Who did Family Guy kill off season 12 episode 6: Producer talks about death of [spoiler]!

It was announced several months ago that Family Guy would be killing off one of its major characters.

Tonight, Sunday November 24, 2013 is the night that one of the Griffin family dies during season 12 episode 6.

And–MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD–Brian Griffin dies this episode after being run over during a hit-and-run!

It’s another time travel episode. This time, however, Stewie tires of the paradoxes and so destroys the time machine by crushing it. A few hours later, Brian is hit by a driver who speeds away.

Brian is taken to a vet, who announces that his injuries are too severe to repair–moreover, says the vet, the family should say their goodbyes. They do, Brian says he loves them too, and he passes away with a smile on his face.

After Brian’s death, in order to bring his friend back, Stewie attempts to fix the time travel device, only to find its raw materials are no longer in production–so it can never be rebuilt.

The family has a funeral, cries… and almost immediately replaces Brian with another dog, Vinny, with whom Stewie becomes friends by the episode’s end.

Executive producer Steve Callaghan talks to E! News about the decision to cut Brian.

What led you to make this crucial decision for the series?

Well, 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 wil affect the family dynamics and the characters.

Why did you decide that Brian had to be the one to go and not one of the other characters?

It seemed more in the realm of a reality that a dog would get hit by a car, then if one of the kids died. 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.

How did long-time Family Guy actors, Mila Kunis and Seth Green, react once they learned that Brian would die in tonight’s episode?

I think they were glad it wasn’t them. [Laughs.] I think they were surprised, as anyone would be and I think they were pretty stunned especially this far into the show. They were as shocked as anyone.

Why did you feel like you needed to bring another dog into the Griffin family right away?

It felt like the way that this show was conceived by Seth all those years ago, was this entire family unit including the parents, kids and a dog.  So by losing Brian, it felt like a void needed to be filled both comically, and also for the interpersonal relationships between all the characters.  We felt that we needed to fill that role.

Of all the actors in the world, why did you have The Sopranos’ Tony Sirico come in to voice the role of Vinny, the Griffin’s new dog?

I think it was Seth’s idea actually to get Tony to come in. He’s a big fan of The Sopranos and always loved Tony Sirico in particular and he thought it would be fun to write a character based around his voice and his personality and just who he is as an actor.

We saw a little bit of Vinny’s personality in tonight’s episode. How does Vinny’s demeanor compare to Brian’s?
Oh they’re very different. Brian was very smart and studios and intellectual, and Vinny is just a lot more of a rough around the edges.

Brian and Stewie were extremely close and developed a very strong bond over these past 11 seasons. Will Vinny and Stewie continue to grow closer?

Vinny is a really good match for Stewie. 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. He’ll call Stewie out on his B.S. freely.

What’s coming up in the next all-new Family Guy episode airing Dec. 8?

It’s just a regular, run-of-the-mill episode. Well, actually it’s a super funny episode. Peter and Quagmire form a Simon and Garfunkel folk-type singing duo and there’s a lot of funny and original songs that they write which as you might expect are really absurd and silly and stupid.

Lastly, killing off Brian is a really big shocker. Are you worried about the backlash from longtime Family Guy fans?

I’m not, only because 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.