“Zach is now a felon,” Richardson remarked, listing reasons why she wouldn’t support resurrecting the program. She also mentioned recent meetings with Jonathan Taylor Thomas about Tim Allen.
A revival of Home Improvement isn’t in Patricia Richardson’s plans. The actress, known for her role as Jill, Tim “The Toolman” Taylor’s wife, voiced opposition to the idea of bringing back the series. She called out her on-screen husband for suggesting the possibility of a revival.
During her appearance on the Back to the Best podcast, the 66-year-old Richardson was asked about her interest in a program revival. She adamantly replied, “No,” and expressed discomfort with Allen’s public statements hinting at a reunion, finding it “pretty strange.”
“He never asked me, and he never asked [on-screen son Jonathan Taylor Thomas],” Richardson later claimed. “I called Jonathan one day and asked him, ‘Has he asked you about this?’ And he said, ‘No, why is he going around telling everyone that we are all on board when he hasn’t talked to either you or me as well?’ That seems out of place to me.”
Richardson clarified that she hasn’t been approached to do another Home Improvement project since the show ended about 25 years ago, and she wouldn’t want to if the opportunity arose. She noted that Zachery Ty Bryan is now a convicted criminal, Taran Noah Smith has left acting, and Jonathan Taylor Thomas is more interested in directing and writing. Additionally, she pointed out the absence of the late Earl Hindman, who portrayed Wilson.
“So if they did it without Earl and just two kids if that, it wouldn’t be the same show,” she explained. “People believe that we can miraculously revert to the people we were thirty years ago and perform a play that was performed thirty years ago, but the truth is that we have all changed quite a bit since then. I guess that the show would be peculiar.”
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Richardson concluded, “I believe we did it, we did it well, we quit at the right time before it got really bad, and it ought to just remain as it is.”
Allen has occasionally hinted at a reunion when questioned by the press over the years. He mentioned staying in touch with Richard Karn and “the boys,” discussing the possibility of producing a spinoff.
“Imagine that each and every one of them has children, and that I am a grandma,” Allen stated. “The term ‘Home Improvement’ or anything similar has come up.” He made these comments last year.
In 2018, Allen also mentioned to E! that a revival of Home Improvement was nearly in the works after the cancellation of Last Man Standing at ABC, just before the show was picked up by Fox.
“We made some considerations during this time off,” he stated, describing it as a fascinating notion. He mentioned that the potential revival would focus on the boys as real estate brokers. “During the time off, we got really close where we talked to everybody, everybody who’s still around,” he added. “We were there, we were getting real close and then, boom, [Last Man Standing was picked up].”