Family Guy’s producers have announced the death of a long-running character 26 years after their first appearance, and the reason is unexpected. Family Guy viewers are eagerly awaiting the show’s return to Fox next year with a new season. Just finished this summer, Season 23 delivered some surprising moments, including a particularly shocking episode centered around Meg, which concluded with a violent and permanent death. This is a death that viewers won’t soon forget.
Family Guy doesn’t worry too much about keeping a consistent storyline throughout all its episodes, but some changes have become permanent. One example is when the show permanently removes a character, and the most recent case is Ernie the Giant Chicken. After Meg killed him in Season 23, Family Guy’s executive producers told TV Line that the Giant Chicken is truly gone, stating, “I think that the chicken has gone the way of all flesh.”
Family Guy Kills Off the Giant Chicken for Good
In the Family Guy Season 23 episode, “The Chicken or the Meg,” the episode ends with Meg starting a fight with Ernie the Giant Chicken. She quickly shows that defeating him was surprisingly easy-she simply cut off his head and threw it away. Unlike previous fights with Peter, where the chicken would show signs of life and hint at a comeback, Ernie doesn’t move at all. It turns out Family Guy doesn’t intend to bring back Peter’s old rival anytime soon.
“I believe the giant chicken has run its course,” Family Guy executive producer Alec Sulkin explained. “We had so many fantastic scenes featuring the giant chicken battling Peter that it became difficult to create anything better. It places a huge demand on our production team, and we may have already explored everything that character had to offer.” Executive producer Richard Appel agreed, pointing out that the fight between Peter and Homer in the well-known The Simpsons and Family Guy crossover episode was the peak of the concept. “Watching that fight, it’s hard to imagine how we could go any further with it.”
Family Guy Killing Off the Giant Chicken Makes Sense
Family Guy has pretty much exhausted the comedic potential of the Giant Chicken gag. First appearing in the Season 2 episode “Da Boom” back in 1999, the Giant Chicken has shown up now and then throughout the series as a recurring enemy for Peter. These appearances always led to long, drawn-out fight scenes where Peter would ultimately win, with hints that the Chicken would return for a rematch someday. Beyond these fights, their rivalry was explored further in the Season 19 episode, “Fecal Matters,” where Peter actually helped save the Chicken from a life-threatening illness.
It became clear that Peter needs this competitive dynamic to add some excitement and break up the monotony of his daily life. This was essentially the situation until the chicken character was written off in its last appearance. Considering it only had a major role in about ten episodes over 25 seasons, the Family Guy writers’ decision to have it die makes sense. After all, they’ve brought characters back before, and could easily do so again if they come up with a compelling story idea in the future.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
HT – TV Line
Read More
- Eve Teschmacher’s Secret: How She REALLY Saved Superman!
- Gold Rate Forecast
- Preview: Here’s Why Resident Evil Requiem’s Tension Is Off the Charts
- Hand-drawn black-and-white dungeon RPG The Secret of Weepstone announced for PC
- Brides director Nadia Fall: “This film is much more tender than people will assume”
- Marvel’s AI Character Raises Alarming Questions
- Vietnam’s Crypto Experiment: A Five-Year Drama of Rules, Restrictions, and Digital Dreams 🎭
- Where to Start Demon Slayer Manga After Infinity Castle Movie
- 7 DC Villians Who Should Join the Suicide Squad
- 99 Nights in the Forest codes: Full list of codes for September 2025
2025-10-04 23:40