Every Recurring Character Family Guy Has Killed Off

Since "Family Guy" debuted in 1999, it's racked up a surprisingly large body count. Admittedly, a lot of these deaths are within the family itself and were quickly reversed: Brian died in season 12 and was brought back two episodes later, and Stewie has died countless times only for his death to turn out to be a dream or a simulation. As always, Meg has it worst. The show will casually throw her out into the cold vacuum of space just for the gag. (She will be back in the next scene like nothing happened.) 

The show typically has zero concern for continuity, which only makes it more surprising when they make a serious, permanent change to the status quo. Over its 20+ seasons, "Family Guy" has killed off a bunch of recurring characters for good, and it has committed to a lot of those deaths even when they probably didn't have to. (I mean, were casual fans really keeping tabs on Vern and Johnny?) 

Here are some of the strangest, most surprising major character deaths in "Family Guy" history. Let's start from the beginning... 

Caution: In case it wasn't obious, there are major spoilers below.

Although Peter is best known as an employee at the Pawtucket Brewery, he did switch careers a lot in the early seasons. His first recurring job was as a toy safety inspector at the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory. This was where we met Mr. Jonathon Weed, Peter's uptight, Italian, implicitly-homosexual boss who was always giving him a hard time. Mr. Weed may have been tough on Peter, but he was always quick to forgive him by the end of the episode. 

Tragically, Mr. Weed's kind heart was his undoing, as Peter unwittingly murdered him in season 3. Okay, so technically it wasn't murder, as Mr. Weed choked on a bread roll that was first spit out by Brian, who was also choking on it. Still, poor Mr. Weed would've lived if only he hadn't agreed to have dinner at the Griffins' house. 

His death led to a period of self-discovery for Peter throughout season 3. Peter's next job was as a fisherman, then as a founder of the National Association of Fat People, and finally, he got his long-term job at the Brewery (although he was constantly fired and rehired there). Mr. Weed was soon largely forgotten by the series, although he does occasionally return as a ghost. 

Peter's grouchy Irish Catholic father was a recurring presence in the early seasons of "Family Guy," usually brought in whenever the show wanted to tackle some sort of religious conflict. His final living appearance was in season 5's "Peter's Two Dads," where he is crushed to death by Peter attempting to ride a unicycle down a staircase. 

Peter feels bad about killing his father, but the episode's not about that. Instead it's about Peter realizing that Francis wasn't his biological dad. The rest of the episode is about him flying off to meet his father in Ireland, much like what "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" would do over a decade later. Peter's dad turns out to be a town drunk named Mickey McFinnigan, and Peter wins his respect the only way he knows how: binge drinking.  

It may seem callous for the show to have moved on from Francis so soon, but don't worry, "Family Guy" brings Francis back in season 8's "Family Goy" for one last grumpy hurrah. There, Francis threatens Peter with eternal damnation if he converts to Judaism. It's not the most flattering light for Francis to go out on, but it's definitely in character. 

This vaudevillian duet aren't quite major characters on the show, but Vern and Johnny are memorable enough to make the list. Their whole running gag is that Vern (voiced by MacFarlane) will pop up in a random scene to give some old-timey spiel, before asking Johnny (voiced by no one, because he doesn't speak) to "play him off" with his piano. The song Johnny plays is always "Galloping Gertie" by Sam Fonteyn. Seth MacFarlane loves old-timey music, and you can definitely see that on display with these two. 

Precious little about these characters make any sense to any viewer born within the past 40 years, which might be why viewers complained about their constant appearances. The "Family Guy" writers heard fans out, and conceded that they relied on the two a bit too much. That's why, in season 5's "Saving Private Brian," they introduced a standard Vern and Johnny gag before having Stewie swoop in shoot them down with a gun. Stewie turned to the audience and said, "Okay, they're dead, alright? We're not gonna be seeing them again."

