Entertainment
24 Seasons Later, ’Family Guy’s Unexpected Spin-Off Already Has a Big Problem
The world of Family Guy is set to expand next year with Stewie, a spinoff from Fox and Hulu that centers on the titular tyrannical toddler. Per the logline, the series will take Stewie out of his regular pre-school and see him attending a new school that’s far from the pinnacle of education; to remedy the situation, he takes his collection of cutting-edge inventions and decides to inject some adventure into his classmates’ lives. Stewie also boasts some top-tier Family Guy talent: Seth MacFarlane is set to produce the series and lend his voice to Stewie, and longtime writer Kirker Butler serves as showrunner. Yet fan reaction ranges from confusion to outright derision.
Some fans are wondering why MacFarlane can’t put out another season of Ted, despite the explanation that it takes a movie-level budget to bring the foul-mouthed teddy bear to life. Others have joked that Stewie is about 20 years too late and should have premiered when Family Guy was in its heyday. The two biggest and most legitimate points are that Stewie is integral to the dynamic of Family Guy and that a previous spinoff failed to take off with the fanbase.
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Stewie Is an Integral Part of ‘Family Guy’ — Making a Spinoff Superfluous
From the very beginning of Family Guy, Stewie Griffin was an integral part of the series. His plans for world domination, alongside his quest to kill his mother Lois (Alex Borstein), made him one of the most entertaining parts of the show. Later seasons would tone down Stewie’s matricidal tendencies, but he never lost his cutting wit or his talent for invention. While Seth MacFarlane and Kirker Butler have said that Stewie won’t affect the events of Family Guy, it’s hard to imagine Stewie having as much of a dynamic with other toddlers than he does with the rest of the Griffins.
The idea of Stewie also using hi-tech weaponry and vehicles has been covered extensively on Family Guy. Whether it’s using his time machine to get into certain escapades, or the iconic “Road to the Multiverse” episode, which catapulted Stewie and his dog Brian through different dimensions, there have been plenty of sci-fi adventures on the parent show. Stewie feels like it’s treading well-worn ground at this point, or worse, serving as little more than a Rick & Morty ripoff. If it wants to stand out, it’ll have to find an aspect of Stewie that the parent series hasn’t explored.
A Previous ‘Family Guy’ Spinoff Failed To Take Off With the Fanbase
Once Stewie was announced, fans were quick to point out that it wasn’t the first time a Family Guy character had gotten their own spinoff. The Cleveland Show featured Cleveland Brown (Mike Henry) moving back to his hometown of Stoolbend, Georgia, where he attempted to start a new life with his son, Cleveland Jr. (Kevin Michael Richardson), and even married his old high school sweetheart, Donna Tubbs (Sanaa Lathan). The Cleveland Show was met with mixed reception and was eventually canceled after four seasons. Shortly after, Cleveland returned to Family Guy, leading to plenty of ribbing from the other characters.
The fate of The Cleveland Show doesn’t bode well for Stewie, but there’s also the fact that the upcoming spinoff might be overshadowed by the return of another long-cancelled Fox spinoff. Nathan Fillion recently announced that he was bringing back the cast of Firefly for an animated revival series, in close collaboration with 20th Television. While the Firefly revival has yet to find a home, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine Hulu picking it up. Given how Firefly fans have clamored for a revival for years, this could mean that Stewie is left in the dust; there are also animated series like American Dad! and Bob’s Burgers that feel more appealing to audiences.
Stewie is facing an uphill battle, as Family Guy‘s history and the very nature of Stewie Griffin might hamper the project before it gets off the ground. Stewie would often exclaim “Victory is mine!” when one of his schemes succeeded, but this spinoff feels less like a victory and more like an omen.
Stewie is set to premiere on Fox and Hulu in 2027, while Family Guy is available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu.
- Release Date
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January 31, 1999
- Network
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FOX
- Directors
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Peter Shin, Pete Michels, John Holmquist, Greg Colton, Brian Iles, Julius Wu, Joseph Lee, Joe Vaux, Mike Kim, Steve Robertson, Dan Povenmire, James Purdum, Dominic Bianchi, Dominic Polcino, Bob Bowen, Monte Young, Zac Moncrief, Michael Dante DiMartino, Bert Ring, Seth Kearsley, Scott Wood, Chuck Klein, Brian Hogan, Gavin Dell
- Writers
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Steve Callaghan, Patrick Meighan, Mark Hentemann, Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, Tom Devanney, Alex Carter, Alec Sulkin, Wellesley Wild, Gary Janetti, Andrew Goldberg, Mike Desilets, Anthony Blasucci, Matt Weitzman, Kirker Butler, Damien Fahey, John Viener, Brian Scully, Ted Jessup, Chris Regan, Matt Pabian, Garrett Donovan, Ricky Blitt, Aaron Lee, Julius Sharpe
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Seth MacFarlane
Peter Griffin / Brian Griffin / Stewie Griffin / Glenn Quagmire / Tom Tucker (voice)
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Alex Borstein
Lois Griffin / Tricia Takanawa / Loretta Brown / Barbara Pewterschmidt (voice)
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