Duck Dynasty: The Revival premiered on Sunday (June 1) on A&E, and many fans were shocked to learn Willie Robertson’s future plans with the business.
Willie has long been the CEO of Duck Commander, but during Ep. 1 of the new show, we learn that he is taking a step back from his role.
“My dad semi-retired, so what does that look like with his new phase of life?” daughter Sadie Robertson said in an interview with Taste of Country, suggesting that it would be a plot line early on.
“As a grandpa, traveling … and so that’s kinda why there’s other reasons why Jase and Jep aren’t on this season.”
During the premiere episode, fans get to see how the company runs now, in 2025: Son John Luke runs the coffee business on site, daughter Bella runs Duck Commander’s gift shop and Sadie host her ministries and podcast out of the warehouse.
“My mom actually runs a lot of things up here at Duck Commander,” Sadie says. “I have my all of my podcast and Live Original team work out of Duck Commander. My brother, John Luke, works for my mom’s production company at Duck Commander. My sister manages the whole Duck Commander store, so the next generation works here.”
The Robertson children — who have grown up since the original Duck Dynasty series ran 2012-2017 — being more hands on in the business explains why fans only saw Jase and Si at the beginning, or just in shots during their Unashamed Podcast clips.
The show show far leans into Willie stepping into retirement, with many of the scenes poking fun at the fact that he isn’t around as much. He walks around the office trying to conduct business, when in reality, there are already people who are getting things done without him.
At the end of Ep. 1, Willie finds himself with all of his children and heir spouses. He tells them he is trying to determine which child should take over Duck Commander when he retires.
So far, he’s done that by taking the adult kids skeet shooting, but that outing didn’t give him a clear answer.
Willie and Korie have five children and eight grandchildren, with another on the way from Sadie and her husband, Christian.
Duck Dynasty: The Revival aires on A&E at 8PM ET weekly.
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Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes