It’s not very often that news comes about that a major character on a long running series will be killed off…well unless it’s one of your daytime soaps and you know more than likely that character will soon be returning from the dead.  In a shock move, animated comedy Family Guy, created by Seth MacFarlane, has killed off a member of the griffin family.

In the shows most recent episode (aired in the US), the Griffin’s beloved pooch Brian was killed off – hit by a car in fact.

“We thought it could be a fun way to shake things up,” executive producer Steve Callaghan told US media.  After talks began in the writers room about the possibility of killing off a main player, it was decided that Brian was the most logical choice to be killed off.  “It seemed more in the realm of a reality that a dog would get hit by a car,” Callaghan said.  “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.”

Adding to the shock of Brian’s death, the Griffin’s almost immediately replace him with another dog named Vinny and voiced by The Soprano’s actor Tony Sirico.  “Where Brian was sort of a match for Stewie intellectually, Vinny is a good match for Stewie because he doesn’t let Stewie get away with any crap,” Callaghan said.

The episode, titled ‘The Life of Brian’ is scheduled to air on 7Mate.

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