Last month the world was rocked, or at the very least gently nudged, by the sudden demise of one of Family Guy's most beloved characters, Brian.

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The faithful hound had been with the show since it started, was voiced by creator Seth MacFarlane, and was as popular for his singing as his dialogue. Following the death, we polled you guys about what you thought and the overwhelming consensus was that it's a bad idea It appears the Family Guy writers were listening, as Entertainment Weekly reports that Brian is set to return to the cast full time on December 15.*While the network declined to comment on the speculation, the site has discovered that an episode slated for next autumn has him falling in love with a character played by Maya Rudolph... something that'd be pretty difficult if he's six feet under.The official logline for the upcoming episode on December 15, called 'Christmas Guy, explains that "Stewie devises a master plan to get the one and only thing he wants for Christmas," while Brian's name is included in the cast. Quite how Brian will return or what state he'll be in remains to be seen, but by all accounts it seems the death was just a stunt, as a chunk of the internet suspected.In case you missed the episode on November 24 where the popular pooch carked it, he was promptly buried after being run over a car. Stewie was unable to save him at the time due to his time machine having been destroyed.Will he now manage to build another one and reverse the events, and what does this mean for the Griffin's new dog Vinny, voiced by Tony Sirico? We'll find out a week from Sunday.*Editor's Note: Yes, we do realize that these upcoming episodes were produced quite awhile ago, as reflected by our mention of the Maya Rudolph episode already in the works for next fall. The listening to the fans comment was meant to be tongue-in-cheek!

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Junior Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter