Kevin James Says He Would ‘Never Say No’ to a ‘King of Queens’ Reboot
Kevin James opened up about the possibility of a King of Queens reboot nearly 20 years after the sitcom ended its original run on CBS.
In a new interview, the actor, who played delivery driver Doug Heffernan for nine seasons on the classic sitcom, said he can’t imagine rebooting the show without Jerry Stiller. And while he’s said that before, James, 60, explained that Stiller was such a big part of the show that the void would be too great—even with the help of technology.
“To go back and to redo it, I just don’t think, because we don't have Jerry,” James said in an interview with Collider in July 2025. “I mean again, AI, if they do everybody, and they're saying something where they can do you at any age…”
When interviewer Steve Weintraub suggested that James could incorporate real time and do something where Stiller’s character is nostalgically talked about, James replied, “I would never say no, but it feels hard because for me, he was such a part of it, man. He was the glue in that thing. I don’t know. I just can't even picture it. I don't know. It's just a weird way to do it. Why? Why would you do that if you don't have him?”
Stiller played Arthur Spooner, the father of Carrie Heffernan (Leah Remini) on The King of Queens from 1998 to 2007. The beloved actor died in May 2020 at age 92.
James had reportedly begged Stiller to take the role just as the comedy veteran had planned to retire. “He literally begged me to be in this show,” Stiller told the Associated Press in 2007. “He kissed me. He hugged me. He said, ‘I can’t do it without you.‘”
“I’m susceptible to praise,” Stiller added.
It’s no wonder that James has been hesitant about a reboot without Stiller. “They were asking me about [reviving] King of Queens, and I don’t think that’s possible because a third of that big core cast is gone,” he told The New York Post in January 2024, “Jerry Stiller was such an amazing part of [our] show. To me, it would be hard to do it without him, and I don’t know how that would work.”
“[The King of Queens] was a moment in time, and that was just so great, and I miss it and loved it — but it might be hard to get that back again,” he added.
Speaking with Collider, James noted that during its original CBS run, The King of Queens was not as popular as rival comedies Friends, The Office, and Everybody Loves Raymond. But the show received a second life in syndication.
“What blows me away is how well we've done when we've come out later in syndication,” James said. “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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