For the first time in over 20 years, Family Guy is not a part of FOX’s fall schedule with the long-running animated series being pushed back to the midseason lineup this year in a move that has left many fans shocked and disappointed.
It’s the latest in what has been a year of unexpected changes for the series, with the decision to move the show to midseason coming months after FOX relocated the show from its long-standing Sunday night spot – where it aired as part of the network’s Animation Domination block alongside the likes of The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers for years – and shifted the show to Wednesday nights.
The good news is that despite these puzzling changes to the release strategy of the show, FOX remains adamant that there are no plans to bring the series to a close anytime soon.
"There was a time when I said, 'Hey, let's wrap it up while we're going strong,'" series creator Seth MacFarlane told the L.A. Times in celebrating the show’s 25th anniversary earlier this year. "I don't see a good reason to stop. People still love it. It makes people happy. And, I don't know that there's any reason to stop at this point unless people get sick of it. Unless the numbers show that people just are, 'Eh, we don't care about Family Guy anymore.' But that hasn't happened yet."
And while we might have to wait until 2025 for the new season of the show to arrive on FOX as part of its midseason lineup, the good news is that fans will still get to enjoy a little bit of Family Guy this fall!
As revealed at PaleyFestLA, two new Family Guy holiday specials will be coming to Hulu.
The first of these two specials will come on October 14 and will be a Halloween special featuring guest appearances from Glen Powell as Patrick McCloskey, the reigning champion of the Quahog Pumpkin Contest, and Derek Jacobi, as the voice of Stewie’s teddy bear Rupert. The special will follow Peter and his friends as they face off against Patrick McCloskey in the annual pumpkin contest as they look to dethrone the reigning champ “by any means necessary.”
FOX has not yet released details about the second special, but it has been confirmed that the special will be a Christmas special and it’s expected to release sometime in December. Given the show's Halloween special will be released about two weeks prior to the holiday, it seems likely the Christmas special will drop sometime in early to mid-December.
While perhaps not the same as getting new weekly episodes, the specials will at least allow the show to have some holiday fun and give fans new content to look forward to ahead of Family Guy's return for season 23 in 2025!
At this time, it seems the specials will stream exclusively on Hulu, but we'll see if either get a linear debut on FOX as well.