Hulu will stream theFamily GuyHalloween Special on October 14, the first two exclusive holiday specials that precede the highly-anticipated season 23 of the show. The animated show, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, was created by Seth McFarlane for Fox and currently boasts Rich Appel (King of the Hill) and Alec Sulkin (Ted) as its showrunners.
Family Guy’s Halloween Special centers around a Pumpkin Contest, in which the show’s cast of characters must face off against champion Patrick McCloskey (voiced byTwistersstar Glen Powell). Intertwined with the annual Quahog competition isStewie’s relationship troubleswith his normally inanimate teddy bear Rupert, who is now voiced byGosford Park’s Derek Jacobi and has developed a taste for violence. While this is not the first time Rupert has spoken, it does mark his largest role in the show yet. Alongside the special guest stars,Family Guyfavorites including MacFarlane himself, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Mila Kunis, and Arif Zahir also appear.
Family Guy Halloween Special Reveals A Killer Rupert & Glen Powell’s Character [EXCLUSIVE]
Exclusive: The trailer for the Family Guy Halloween special unveils Glen Powell’s character as well as a murderous Rupert the Teddy Bear.
Screen Rantinterviewed Appel and Sulkin about some of the ideas behindFamily Guy’s Halloween special, especially when it comes to the casting process. The showrunners also looked back on theprevious decade ofFamily Guyand the reasons the show has been so successful for even longer than that.
The Secret To Bringing Rupert To Life Explained By Family Guy Showrunners
“Such a classically trained actor who comes by his accent naturally felt right for Stewie’s partner.”
Screen Rant: Many moons have gone by with Rupert rarely speaking a word, and now he’s got a whole guest star and storyline dedicated to him. Can we talk about bringing him to life and making him a bit stabby?
Rich Appel: We’re constantly looking for something fresh and new. It’s not the very first time that Rupert’s spoken, but it’s certainly the first time that he’s had such a sustained role.
One of the longtime writers on our show, Gary Janetti, did a series in England with Ian Macallan and Derek Jacobi. Unlike most cartoons, we knew we had an in with Derek Jacobi, and the idea of taking such a classically trained actor who comes by his accent naturally felt right for Stewie’s partner.
Screen Rant: Can you speak to the idea behind this Halloween special? Are there specific horror stories that it has been inspired by? Obviously, with Rupert, we’re seeing apiece ofChild’s Playthere, but is there anything else that you’re pulling from?
Alec Sulkin: There’s a little bit of the Single White Female element to it, where Rupert is kind of telling Stewie, “If I can’t have you, no one can.” That feels like, not necessarily a Halloween trope, but a sort of horror movie trope.
But I think Rich nailed it when we realized we could get Derek Jacobi — which sounds a strange thing to say in 2024, because he’s not exactly on everybody’s mind, but he’s just a fantastic actor and really had fun with the part.
I think by having Glen Powell in one of the stories and then Derek Jacobi in the other, it felt like, “Okay, we’re covering our bases here.”
Glen Powell Plays Quahog’s Pumpkin Content Champion Patrick McCloskey
“I thought, apologies to Glenn, ‘Who better to play a cocky a–hole?’”
Screen Rant: At what point in the process did Glen Powell come in? Did you always know that he was going to voice this character? Did you have that vision and foresight, or were you like, “This man is blowing up. Let’s get on it?”
Rich Appel: I happen to know him a little bit and have known him for a few years. I remember that he had shot Top Gun: Maverick before COVID, and its release kept getting delayed, and everyone who had seen it knew this movie was going to do very well. And he is just a great guy.
I literally bumped into him, or I happened to see him, when we were just about to table read this episode. I thought, apologies to Glenn, “Who better to play a cocky a–hole?” He was so game, just like Derek Jacobi, and came into the office.
He came in unannounced to the office and, as if that weren’t bait enough, he brought with him his adorable dog, who’s often on his Instagram posts. Word spread, and even in a post-work-from-home environment, people started to stream around the recording booth. He was totally endearing with everyone.
Family Guy’s 25 Year Legacy Shows No Signs Of Slowing Down
“That’s in large part due to our smart and capable and hilarious writers.”
Screen Rant: We are celebrating25 years ofFamily Guy, and it is enduring to this day. It’s still a relevant, significant, omnipresent part of pop culture. How do you guys do it?
Alec Sulkin: It’s been a pleasure running the show with Rich, who’s been running it longer than I have. But I’ve been there almost nine years now with him, and I think we work well together in that capacity. In no other capacity, by the way — we’re terrible miners.
Honestly, I was thinking about this today. We just have a lot of very smart and funny writers, and times change and comedy tastes change. I think people have this notion of, “Family Guy’s grandfathered in, and they’re immune to all that.” But, no, we’ve had to change along with the times. Maybe not as much as some other shows, but that’s in large part due to our smart and capable and hilarious writers, who can feel the changes happening in society and figure out the funniest way to do them in Family Guy. I think that’s been a big part of why we’re still here.
Rich Appel: I would just piggyback on that and say that from its first years — and I wasn’t there for many of the early years — Seth was fearless. 25 years ago, just as much today, people respond to a comedy that’s kind of fearless. Sometimes people say, “You’re an equal opportunity offender,” and I think that’s very reductive. I don’t think that’s the bread and butter of the show. I think the show is fearless in taking on stories and telling them in a realistic way, and reality isn’t always so hypersensitive to anybody’s reaction to stuff. In fact, we all know it’s not.
The three longest-running comedies on the air right now are The Simpsons, Family Guy, and South Park. What do those shows have in common? I think the huge advantage that animated shows have is that we have a cast of 35 characters at least, as does The Simpsons. It’s just simple math that the number of stories you can tell and the type of stories you can tell goes up. We have characters who represent so many different walks of life than a regular sitcom. They’re limited by budget, so they have seven actors. It just helps to have a novelistic world of characters.
More About Family Guy’s 2024 Halloween Special
“Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Cheater”: Peter and his friends aim to unseat the reigning champion (Glen Powell) in Quahog’s annual Pumpkin Contest by any means necessary.
The 25th anniversary Halloween special ofFamily Guypremieres October 14, exclusively on Hulu.
Family Guy
Cast
Family Guy is an animated series following the eccentric Griffin family. Led by bumbling patriarch Peter and long-suffering Lois, the family includes the sadistic baby Stewie, unpopular teenager Meg, dim-witted Chris, and Brian, their talking dog. The show explores their outlandish adventures in the fictional town of Quahog.
