Last month the world was rocked, or at least gently nudged, by the sudden demise of one of Family Guy’s most beloved characters, Brian.

Before the character’s death it had been announced that the show would be killing off one of its core family members, and yet nobody expected it to be the popular canine. Many believed it would be one of the less favoured characters such as Meg or Chris (especially seeing as Milan Kunis is getting an increasingly more demanding work schedule) but it turned out that Seth MacFarlane decided it cut ties with one of his voices. The decision was met with a public outcry, immediately after Brian’s final episode was aired thousands took to the internet to create petition, sparking a mass plea for the return of Brian. Well it seems the voice of the masses have, for once, been heard.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Brain is set to return to the cast full time on December 15. While the network has declined to comment on the speculation, the site has discovered that an episode slated for next autumn has Brian falling in love with a character played by Maya Rudolph … something that will be very difficult if he’s six feet under.

The official summary for the upcoming episode in December, called ‘Christmas Guy’, explains that “Stewie devises a master plan to get the one and only thing he wants for Christmas,” while Brian’s name is included in the cast. Quite how Brian will return or what state he’ll be in remains to be seen, but by all accounts it seems the death was in fact just a stunt, as a part of the internet had suspected.

In case you missed the episode on November 24 where the popular pooch popped his clogs, he was promptly buried after being run over by a car. Stewie was unable to save him at the time due to his time machine having been destroyed. Will he now manage to build another one and reverse the events, and what would this mean for the Griffin’s new dog Vinny (voiced by Tony Sirico)? Well we will find out soon enough.

What did you think about Brian being killed off? Do you want him back? Let us know in the comments below