But absence makes the heart grow fonder, so a lot of fans today miss good ol' Johnny and Vern. That may be why they were brought back for a brief gag in season 6's "Back to the Woods," doing their same shtick as ghosts. Well, Vern is a ghost, and when he asks Johnny to play him off, we see Johnny playing the piano down in fiery hell. Vern looks at the audience and says, "You're probably wondering why he's in hell. Johnny liked little boys."

Well, I for one do not care for Johnny any longer, and you can quote me on that. Hopefully he'll be accompanied down there by Herbert sometime in the new season 23.

Seth MacFarlane considers the season 9 two-part premiere, "And Then There Were Fewer," to be one of the show's finest hours. It's a well-done murder mystery with actual stakes, and the larger scale coincides nicely with the show's transition into HD. The episode's first victim, James Woods, is revealed to have miraculously survived a few seasons later, but all the other victims stayed dead. Two of them were minor one-off characters, but three of them were characters who'd been around for years. 

First was Muriel Goldman, the mother of Neil Goldman and wife of Mort. It was sad to see her go, but Mort's reaction to her death points out that she won't be missed much. Mort tries to call her young, beautiful, generous, but he keeps cutting himself off mid-word because he knows she was none of those things. Eventually he settles on, "We were married," which no one can argue with. 

The second victim was Derek Wilcox, the new husband of Brian's ex-girlfriend Jillian (Drew Barrymore). Derek's whole thing is that he's better than Brian in every way, plus he's a remarkably understanding and patient partner to the sweet-yet-simple Jillian. His death scene features the funniest line in the episode, where he sees the killer approaching and goes, "Oh my god, it's you! You're the man/woman who's been killing everyone!" Thank you for keeping us in suspense, Derek. 

The last one to die was the killer herself, Diane Simmons. Diane was the long-suffering news anchor who worked alongside Tom Tucker; she was a constant presence on the series thanks to the show's love of news exposition, but this was her first proper time to shine. Turns out, Diane has a dark side: She wanted revenge against Tom Tucker and James Woods, and she didn't care how many innocent victims she had to take down in the process. Diane nearly killed Lois too, but luckily, Stewie was there to snipe her down beforehand. "If anyone's gonna take that b—h down, it's gonna be me," he says. It just goes to show that having a homicidal baby in the family can sometimes pay off.

Voiced by Wallace Shawn, Bertram is one of those characters who can only exist in a show like "Family Guy." Bertram is introduced in season 1 as one of Peter's sperm. Stewie tries to kill Bertram in order to maintain his role as the baby of the family, but he and Bertram ultimately reach an understanding. At some point between seasons 1 and 3, Peter donates sperm, and Bertram was born, making he and Stewie become enemies once again. 

Bertram returned in season 9's "The Big Bang Theory," going back in time to kill Stewie's ancestor, Leonardo da Vinci. Although Stewie warns Bertram that killing Da Vinci would cause a paradox that would destroy the entire universe, Bertram decides it's all worth it and kills da Vinci anyway. (You have to respect a hater who's this committed.) This choice of Bertram's leads to the final climactic battle between he and Stewie, and this time Stewie ends things for good by shooting Bertram with a crossbow in the chest — and then the head. 

Rest in peace, Bertram. Of all the evil time-traveling babies I know, you were definitely in the top two. 

Admittedly, Horace always felt like a missed opportunity. Whereas "The Simpsons" gave us the lovely Moe as the town's bartender/proprietor and "The Cleveland Show" gave us David Lynch, "Family Guy" rarely bothered to flesh out poor Horace. He was a grumpy but dependable bartender, and fans always kind of assumed he'd be there forever. So it was a bit of a shock when season 11's "Save the Clam" has him randomly die in a baseball game mishap, not unlike an infamous season 11 "Simpsons" episode with poor Maude Flanders.

Horace's role was quickly replaced by Jerome (Kevin Michael Richardson), a relative newcomer to the series. Jerome has served as the owner of the Drunken Clam throughout the rest of the show, and unlike Horace, he's been allowed to have a fairly strong, memorable presence as a bartender. If the show ever decides to kill him too, it'll have to be a much more serious affair. 

