Family Guy has violently killed off one of its longest-running characters 25 years after he first appeared in the hit animated show.
Fans who have followed Seth McFarlane’s sitcom since its inception in 1999 will be more than aware of Ernie the Giant Chicken – a constant foe of protagonist Peter Griffin. The two often get into long and over-the-top fight sequences.
The feud between the pair began way back in episode three of season two of the show, which first aired in December 1999, after Peter gave Ernie a bad coupon, with their comedic battles reigniting in every season since.
Now in season 23 of the show, which is currently airing on Fox and Hulu in the United States, it would appear that Ernie has finally met his match at the hands of another member of the Griffin family.
In episode five of the season, which is titled “The Chicken and The Meg”, Peter’s daughter, Meg, enters herself into a new reality dating show where she forms an unlikely connection with Ernie’s son Nugget.
As you can imagine, Peter is firmly against the idea of Meg dating the son of his greatest rival so in protest she goes to live with the giant chickens.
However, life isn’t so rosy for Meg in the chicken household, who hold just as much contempt for the Griffins as her father does for Ernie.
One thing leads to another and Meg and Ernie soon end up in a fight. The scene then abruptly cuts to Meg holding Ernie’s severed head suggesting that the chicken has finally been killed off.
It remains to be seen whether Ernie’s demise will be permanent or just temporary as Family Guy has a history of reversing character deaths.
In 2013, Brian, the beloved dog on the show, was killed off after being hit by a car. Fans, though, were were so shocked by the death that they launched an online petition to “Bring back Brian”.
At the time, McFarlane said: “We were all very surprised, in a good way, that people still cared enough about that character to be that angry. We thought it would create a little bit of a stir, but the rage wasn’t something we counted on.”
Brian was briefly replaced by a new dog Vinnie, voiced by the Sopranos’ Tony Sirico, but just two episodes later, he was brought back after his infant sidekick Stewie went back in time to prevent his death.
