On tonight’s episode of Family Guy, the series bid farewell to one of the most well liked and well known characters on the show. Brian Griffin, the family’s long-time dog and companion, was hit by a car and killed in Sunday’s episode mere minutes after evil genius Stewie Griffin dismantled his time machine.

We have our doubts that Brian is gone forever, but Family Guy producer Steve Callaghan spoke to E! News before tonight’s episode and sounded pretty final and content about having Brian killed off for good.

This was an idea that got pitched in the writers room and it sort of caught fire, and we thought it could be a fun way to shake things up. As soon as this idea came up, we started talking about what the next couple episodes could be and we got very excited about the way this change will affect the family dynamics and the characters.

That’s not what fans of the show want to hear, as Brian Griffin was one of the best characters on the show when paired with Stewie. The partnership the two characters had was some of the show’s best moments — and some fans contest the only good moments the show has had recently.

Brian was almost immediately replaced by a new dog named Vinny, voiced by The Sopranos actor Sirico, something that Callaghan says shouldn’t bother loyal fans of the show.

Our fans are smart enough and have been loyal to our show for long enough, to know that they can trust us. We always make choices that always work to the greatest benefit of the series.

What do you think of the shocking Family Guy twist on Sunday’s episode? Are you going to miss Brian Griffin or are you happy to see him go and see the show change things up? Sound off in the comments section below and let us know.

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