Tim Allen says ‘personality problems’ with onscreen sons has halted Home Improvement revival

Zachery Ty Bryan is in prison, while Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Taran Noah Smith haven’t acted in years.

The cast of ‘Home Improvement’. Credit:Getty

Tim Allen is revealing why he thinks the Home Improvement revival hasn’t happened.
The actor is pointing to “issues” involving the actors who portrayed his onscreen children in the ’90s sitcom.
For example, Zachery Ty Bryan, who played Brad, has been sentenced to multiple prison terms.

Tim Allen says his long-in-development Home Improvement revival is stalled because of “personality problems” involving the actors who portrayed his onscreen sons during the show’s original run.

Allen has been vocal about his interest in bringing back the beloved ’90s sitcom, but the idea is complicated by the three actors who played his children. Taran Noah Smith hasn’t acted since the show ended, Jonathan Taylor Thomas’ only credit in the last 20 years has been for Allen’s sitcom Last Man Standing, and Zachery Ty Bryan’s many legal issues have landed him in prison.

“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 told Us Weekly on Wednesday. “They’ve got their own issues. I always thought it would be cool if it was a story about them. That’s a little challenging right now, to put it mildly.”

Home Improvement centered on the home and work life of Tim Taylor, the host of TV show Tool Time. His suburban Detroit family included his dependable wife, Jill (Patricia Richardson), and his teen sons: the athletic Brad (Bryan), the mischievous Randy (Thomas), and the nerdy Mark (Smith).

The cast of ‘Home Improvement’ in 2009.Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

“One of the conversations we’ve had recently is how weird it would be if Home Improvement would be about the kids’ kids,” Allen said in 2023. “Like, if all of them had children, and I’m a grandparent. Home Re-Improvement or something like that. It’s come up.”

But Richardson shot down the revival talk in 2024, revealing that she’d never been contacted about a new series and would not want to do it.

“I mean, Zach is now a felon,” she said. “Taran hasn’t acted since he left the show; he’s not an actor anymore. And Jonathan’s not really interested in acting. He wants to direct and write. And we don’t have [Taylor neighbor] Wilson [the late Earl Hindman].”

Earlier this year, while already serving time behind bars in a California jail, Bryan was sentenced to 19 months for a separate crime. Once he completes his time in California, he will be extradited to Oklahoma, where he is facing “up to five years” in prison in connection to an October 2024 DUI arrest.

“[With the] Home Improvement kids, it was so long ago, and I was brand new, and it was very difficult for me to be anywhere near a mentor,” Allen previously said. “I don’t know what it’s like to have sons. I like being a father to girls.”