‘Family Guy’ Characters Don’t Stay Dead: Brian the Dog Will Return on Dec. 15; How Will Brian The Dog Come Back? Christmas Miracle?

Family Guy Spoilers.Brian the Dog is coming back to "Family Guy." The beloved family dog died in a car accident on Nov. 24.

"Family Guy" always planned to bring back Brian the dog, but how they will be doing it is wrapped in secrecy. So what do we know? Fox comedy "Family Guy" plans to Brian bring back on Dec. 15. The episode will be called "Christmas Guy." A Fox announcement says "Stewie devises a master plan to get the one and only thing he wants for Christmas."

For those who didn't see the episode, Stewie Griffin dismantled his time machine after he and Brian got into too many close calls. This freed the two to be like normal little family guys. Normal is dangerous for the Griffins and Brian was hit by a car while playing a normal game. Stewie tried to fix the time machine to go back in time before Brian was killed and stop it from happening, but he couldn't get nuclear parts that are now illegal.

So, as it's a Christmas episode and it's a Stewie plan, I think he will plot with Santa and Jesus to get around the red tape for the element that will make the machine work. Seth Macfarlane has a history of subversive comedy and is unafraid to take on religious topics. So this kind of Christmas miracle is perfectly in line with his history.

"Family Guy" writers killed off Brian the Dog  as "fun way to shake things up," but were immediately besieged by fans to bring him back. Two weeks after the Family Guy dog was killed they put up a petition on change.org to bring him back. The petitions got over 128,000 signatures.

"Family Guy" executive producer Steve Callaghan told E! News "This was an idea that got pitched in the writers' room and it sort of caught fire, and we thought it could be a fun way to shake things up."