Tim Allen Stalls Home Improvement Revival Over Sons' Issues
Tim Allen says home improvement revival plans have stalled because of “personality problems right now with the boys.” He said the project could have centered on his onscreen sons, but the cast dynamics have kept it from moving forward.
Allen’s Sons at the Center
“They keep talking about how it could move forward, but they get stuck [because] there are some personality problems right now with the boys,” Allen said. He added, “They’ve got their own issues.”
The three sons in question were Zachery Ty Bryan, who played Brad, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who played Randy, and Taran Noah Smith, who played Mark. Allen said, “I always thought it would be cool if it was a story about them.”
Where the Three Sons Stand
Zachery Ty Bryan is currently serving multiple prison sentences related to a DUI and probation violations. Patricia Richardson said in 2024, “I mean, Zach is now a felon,” and added that Smith “hasn’t acted since he left the show; he's not an actor anymore.”
Richardson also said, “And Jonathan's not really interested in acting.” Thomas’s last appearance was on Last Man Standing in 2015, while Smith has stopped acting. Allen said the situation makes the revival “a little challenging right now, to put it mildly.”
Why the revival stalls
The revival had been framed as a story about the boys, not a simple nostalgia play. That leaves the project tied to three separate career and personal paths that do not line up neatly, and the missing Wilson role only tightens the gap.
Richardson said in 2024, “And we don’t have [Taylor neighbor] Wilson [the late Earl Hindman].” That is the practical problem for any return: the cast idea Allen prefers depends on actors who are no longer in the same place professionally, and one central presence is gone entirely.
For now, the clearest conclusion is that home improvement revival talk remains stuck at the idea stage, with Allen still interested but the family dynamic too fractured to turn into a workable series pitch. Until those pieces change, the project stays on hold rather than moving into production.
