It’s not that Hank wasn’t open to new ideas in the same way Bobby was, it was just that Hank had a lot of trouble having the same kind of freedom of exploration that Bobby did. It meant that Bobby felt like he could pursue any kind of interest that he wanted. Even if Hank wasn’t always outright fond of what Bobby liked to do, he never quite went as far as to completely ridicule something Bobby was interested in. He just quietly hoped that Bobby would eventually be “right.”
In the original series we see Bobby pursue all kinds of endeavors as he tries to figure out what he likes. This even includes comedy, with some of the biggest examples showing Hank even supporting Bobby’s pursuit of this in certain parameters. For example, he allowed Bobby to enroll in a comedy class in college in the hopes that it would tire out Bobby’s humor. Or the time that he really fell in love with Bobby’s propane based humor (and even supported a full tour around Strickland Propane facilities at the time). So he might have quietly groaned, but as long as Bobby wasn’t hurting anyone, Hank was fine with his pursuits.
With this new King of the Hill series taking place at least eight years following the events of the original series (as Bobby is now in his 20s after ending the original series at around 13 years old), it means Bobby has gotten to a point in his life that he’s settling into some kind of groove. He could still experiment around with his flair for performance, but it’s likely that he’s gone on to pursue cooking as well. Because as star Pamela Adlon puts with her view of coming back to Bobby now that he’s an adult, Bobby was always a fully formed individual, “He was born a fully formed person. He was the Dalai Lama. He picked the thing. He got all the ladies…it’s almost like as an adult he’s become more centered and a little bit like his dad.”
What Does This Mean for Bobby?
If Bobby has indeed become a chef in Dallas, and maybe given up his pursuit of comedy, it also falls in line with what we’ve learned about Bobby from the original series. He always had a skill when it came to cooking as early on in episodes like the Thanksgiving special “Goodbye Normal Jeans” that showcased that even Hank approved of Bobby’s cooking from Home Economics class. But things took a turn for the chef side when Bobby started cooking together with Bill Dauterive (“Blood and Sauce”), and figuring out the secrets to the Dauterive Family barbecue recipes.
This is likely the biggest episode that sparked Bobby’s future career as a chef because it’s also been revealed that Bobby is a chef that cooks a fusion of German and Sushi techniques with barbecue (using charcoal, likely much to Hank’s chagrin). This episode got him interested in barbecue, and King of the Hill’s original finale, “To Sirloin With Love” then hammered it home further by showcasing Bobby’s talent for pointing out great cuts of meat and turning that into a love of cooking as well.
The original King of the Hill series teased Bobby and Hank would have a bright future where they finally found ways to bond. But with the new revival series removing Hank from the United States for many years, and Bobby living in an entirely new city, we’ll soon see what separates the two this time around when King of the Hill premieres its new season with Hulu on August 4th.
