Five years ago, Family Guy made one of its most controversial changes - that being killing off the family's beloved dog Brian, albeit briefly. Season seventeen will be arriving later this year and it seems that Brian is set to undergo yet another massive change.
Deadline recently interviewed Family Guy showrunners Alec Sulkin and Rich Appel. Firstly the showrunners were asked to discuss Brian's short-lived death - and whether we should expect anything of the sort in the coming season.
I would say that that’s always a possibility. I don’t think that we have any immediate plans to kill off any of our main characters, but with our show, you never know. That’s why people went so nuts over the Brian thing, because it felt very real, like it could happen. Of course we got it all back.
Appel went on to explain that, whilst there aren't any controversial plans to kill off beloved characters any time soon, they do plan on maritally pairing one up in the upcoming season premiere.
I remember that someone wrote a column in a big newspaper about how the Family Guy writers realized that it was a huge mistake from fan reaction, and two weeks later, they brought him back in an episode. I remember thinking, that’s somebody who does not understand that we spend a year on each of these shows.
So, luckily, fans missed him because we knew he was coming back. Brian, next year in the season premiere, he’s going to get married, and that’s a two-parter. So that’s something — instead of killing off a character, we’re bringing on a character, and we’ll see what happens with that.
So the seventeenth season will debut with a two-parter dedicated to the marriage of Brian. Just who the mutt will be tying the knot with is unknown - perhaps this could mean the return on Brian's long-lost love Jillian.
Hopefully they manage to pull off a massive change this time around. Given the reaction to Brian being resurrected five years ago; perhaps this one will stick.
What do you think about the showrunners' comments? Are you intrigued at the prospect of Brian tying the knot?