If you were one of the millions of stunned Family Guy viewers who didn’t take too well to the death of Brian Griffin, your tears of woe may not have been in vain. It has been recently revealed that there are plans to have the family pet make a return. The speculation is due to an upcoming Christmas-themed episode where the baby, Stewie, plots to have the one thing he wants more than anything else. If it were anything other than the return of his recently departed pet, the audience may have a huge conniption. So perhaps, just as many speculated, the producers saw the writing on the wall and felt it would be better to retcon a dead dog and a replacement pooch.

Producer Steve Callaghan said the decision to kill Brian would be, “a fun way to shake things up“. Well, shake things up the show did. Now it seems that a move is being made to bring things back to the way they were.

Or is there?

While cynics were counting down the days until the seemingly inevitable return of the popular character, there’s still a chance for the entire fandom to be thrown for yet another loop. Perhaps the episode will have Brian happy “on the other side” and wishing to remain at peace. The dog’s mother had been revealed to have died in an earlier, and perhaps he’ll finally have the chance to get to know her. While it’s mentioned that the character is expected to feature in an episode next season (with guest-star Maya Rudolph), there’s nothing to the news to suggest a permanent return. It’s possible the dog may only feature in a flashback or cut away joke.

In other words, it’s probably best wait and see what happens with the Christmas special and future episodes before assuming one way or the other. While it’s most definite we’ll be seeing Brian again, how much of the dog and how permanently he’ll be seen has yet to be confirmed.

Image: Family Guy Facebook