The Only Star Wars Actor To Cameo In The Family Guy Parody Episodes

The 2007-2011 "Family Guy" trilogy parodying the original "Star Wars" trilogy (labeled "Laugh It Up, Fuzzball" on DVD release) was audacious enough to work. The show's humor is built on cutaway gags, often ripe with movie parodies, so recreating the "Star Wars" movies wholesale took that to another level. At the time, both "Star Wars" and "Family Guy" fit under the Fox corporate umbrella, and "Star Wars" creator George Lucas is a "Family Guy" fan who was eager to lend support.

The "Family Guy" creative team are Gen X-ers who grew up with the original trilogy; the series' creator/lead voice actor Seth MacFarlane was born in 1973, so "Star Wars" was a part of his childhood. (Even if MacFarlane is ultimately more of a Trekkie.) However, "Laugh It Up Fuzzball" was released at the right time to get another generation's attention. Namely, young boys who (a.) were obsessed with "Star Wars" because of the prequel trilogy and (b.) thought "Family Guy" was the funniest thing ever because the characters used naughty words. (I'm speaking from personal experience here.)

"Laugh It Up, Fuzzball" recasts the Griffin family and friends into the roles of the original "Star Wars" trilogy: Chris Griffin becomes Luke Skywalker, while his parents Peter and Lois become Han Solo and Princess Leia. Talking dog Brian Griffin, of course, becomes Chewbacca, evil infant Stewie is Darth Vader, and family friends Cleveland and Quagmire are R2-D2 and C-3PO.

In the third and final episode, "It's A Trap" (parodying "Return of the Jedi"), "Family Guy" even got a cameo from a member of the original "Star Wars" cast. Surprisingly, it was not Mark Hamill, even though these days he's most prolific as a voice actor. (Hamill had previously appeared in a "Family Guy" cutaway gag as Luke Skywalker performing laser eye surgery with a lightsaber.)

No, the cameo in "It's A Trap" was the late Carrie Fisher, who also had a recurring role on "Family Guy" as Peter's boss Angela.

Carrie Fisher, as Angela, voiced Mon Mothma on Family Guy

Fisher debuted as Angela in the "Family Guy" season 4 episode "Jungle Love." Bringing in a geek icon as part of the recurring cast feels like a repeat of how the show recruited former Batman actor Adam West as Quahog's twisted mayor, also named Adam West. (In the first "Star Wars" parody episode, "Blue Harvest," Mayor West fills the role of Grand Moff Tarkin.)

Of course, after Fisher's passing in 2016, "Family Guy" retired Angela's character. Peter delivers a eulogy for Angela in the episode "Pawtucket Pete," shouting out Fisher's most famous role by noting her "voice will live on in tiny droid projected messages." The most earnest part of the eulogy, which feels more like it's for Fisher herself, has Peter conclude: "I may have lost a boss, but Heaven has gained a princess."

 

Now, the original "Star Wars" trilogy didn't exactly have an excess of female characters. (There's a reason Meg Griffin, the show's perennial butt of jokes, gets reduced to playing various monsters: the garbage squid in "Blue Harvest," the Space Slug in "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side," and the Sarlaac in "It's A Trap.) So, when Mon Mothma shows up, Peter/Han describes her as "the only other chick in the galaxy."

In "Return of the Jedi," Mon Mothma is played by Caroline Blakiston. The film doesn't linger on her character, but she's implicitly a leader in the Rebel Alliance; she's the one who delivers the big exposition dump about the second Death Star.

Lucas brought back Mothma in the prequel trilogy finale "Revenge of the Sith," now played by Genevieve O'Reilly. Most of the younger Mothma's scenes were cut, but they would've established her as a Republic senator and founding member of the Rebels alongside Padmé (Natalie Portman) and Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits). Later "Star Wars" films/TV shows, including "Rogue One" and "Andor," have brought back O'Reilly as Mon Mothma for expanded roles.

In "It's A Trap," though, Fisher only gets to recreate Mothma's 30-second scene from "Return of the Jedi." Given Angela's role as Peter's boss (i.e. an authority figure like Mon), the dearth of women in "Star Wars," and that casting Angela as Leia would be too obvious, it's as fitting a role as she could've had.