Duck Dynasty Returned To TV For The First Time In Eight Years
On Sunday, June 1, Willie Robertson and his family returned to television in a rebooted version of their hit reality show Duck Dynasty.
Titled Duck Dynasty: The Revival, the show follows Willie Robertson, the fun-loving CEO of Duck Commander, and his family, including wife Korie, sons John Luke and Will, and daughters Sadie, Bella, and Rebecca. His and Korie’s youngest son, Rowdy, did not participate in the show, as he was away attending college.
The show also introduced us to all of their spouses and their children. We did meet John Luke’s wife, Mary Kate, on the original Duck Dynasty show, where their wedding was featured in an episode.
The premiere of the new show came just one week after Willie’s dad, Phil Robertson, passed away. The family announced his passing on Sunday, May 25, all using the same statement, which is as follows:
“We celebrate today that our father, husband, and grandfather, Phil Robertson, is now with the Lord. He reminded us often of the words of Paul, ‘You do not grieve like those who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.'”
Phil’s death comes several months after his sons revealed that Phil had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in addition to a blood disease on their podcast, Unashamed. He was also suffering from a fracture to his back, which caused him great discomfort.
Over the last few months, his health had rapidly declined. Fans were given updates every now and then on Unashamed, but sadly the updates were never good news.
Phil was honored at the end of the Duck Dynasty: The Revival premiere in a very special way.
Willie Robertson Made A Big Announcement
The season premiere begins with Willie going duck hunting with his Uncle Si and his brother, Jase. It was revealed that Willie hadn’t gone duck hunting in 18 months! He was also reevaluating his career at Duck Commander, where he’s been the CEO for many years.
He visited the warehouse, which now houses so many of the family’s other businesses, like John Luke’s coffee shop, Sadie’s podcast studio, a museum and gift shop, which his daughter Bella manages. Willie found out he actually no longer has an office at Duck Commander because they renovated it for Sadie’s work. In an interview with Taste of Country, Sadie Robertson reveals that her mom, Korie, actually runs a lot of Duck Commander. Korie also has a production company that runs out of the warehouse.
Sadie said, “The next generation works here,” and noted that Jep and Jase don’t work at the Duck Commander warehouse anymore, and said that was the reason why they aren’t on the show this season. She did confirm we will see them in Season Two, which they are currently filming.
Willie walked into his replica office in the museum, where loyal employee Martin was holding a meeting. Willie took this as the perfect time to announce that he was “fully” semi-retiring and would be looking for his successor in one of his children.
He took them all, except for Rebecca who was too pregnant at the time, on a duck hunt the next day, which turned out to be skeet shooting. His plan was to see who was the best skeet shooter and maybe make his decision about taking over the company. But since no one hit any targets, the search continues.
After Rebecca gives birth to a son named Xander, after Phil’s middle name Alexander, Willie and Korie are preparing a meal for the entire family. Korie voices her concern for Willie now that he is “semi-retired” and they are in the in-between of taking care of their kids, and grandkids, as well as their aging parents. She thinks Willie is getting emotional, but he blames it on the onions he is chopping. Classic Willie.
We suppose that the search for the next CEO of Duck Commander will continue this season. Watch a clip from the season premiere below.