‘Family Guy’: Did Brian Griffin Return On Christmas Special?

Spoiler alert: Stop reading if you don't want to know whether or not Brian returned! (Not that you'd be reading this if you didn't want to know...) Along with the show's usual brand of off-color humor, fans had another reason to tune into the Dec. 15 Christmas episode of Family Guy: the promise of Brian Griffin's (Seth MacFarlane) return from the dead! Following speculation that Stewie would wish his best friend back to life on the holiday special, faithful viewers' questions were finally answered this Sunday.

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Reading Time: 2 minute
December 15, 2013 9:34PM EST
Family Guy Brian Griffin
Image Credit: Courtesy of Fox

‘Family Guy’: Brian Griffin Returns From The Dead

As expected, Brian did return to the Griffins, thanks to a little help from (yet another) alternate timeline. After realizing that Stewie would never be able to bring Brian back on his own, Vinny took him to the mall to lift his spirits, where they ran into another Stewie — one who had traveled from the past, before he destroyed his time machine.

[hl_youtube src=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQmCjG980W4″ link=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQmCjG980W4″ text=”Brian Dies On ‘Family Guy'”]

So present-day Stewie traveled back to the day of Brian’s car accident, putting a stop to it before his best friend was crushed. Multiple times.

‘Family Guy’ Fans Furious Over Brian Griffin’s Death

Of all the controversial story lines Family Guy has served up in recent years — including the time Stewie and Brian went back in time to cause the attacks on the World Trade Center — Brian’s death was easily the one met with the greatest public outcry.

Adding fuel to fans’ rage was the decision to immediately replace with Brian with a new dog, an old Italian fella named Vinny, voiced by The Sopranos‘ Tony Sirico. And to add insult to injury, Vinny also took Brian’s place during the show’s opening credits.

HollywoodLifers, were you expecting to see Brian return on the Christmas episode? Were you satisfied with the way it happened? Drop a comment with your review of the Christmas episode, as well as your thoughts on the Brian-Vinny controversy.

— Andy Swift

More ‘Family Guy’:

  1. ‘Family Guy’ Replaces Brian Griffin With Vinny In Opening Credits
  2. Brian Griffin Coming Back To Life On ‘Family Guy’ Christmas Episode?
  3. ‘Family Guy’ Shocker: Did They Really Kill Off [Spoiler] Griffin?