Season 12 · Episode 6 · First aired 24 November 2013
Life of Brian
Episode 6 of Family Guy season 12 (S12E06), the 216th Family Guy episode overall. Written by Alex Carter and directed by Joseph Lee. First broadcast on 24 November 2013.
Story
Brian and Stewie flee an altered timeline created when Stewie armed the attackers at Jamestown, and put history back. Shaken, Stewie takes the time machine to the junkyard and destroys it, and the pair bring home a street hockey net. Setting it up outside, Brian is struck by a car and dies of his injuries with the family around him. Stewie cannot rebuild the machine to save him, and a funeral is held. A month on, Lois decides the family needs another dog, and Peter chooses Vinny, an Italian greyhound who quickly wins the household over. Stewie sets out to discredit him, but relents when Vinny talks about losing his own previous owner, and accepts him. Vinny settles down to sleep beside Stewie's bed.
Production and reception
- The writer Steve Callaghan told E! that the idea came out of the writers' room and that the staff at once began planning how the change would alter the family dynamic. Wikipedia, Life of Brian (Family Guy)
- Callaghan said the dog was chosen because a road accident involving a pet was more plausible, and losing one of the children would have been far more traumatic. Wikipedia, Life of Brian (Family Guy)
- Tony Sirico was cast as Vinny at Seth MacFarlane's suggestion, MacFarlane being an admirer of his work on The Sopranos. Wikipedia, Life of Brian (Family Guy)
- A Change.org petition calling for Brian to be brought back appeared within hours of the broadcast on 24 November 2013 and gathered thousands of signatures. Some viewers had memorial tattoos done. Wikipedia, Life of Brian (Family Guy)
- Eric Thurm of The A.V. Club graded it A minus and found the death scene close to genuinely moving. Nielsen figures put the audience at 4.58 million with a 2.2 rating. Wikipedia, Life of Brian (Family Guy)
Voices
| Voice | Characters |
|---|---|
| Seth MacFarlane | Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin |
| Alex Borstein | Lois Griffin, Witch |
| Seth Green | Chris Griffin |
| Mila Kunis | Meg Griffin |
| John G. Brennan | Mort Goldman |
| Yvette Nicole Brown | Black Woman |
| Ted Jessup | Albino |
Principal voice credits as recorded by IMDb, which lists up to ten credits per episode, so recurring characters can be missing here. Guest voices below come from Wikipedia and TVmaze.
Guest voices
- Yvette Nicole Brown as Black Woman with a Purse
- Tony Sirico as Vinny
- Rachael MacFarlane as 1920's Woman
Season 12: episode 6 of 21
- E1Finders Keepers
- E2Vestigial Peter
- E3Quagmire's Quagmire
- E4A Fistful of Meg
- E5Boopa-dee Bappa-dee
- E6Life of BrianYou are here
- E7Into Harmony's Way
- E8Christmas Guy
- E9Peter Problems
- E10Grimm Job
- E11Brian's a Bad Father
- E12Mom's the Word
- E133 Acts of God
- E14Fresh Heir
- E15Secondhand Spoke
- E16Herpe the Love Sore
- E17The Most Interesting Man in the World
- E18Baby Got Black
- E19Meg Stinks!
- E20He's Bla-ack!
- E21Chap Stewie
SourceFacts from Wikipedia: Family Guy season 12 and the episode's article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Spotted an error? See corrections.
Provenance
Facts only- Data refreshed
- 6 September 2026
- Verification
- Checked against Wikidata and IMDb: title, date, numbering and credits agree
- Licence
- Facts are not copyrightable. Source text on Wikipedia is CC BY-SA 4.0; Wikidata is CC0; IMDb data is used for verification under its non-commercial terms.
- Note
- The story summary and notes were written for this site from the sources listed, by Claude in Claude Code on 2026-09-08, awaiting editorial review. Facts only; no dialogue is reproduced. Voice credits: Information courtesy of IMDb (https://www.imdb.com). Used with permission. Guest cast data from TVmaze (https://www.tvmaze.com), CC BY-SA.