Family Guy’s Future After Season 23 Addressed By Seth MacFarlane

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane discusses the future of his longstanding series. Starting its run in 1999, the animated comedy series is still revered and beloved today for its clever and comical recontextualizations of world events and media in the form of a dysfunctional family living in the suburbs. The series is the winner of nine Emmys, mostly for its voice-over performances, and, while its reviews are often mixed, it has stood the test of time with 22 seasons.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, MacFarlane addressed the show’s future and confirmed that he has no plans to stop it. The creator confessed that there was a time he thought of wrapping it up, but said that the show has “reached escape velocity.” He also stated that he’ll stop the show if people become disinterested and the numbers drop, but since that hasn’t happened, he preferred to move forward. Read the full quote below:

At this point, I don’t see a good reason to stop. People still love it. It makes people happy and it funds some good causes. It’s a lot of extraneous cash that you can donate to Rainforest Trust and you can still go out to dinner that night. There was a time when I thought, it’s time to wrap it up.

At this point, we’ve reached escape velocity. 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. Also, I don’t watch the show so if anyone wants to take another look at this article for anything I missed that would be great.

Should Seth MacFarlane End Family Guy?

Family Guy Is Already Renewed For Season 23.

While the show has seen its fair share of cancelations and un-cancellations at Fox, Family Guy still persists on television. The show continues to parody the zeitgeist and current world events with aplomb, resulting in comedic, sometimes iconic, scenes that are prime fodder for memes. Even some of the best episodes include Brian and Stewie. With the fact that animation is unencumbered by the aging of actors, the show isn’t perturbed by the possibility of its actors leaving. Furthermore, the show’s devoted fanbase suggests that Family Guy has more seasons to offer.

Seasons 22 and 23 were renewed together, with the former expected to air its final episode on April 17. However, its chances of continuing beyond season 23 could depend on the demand and viewership. There has been a decline in viewership in the last two seasons, with some episodes even falling under 1 million viewers. Despite this, the show does stream on Hulu, which is likely to compile a much-improved viewership total. Therefore, these will factor into whether Family Guy could be renewed for season 24.

Ultimately, Family Guy being canceled again seems to be dependent on whether MacFarlane wants to do more seasons. Even with other projects in the works, the creator continues to show passion for the sitcom. He’s currently juggling the animated series with the Ted spinoff and is developing a graphic novel series, The Shrouded College, for Peacock. Nevertheless, as long as the demand is there, Family Guy should continue for more seasons.

Source: LA Times