'King of the Hill' maker on several tragedies in show

King of the Hill, an animated show on Hulu, is returning after a 15-year break. But what made its forthcoming 14th season a challenge is the death of some of the original cast members.

Brittany Murphy and Tom Petty, who voiced Luanne and Lucky, are one of them, so in an interview with Parade, the showrunner Saladin K. Patterson said they decided not to recast the roles; instead, the team wrote off the couple.

But that’s not the end of the challenges the King of the Hill team faced. Dale Gribble’s voice, Johnny Hardwick, who is also a writer and editor on the show, died during the production. 

In the showrunner's words, "First of all, we felt Dale's too important to the show for the character to go away." So, he said, "We talked about a lot of different options, all the ones that you could imagine, from recasting to whatever."

Ultimately, the late actor's friend Toby Huss replaced him, who had voiced Kahn Souphanousinphone and Cotton Hill in the series.

But the tragedies did not stop there as Jonathan Joss, the voice behind John Redcorn, died after being shot on June 1.

Saladin said he opted not to recast the role and gave him a tribute at the final episode., "I mean, obviously, Jonathan's death was so tragic, unnecessary. He was such a caring soul and empathetic soul. God bless him."

King of the Hill's latest season is available to stream on Hulu.