That boy ain’t right — but he sure is a hit for Hulu. Powered by the arrival of its first new episodes in over 15 years, King of the Hill will debut at No. 2 on Nielsen’s streaming originals and overall streaming ratings charts, per preliminary data set to be released next week. According to the ratings giant, the Mike Judge and Greg Daniels–created animated classic generated a Texas-size 1.28 billion minutes of viewing in the U.S. during the August 4–10 reporting period, ranking behind only the sophomore-season premiere of Netflix’s global smash Wednesday. The good news for Hulu (and fans who’ve already gobbled up season 14): Vulture has learned that production on another batch of KOTH episodes has already quietly wrapped, with a new season in the can and on track to arrive next year.

To be clear, Hulu has not (yet) ordered more episodes of KOTH in response to this month’s strong viewership numbers. Instead, it turns out that when Hulu announced the KOTH revival back in January 2023, it ordered 20 half-hour episodes, according to people familiar with the matter. While the streamer never publicly specified the size of its episodic commitment — it simply released 10 new episodes as season 14 — that number was no secret to the show’s producers and writers, who were able to plot their story lines accordingly. The fact that Hulu would essentially order two seasons in advance shouldn’t really come as a surprise: Given the long lead times involved with animated projects, doing so was the only way to ensure that, in success, there wouldn’t be a long gap between new seasons of the show. It’s also the model Hulu used when it unfroze Futurama from its decade-long slumber in 2022, though in that case, Hulu revealed its 20-episode order from the start.

A full 73 percent of King of the Hill’s 1.28 billion minutes streamed came from the new batch of episodes.

While no exact scheduling has been locked in as of yet, the back half of Hulu’s initial 20-episode order for KOTH — a.k.a. season 15 — will debut in 2026, most likely in the summer. As for a potential season 16 (and possibly season 17), given stellar reviews and the strong out-of-the-gate ratings performance, it seems likely those conversations will begin soon, if they haven’t already. In the case of Futurama, Hulu announced a 20-episode, two-season renewal in November 2023, about six weeks after the final episode of season eight dropped.

As for the early Nielsen data, a full 73 percent of King of the Hill’s overall 1.28 billion minutes-streamed figure — or 928 million minutes — came just from the new batch of season 14 episodes. Such big numbers are particularly impressive given KOTH’s total running time for the season is only about four hours, spread out over ten 25-minute episodes. Unlike its linear ratings, Nielsen’s streaming data doesn’t measure average viewers or audience per episode, instead tallying up overall consumption. That makes it harder for half-hour shows (or shows released weekly vs. a binge drop) to land high up on Nielsen’s streaming originals top ten. The fact that KOTH was able to do so anyway, and to do so despite being off the air for 15 years, makes its accomplishment all the more impressive.

King of the Hill’s Nielsen debut also stands out when compared to the recent performance of two of Netflix’s best-known animated comedies. Big Mouth, which wrapped its eight-season run in May, generated just 402 million minutes during its first — and only — week on Nielsen’s streaming originals chart earlier this summer, while its seventh-season launch in fall 2023 did roughly the same. The final season of Netflix’s Disenchanted, meanwhile, managed a mere 298 million minutes the one week it made the chart in September 2023. Obviously, King of the Hill benefited from having literal decades to build an audience, and its return was far more of an event than the final seasons of those shows. But I tell you what: For KOTH to bring in twice as many eyeballs as big Netflix hits feels notable — and a sign Hulu made the right call in bringing back the Hill family.

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 And another season is already on its way for next year.