Tim Allen Officially Confirms Restart Issues for Home Improvement

While Home improvement might be ripe for a reboot, Tim Allen has confirmed what’s stopping the show from returning.

After making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Allen rose to prominence in the early 1990s when he was cast as Home improvementprotagonist Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor. The series ran for eight seasons on ABC from 1991 to 1999, and the actor has expressed interest in making a new version of Home improvement. According to him, however, it is proving difficult to realize because of two of the classic sitcom’s other series.

In an interview with Us WeeklyAllen shared it “problems” with Zachery Ty Bryan and Jonathan Taylor stopping Thomas, who played Tool Man’s sons Brad and Randy, respectively Home improvement from having a revival. In his words:

They keep talking about how it could go forward, but they get stuck (because) there are some personality issues right now with the boys. They have their own problems. I always thought it would be cool if it was a story about them. It’s a little challenging right now, to say the least.

Although Allen did not elaborate on these “problems” with Bryan and Thomas they are known to the public. In Thomas’s case, he retired from acting in 2006, then briefly returned to the profession in the mid-2010s to appear in a few episodes of Last man standingone of Allen’s other popular TV series. In 2024, Patricia Richardson, who played Jill Taylor on Home improvementsaid that Thomas is “not really interested in acting, he wants to direct and write.”

As for Bryan, he’s dealt with a number of legal issues since the beginning of the decade, starting with a DUI in late 2020. In December 2025, Bryan was arrested for the sixth time in five years. Last February, he was sentenced to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty to DUI in California, and in March he was sentenced to an additional 19 months in an Oregon prison after admitting to three probation violations.

So between Bryan’s incarceration and Thomas’ disinterest in acting, as well as Taran Noah Smith, who played Mark Taylor on Home improvementafter leaving acting in 1999, it takes Tim and Jill’s sons out of the equation. Plus Earl Hindman, who played the Taylors’ never-quite-seen next-door neighbor Wilson in the popular sitcom from the 1990sdied in 2003.

As a result, the only remaining two series regulars left from Home improvement who could join Allen and Richardson for a hypothetical revival are Richard Karn and Debbie Dunning, who played Al Borland and Heidi Keppert, respectively. Dunning also retired from acting in 2006, although she guest-starred with Richardson and Karn in season 2 premiere on Change gearsAllen’s current sitcom, last year. Either way, it sounds like there are too many obstacles stopping it Home improvement from being brought back to a new generation and leaving it as a time capsule from the 1990s.

Fortunately for fans of the original series, it can be streamed on both Netflix and Hulu. Allen will return as auto restoration shop owner Matt Parker when Change gears season 3 will premiere on ABC on a yet to be determined date. He can also be heard repeating Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 5 starts on June 19.

Publication date: 1991 – 1999-00-00
Showrunner: Tim Allen
Directors: Peter Bonerz, Andrew Tsao, Andy Cadiff, Albert Alarr, Patricia Richardson, Richard Compton
Authors: Lloyd Garver, Jennifer Celotta, Charlie Hauck, Eric Horsted, Susan Estelle Jansen, David Maples, Tracy Gamble, Peter Tolan, Allison M. Gibson