While reboots and revivals continue to dominate Hollywood — with everything from Frasier to Happy Gilmore 2 getting the legacy treatment — don’t expect The King of Queens to join the trend anytime soon. Kevin James, who played the iconic delivery driver Doug Heffernan for nine seasons on CBS, has shared his honest thoughts with Collider's Steve Weintraub on returning to the beloved sitcom. And while he doesn’t rule it out completely, there’s one very personal reason it feels unlikely: the absence of the late Jerry Stiller. James was promoting his latest project, Guns Up, alongside Christina Ricci.
The show featured Doug alongside his sharp-tongued wife Carrie (Leah Remini) and her eccentric, overbearing father Arthur Spooner (Stiller), who lives in their basement. The show humorously explores the ups and downs of blue-collar married life, blending relatable domestic squabbles with outrageous misunderstandings and Arthur's constant chaos. But the absence of Stiller means the show would be missing a key facet, as James explained.
“I wouldn't say that it's perfect. It was a moment in time, I think. The King of Queens is weird because we weren't as popular. When we came out, we did okay. We did good. But it was [Everybody Loves] Raymond and Friends and all these other office comedies and funnier shows, and they did much better than us. What blows me away is how well we've done when we've come out later in syndication. I don't know whether it's because they just pummeled people with it, and it got into their brains that way, but people now enjoy it, I feel like, more than ever.”
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