How “King of the Hill” Honors Late Star Johnny Hardwick with Dale’s Continued Storyline

Brenton Blanchet, Deirdre DurkanTue, July 28, 2026 at 4:34 PM UTC

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Johnny Hardwick; Dale in ‘King of the Hill’Credit: Courtesy of Hulu (2) -

King of the Hill returned with its 15th season on July 20

The show’s cast and producers shared how they’re honoring late actor Johnny Hardwick during a panel at San Diego Comic-Con

Actor Ashley Gardner said the storyline between Dale and Nancy feels like “sort of a tribute to Johnny”

The King of the Hillcast is remembering Johnny Hardwick.

The actor, who died in August 2023 at age 64, voiced Dale Gribble throughout the animated sitcom’s original run and had completed voice work for six episodes of the revival before his death. Series regular Toby Huss has since stepped in to voice Hank Hill’s paranoid friend.

During the King of the Hill panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday, July 24, Ashley Gardner, who voices Nancy Gribble, said the character’s renewed relationship with Dale in the revival feels “sort of a tribute to Johnny.”

Dale in ‘King of the Hill’Credit: Courtesy of Hulu

Showrunner Saladin Patterson said of the storyline that “one of the things” they looked forward to was “looking at these characters and dealing with things they would be experiencing,” like being “empty nesters… you start to turn the things back on yourself in a relationship.”

“We thought it’d be great to have Nancy and Dale do that,” he said of their arc. “But honestly, Ashley’s such a great actress, we wanted to make sure we took advantage of that to give her more levels to play, or nuances to play, because she’s that good. So we really thought the best way to do that would be to maybe open up their relationship again and have us look at what they’re going through now.”

‘King of the Hill’Credit: Disney/Mike Judge

Huss, who succeeded Hardwick as Dale after voicing several other characters during the show’s original run, called taking over the role both “a mixture of sadness” and “a gift.” “Because you’re taking over from your old buddy who passed away,” Huss, 59, said during the panel, which also featured executive producers Mike Judge and Greg Daniels and cast members Kathy Najimy, Stephen Root and Lauren Tom.

“That’s an awful place to be, but at the same time, it was such a gift to me to do it,” he added of honoring his friend. “And to keep it with all these people that I love and be able to do Dale. I mean, they’re really silly characters. So it was really fun.”

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Hardwick originated the role of Dale when King of the Hill premiered in 1997. and won an Emmy for his work on the program in 1999. He also served as a producer on the show and was announced to be reprising the role in the revival before his death. Other King of the Hill cast members who have died since the show’s premiere include Jonathan Joss, Brittany Murphy and Tom Petty.

In an interview with Parade published on Tuesday, July 21, Huss said that his goal in taking on Dale was to stay “respectful to Johnny first, and to respect what he did as a performer and as an actor, because he made that character.”

“There’s nothing in that character that isn’t Johnny,” he said. “He knows all the rules of Dale, and now he’s gone. So I can only try to pick up some of the ideas that he had, and go with those, and try to continue what Johnny had started. That’s all I’m doing.”

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He added, “The highest compliment I can get that I can get from this is to say, ‘Wow, we didn’t notice the transition to you, Toby. We love what you’re doing.’ So as long as the voice might not be there 100 of the time, I think it’s pretty close. The writing is all there. So the only way we can mess this up is with my performance. So I’m just trying to stay in this world that Johnny built. Because if you can stay in that world, which is hard because it’s such a fertile fecund place. But if you can stay in there, you’re going to be doing great.

King of the Hill season 15 premiered July 20 on Hulu. All 10 episodes are now streaming.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”