Thelma Griffin dies of a stroke at the start of season 12's "Mom's the Word," although the episode's barely about her. The show uses her death as a jumping off point for a storyline about Peter being molested by an older woman. It's a weird episode, serving as just one of many examples of how "Family Guy" is a far less sentimental show than its animated peers. Thelma may have been given more screentime before her death than, say, Mona from "The Simpsons," but Thelma's death had far less of an impact on her son. 

Then again, it feels fitting that her death episode is such a joke, because Thelma has always been something of a callous character. Every flashback to Peter's childhood displays Thelma as a negligent mother. She even gets her son deported at one point because she forgot to fill out the paperwork to declare him a U.S. citizen. Thelma's death could never give us an episode like "Mona Leaves-A," and that's okay.

"Star Wars" icon Carrie Fisher, who voices Peter's tough yet canonically-unattractive boss Angela, passed away in December 2016. Not long after, Adam West, who plays the long-serving Quahog mayor of the same name, passed away in June 2017. The result is that season 17 features the off-screen deaths of both characters. 

Angela's death is acknowledged in "Pawtucket Pete," which opens with Peter giving a eulogy at Angela's funeral. "She may be gone, but her voice will live on in DVD and Hulu Plus and tiny droid-projected messages," Peter says. "I may have lost a boss, but heaven has gained a princess." The heartfelt moment was undercut by Peter realizing he was at the wrong funeral, but it was still sweet.

Adam West's death was acknowledged with the season 17 finale, "Adam West High," in which Brian successfully petitions to name the town's high school after him. At the end of the episode, Brian nearly dies from falling off a cliff, but the unspeaking ghost of Mayor West swoops in to save him. It's not clear if this actually happened or if this was just a hallucination, but it still made for a touching tribute.

I suppose the writers must've regretted off killing Bertram, because in season 17, they gave Stewie another infant frenemy to feud with. Doug is the toddler next door, voiced by Chris Parnell, who is constantly trying to one-up Stewie and often succeeds. Their rivalry hits the point of no return in season 21's "The Candidate," where the two run against each other for the title of their daycare's "Snack Captain." Stewie doesn't murder Doug, but he does win the election, and as icing on the cake, he also finds out that Doug died in a commuter plane crash offscreen. 

It's one of the stranger "Family Guy" deaths. A lot of fans rejoiced at the news, seeing as they despise smarmy Doug just as much as Stewie, but other fans were suspicious. Given how the show so easily brought James Woods back from the dead even after he died on-screen, how are we supposed to believe that Doug's off-screen death was legit? Doug is assumed dead for now, but don't be surprised if one day he returns with a vengeance. 

Loretta's a special addition to this list, because she technically never died in "Family Guy" at all. She died in the spinoff series "The Cleveland Show" in a sort of ironic fashion. You know how there was a constant running gag in the early "Family Guy" seasons where Peter's shenanigans interrupt Cleveland's time in the bath tub? Well, this time it happens to Loretta, and it kills her. The scene is pretty mean-spirited, honestly, as we see Loretta's nude corpse on the ground, and Peter and the Quagmire trash-talk her body. I know Loretta hasn't treated Cleveland well over the years, but this still feels undignified.

The reason for Loretta's death was allegedly that her voice actress Alex Borstein (who most famously does the voice for Lois Griffin) didn't want to do Loretta's voice anymore. Loretta's voice was simply too gravelly, too hard on the actress's throat. By killing her off here, "The Cleveland Show" ensured Borstein wouldn't have to do the voice much anymore, while still getting to use Loretta's memory for storylines.

Loretta's death helped to also provide a clean slate for Cleveland's character. Early "Family Guy" Cleveland has a very different family life from later "Family Guy" Cleveland, to the point where his son Cleveland Jr. magically changes shape and personality overnight. Loretta would've survived as a constant reminder of that dissonance, so perhaps it was for the best that she was written off the franchise. I just think a simple "Loretta moves away" storyline would've sufficed.