For the first time in years, women who grew up fawning over “Home Improvement” heartthrob Jonathan Taylor Thomas are back to swooning over their teen crush.
Late on July 29, 2026, Thomas’ TV mom, actress Patricia Richardson, sent the internet into a frenzy by posting an extremely rare photo of herself with Thomas and Taran Noah Smith, who played his younger brother on the beloved 90s sitcom but now towers over JTT.
Richardson, who shares three grown kids (two sons and a daughter) with her ex-husband, captioned her rare photo by simply writing, “My other boys❤️” and the internet promptly lost its collective mind.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas Sighting Comes Days Before Netflix Pulls the Plug on ‘Home Improvement’
Richardson did not give any details about when, where, or why her reunion with two of her three TV sons took place, but they all looked happy and casual. Thomas, now 44, was sweetly grinning and wearing glasses with thick, black frames, and Smith, now 42, was still rocking his long hair, which he publicly debuted on “The Best Show” podcast in 2025.
Almost immediately, flabbergasted fans flooded Richardson’s posts with comments, including one who wrote, “For those who keep hoping for a new ‘here he is!’ photo of Mr. Thomas … our internet just exploded.”
“As a kid i always wanted to be part of this family, and when i think about it, it hasnt changed,” someone else wrote. “So happy for you, that they are still your boys 😍”
90s pop culture podcaster Lia Russo quickly reposted the photo on Instagram with text over the image that said in all caps, “JONATHAN TAYLOR THOMAS IS ALIVE.” As she gushed in a video about how “cute” Thomas looked, fans also filled her comment section with shocked reactions.
“Yessss my childhood and FOREVER crush,” one gushed. “Every INCH of my walls were covered with JTT” while another exclaimed, “Good God, he’s still hot as hell, eh?”
The photo comes mere days before Netflix pulls the plug on all eight seasons of “Home Improvement,” no longer available to stream via Hallmark+ beginning on August 1.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas Has Never Been Impressed by Fame
GettyAll that fawning over Richardson’s photo was probably just enough to prompt Thomas to disappear again for another decade, since he’s never been comfortable with being a public figure. He left Hollywood after “Home Improvement” ended in 1999, enrolling at Harvard, Columbia, and St. Andrew’s University in Scotland, according to People.
In 2013, he made a cameo on his TV dad, Tim Allen’s show, “Last Man Standing,” but has rarely been seen since.
“I never took the fame too seriously,” he told People that year. “It was a great period in my life, but it doesn’t define me. When I think back on the time, I look at it with a wink. I focus on the good moments I had, not that I was on a lot of magazine covers.”
Smith, who played youngest brother Mark, surprised many fans with his beard and long hair during his podcast appearance in 2025, virtually “unrecognizable” to most. He also retired from acting after “Home Improvement” and hadn’t been seen in public since 2011, according to The Sun.
Though many would love to see a “Home Improvement” reboot in the future, Allen doubts it’ll happen any time soon, especially given the fact that Zachary Ty Bryan, who played eldest son Brad, was sentenced in February to more than a year in jail, after his sixth arrest in five years, according to People.
While promoting “Toy Story 5” in June, Allen told Us Weekly, “They keep talking about how it could move forward, but they get stuck [because] there are some personality problems right now with the boys. 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.”
