King of the Hill revival debuts to 4.4 million views, beating out X-Men 97 for the title of Disney Plus and Hulu’s most popular animated series in the past 5 years

Bobby Hill in the King of the Hill trailer — (Image credit: Hulu)

Despite being off the air for 15 years, King of the Hill is back and better than ever – and breaking some streaming records.

According to Variety, the first episode of King of the Hill season 14 hit 4.4 million views within its first seven streaming, premiering at no. 1 on Hulu's Top 15 and beating out X-Men '97 for the most popular animated show across Disney and Hulu Plus. The series overall has accrued more than 1 billion hours streamed.

King of the Hill, created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, aired on Fox for 13 seasons from 1997 to 2009, with the final four episodes airing during its first syndication run in 2010. A revival was first announced back in 2017, with Daniels telling Comicbook in 2020 that he and Judge had an idea for a revival season...but there was no set plan for release. The new season was officially announced in 2022, with Hulu giving it an official greenlight in 2023.

The fourteenth (and hopefully not the final) season takes place eight years after the events of season 13, and sees Hank (Judge) and Peggy Hill (Kathy Najimy) return to their hometown of Arlen, Texas after spending some time in Saudi Arabia. The returning voice cast also includes Stephen Root as Bill Dauterive, Pamela Adlon as Bobby Hill, Johnny Hardwick as Dale Gribble, and Lauren Tom as both Connie and Minh Souphanousinphone. Hardwick died in 2023, and voices Dale for the first six episodes. Toby Huss takes over for the final four (and does a dang ol' good job).