The call was answered from fans and answered by A&E with Duck Dynasty: The Revival. Viewers welcomed the Robertson family back with open arms as it quickly became the highest-rated show on the network. No surprise it was quickly renewed for a Season 2 right out of the gate. Despite an eight-year absence, for Willie and Korie no time had gone by when it came to the spirit of the show. Everyone is just a bit older and perhaps wiser. Speaking of which, Uncle Si remains a popular fixture along with the kids and now grandkids. 

It’s been a fun season as Willie explores “fully semi-retired” life. He put his best foot forward to teach life fundamentals to the family and maybe see who steps up within Duck Commander. Big milestones were also chronicled from daughter Sadie finding out she is pregnant to the upcoming season finale where her and husband Christian Huff find out the gender of their third child. 

Here Willie and Korie reflect back on their TV return and tease what’s to come. 

The premiere was bitter sweet in a lot of ways because you want to celebrate the new show, but the same week you also lose your dad Phil. The patriarch of the family. What was it like going through all that? 

Willie Robertson: Phil had been struggling with Alzheimer’s for a while. It was on our mind for sure, his condition. It’s part of life. Phil had such a strong faith. He told us before, “Do not cry at my funeral. I know where I’m going.” What a life he lived. We heard that from thousands of people, the people he impacted. Phil would have wanted us to do exactly what we’re doing. Whatever is a reflection of that faith, and our show is a reflection of our fatih. Not overtly. We’re not trying to preach to people or convert people, but I think you can see the fruit in the faith of our show and our family and how it sticks together through good times and bad. That’s why we are on this earth. As we move on, I think it’s a reminder to all of us the time will come. I hope I have a funeral like that where people feel that way about me as well. 

Korie Robertson: The timing was a little surreal. Our show came out the week Phil passed. It was really special to our family that we had that one little clip. When filming this time around, he was already in the throes of Alzheimer’s, so he wasn’t able to be part of the show. We did film that one little thing where he gave Willie the thumbs up. It was really special because for our family it felt like, okay, this is his opportunity to pass on the torch to us. It’s funny to see the comments who are like, “The next generation are yuppies. They aren’t passing things on.” But we are passing on Phil’s legacy because his legacy was first about faith. His whole motto was faith, family, ducks, in that order. His first was faith. All our kids are living that out in really beautiful ways and family. That’s what this show is about. It’s about family, inner-generational family living life together and what that might look like. And then ducks. We’re still running Duck Commander, the business he started from the duck call he invented years and years ago. That has been really special to carry that legacy on now after his passing. 

What has it been like to share milestone moments, such as Sadie finding out she is pregnant and then having the gender reveal, which we’ll see. There are also the trials and tribulations including Bella’s struggle to have a child. 

Korie: We actually started the first episode with a new grandbaby. Rebecca had Xander. Then Sadie finds out she is pregnant. Now we are actually on baby watch and filming that as it is happening. That is special to us. We feel blessed to have these awesome home movies we get to watch as a family. That is very special. I think that is part of why people watch because they relate to us. Everybody goes through those types of things. Having Bella talk about her infertility was very special. I think that it was something we were grateful we got to do because a lot of people are experiencing that. She had a big impact on people’s lives by just talking about it and helping people feel like they were not alone. We’re proud of her for that. Doing the show again, one of the things all of our kids said was they wanted that authenticity. They wanted to show people the good and the bad. We’ve been able to do that. Our show is fun and funny. We do all kinds of over-the-top quirky things, but also there are those real moments of babies and hardships and things we are going through. 

Willie: I think one thing that is different from the original Duck Dynasty is it’s an hour-long show, so we can go deeper into people’s lives and show a little bit more than the past show. Those are the moments that are going to be reflected and moments, honestly, our family wanted to share. They wanted to take people along with that journey as well. 

Speaking of fun, Uncle Si is still a popular staple. What are some of the highlights from this season for you? 

Willie: Well, the highlights are anything with Uncle Si. They are instant classics. His ability to crack me up, man, you never know where he is going or what he is going to say. The quirkiness he has is unprecedented. Those have been really fun. 

Korie: When we started out we thought about who would be the next Uncle Si of this generation. I feel like John Luke has proven to be well on his way. They have been quite the pair. It has been funny to see. 

Willie: John Luke definitely is in the running. He has always had this peculiar perspective on things that I always smile and think, “Where in the world did he get that?” 

During the talent show you learned some choreography. Are any of you interested in following in the footsteps of Sadie and joining Dancing with the Stars if asked? 

Korie: I don’t know about that. I feel like I would only let people down because Sadie was so good. I don’t know where she got her dancing ability. Willie always claimed it was him, but this episode proved it was not from him. 

Willie: My chances of doing that show are zero. I saw how hard it was when she did it. I thought, “That’s crazy hard. I don’t think I could do it.” 

Korie: It’s a lot of work. I got to get in shape if I’m ever going to do that. 

The season finale on August 3 captures a nice moment between the two of you on an anniversary trip. Willie shares how you two met and really what brought you two together. How do you look back on that time? 

Willie: I think it’s a celebration of Korie and I’s marriage. The other part of the episode is the gender reveal, which is the fruit of our marriage. It reminds me of Phil and Kay from the original when they had their renewal. In some ways, it reminds me of that with how far we’ve come. It has been 33 years of being married. A lot of this came from taking over this company and running it together. I felt like that was a special time for us to reflect on all that, the power of marriage, sticking it out and being together. The power of what you can do together with this partnership and still have fun and still be able to laugh and enjoy hanging out together. It is a special moment. Also, Korie has a new love for hunting now, weird stuff. I don’t want to give it away. 

Korie: Willie has finally found the hunting I enjoy. 

Korie Robertson and Willie Robertson attend the Capitol File 58th Presidential Inauguration Reception

We have Season 2 to look forward to after this one ends. What can you tease about that? 

Willie: We’ve been with A&E for a long time. We’ve been great partners and made a lot of television together. We were excited to partner back up again. I believe it’s the beginning of the year we’ll be back. 

Korie: Season 1 will also be released on Hulu in October. 

Willie: Just more places to see it. As the show grows, there will be a big show about Phil’s passing. That will be reflected through an entire show of craziness as well. We do some nutty things in his honor and also just honor him. There are some good moments after finding out about his passing and the show starts. You’ll see that in Season 2. Also, people will be getting closer to taking over the company. 

Korie: You’ll see more of the family. Jase is going to be on. Jep and Jessica are on an episode. You’ll see more of the family. Uncle Si is still doing his crazy things. 

Willie: Mountain Man [Tim Guraedy] makes a return. I forgot about that. 

How does it feel this time around filming compared to back during the original? 

Korie: We feel so blessed to do this as a family. Filming can be long. You’re basically bringing in a whole other family, extended family of camera guys, sound people and crew and all this stuff. When we were filming Duck Dynasty we basically had people filming here for five years with the film crew. It can be long days, every time we look at each other and think about how we get to do this as a family. It’s amazing. We get to film with our grandkids. I think it’s the second episode where Willie did his Dub’s daycare where he took the grandkids to the golf course by himself. I was not sure how that would go. He did great and pulled it off. So, we’ve felt blessed to do this together as a family and grateful people are interested and continue to watch.  

Duck Dynasty: Revival, Sundays, 9/8c, A&E