Three weeks ago, the writers of the popular cartoon Family Guy, made a very controversial decision to kill off a member of the Griffin family. Rather than traumatizing viewers indefinitely by killing off one of the parents or children, they decided to say goodbye to the family pet Brian.

“As much as we love Brian, and as much as everyone loves their pets, we felt it would be more traumatic to lose one of the kids, rather than the family pet,” executive producer Steve Callaghan said at the time.

However, despite Callaghan’s beliefs, it seems as though viewers were more upset about the death of Brian then they would have been if they had killed off Stewie. In the episode titled, Life of Brian, Brian is hit by a car and eventually dies surrounded by his family in a very emotionally fueled scene.

Viewers were outraged, and have since been pressuring the producers of Family Guy to bring the beloved pet back. Over 125,000 people signed an online petition asking the producers to bring back Brian.

And thus endeth our warm, fuzzy holiday lesson: Never take those you love for granted, for they can be gone in a flash.

— Seth MacFarlane (@SethMacFarlane) December 16, 2013

Oh and hey… thanks for caring so much about the canine Griffin. He is overcome with gratitude.

— Seth MacFarlane (@SethMacFarlane) December 16, 2013

Callaghan originally said that he was not concerned about the backlash from fans from killing off Brian. “I’m not, only because our fans are smart enough and have been loyal to our show for long enough, to know that they can trust us,” said Callaghan. “We always make choices that always work to the greatest benefit of the series.”

During the season twelve Christmas special, that aired over the weekend, Stewie uses his time machine to go back in time to rescue Brian from being hit by the car, and ultimately saves Brian’s life. So, was this the plan all along, or did the viewers actually convince the producers to bring Brian back? Either way, Brian has returned from the dead, and has granted Stewie’s Christmas wish to have his friend back.

"You know what I want for Christmas? I want my friend back." – Stewie #brian #familyguy

— Family Guy (@FamilyGuyonFOX) December 16, 2013

Image via Twitter