A Home Improvement reboot isn’t in the works, according to Patricia Richardson, who played Jill Taylor on the popular show. On the Back to the Best podcast, Richardson confirmed that there isn’t a script, despite previous claims from Tim Allen that the ’90s sitcom was in talks of getting a modern spinoff. The idea of a potential reunion is also “so weird” to Richardson, who has yet to hear from her former TV husband on the matter.
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“I would hear [Allen] was coming out publicly and saying this stuff about how everyone was on board to do a Home Improvement reunion, but he never asked me,” Richardson said on the podcast episode, which aired March 28.
She proceeded to ridicule Allen for spreading false hope about a potential Home Improvement reunion, noting that he didn’t float the idea by their co-star, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, either. (Thomas portrayed the middle son, Randy Taylor).
“He never asked me, and he never asked Jonathan,” Richardson continued, adding that she and Thomas have remained in close contact over the years. “So I called Jonathan one day and said, ‘Has he asked you about this? And he went, ‘No.’ And “Why’s he going around telling everybody that we’re all on board when he hasn’t talked to you or me?'”
According to Richardson, Thomas agreed that Allen’s behavior was unwarranted and “weird.”
Speaking with The Messenger in Nov. 2023, Allen suggested the sitcom’s reboot could adopt a similar storyline as Fuller House, in which the series becomes more about the kids’ lives, who are now adults raising their own families. “[It] would be if Home Improvement would be about the kids’ kids…Like if all of them had children, and I’m a grandparent. Home Re-Improvement or something like that. It’s come up,” he said, per Entertainment Weekly.
Also in her Back to the Best interview, Richardson acknowledged rumors of a working script that would specifically follow her character, Jill Taylor. Allegedly, these speculations were also fueled by Allen. She accused Allen of “lying” and “telling people I was on board” when she hadn’t been involved in any such conversations.
“I didn’t know anything about it. I wrote a big thing on Twitter and said I’m not involved in any series with Jill and I’ve also never been asked to do another Home Improvement reunion thing,” she explained.
As for the notice itself, Richardson wrote on X in Dec. 2023: “I am NOT INVOLVED nor have I ever been in some jerk’s fraudulent claims that I am doing some pilot called Jill’s something or other. I’m not doing ANY -nor have I been even talked to asked to do any Home Improvement reunion show ( nor has Jonathan!)”
And now, Richardson is doubling down on her statement. She strongly believes Home Improvement shouldn’t be the next TV series to receive the reboot treatment. The cast has grown up and isn’t interested, she claimed. There’s also the matter of Zachery Ty Bryan‘s (Brad Taylor) growing legal troubles, following his felony charge in 2024, according to USA Today.
“I mean, Zach is now a felon. Taran [Noah Smith] hasn’t acted since he left the show; he’s not an actor anymore,” Richardson explained. “And Jonathan’s not really interested in acting. He wants to direct and write. And we don’t have Wilson (played by the late Earl Hindman).”
“It’s not gonna be the show, at all. And people think we can just magically go right back to who we were 30 years ago and do a show that was 30 years ago, and we’ve all changed quite a bit, I think, since then. It would be very weird,” she said.