Family Guy showrunners tease Rupert's Halloween story and reflect on 25 years of peak comedy.

Hulu will stream Son of the Family Halloween Special on October 14, the first of two exclusive holiday specials before the show's highly anticipated 23rd season. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the animated show was created by Seth McFarlane for Fox and is currently directed by Rich Appel (King of the hill) and Alek Sulkin (Ted) as its hosts.

Son of the Family's Halloween Special centers around the Pumpkin Pageant, where the show's characters must face off against the champion Patrick McCloskey (voiced by). Twisters star Glen Powell). Related to the annual Quahog competition are Stewie's relationship problems with his usually lifeless teddy bear Rupert. Gosford Park's Derek Jacobi and developed a taste for violence. While this isn't Rupert's first appearance, it does mark his biggest role on the show. Along with special guest stars, Son of the Family MacFarlane himself, along with favorites like Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Mila Kunis and Arif Zahir also appear.

Screen Rant He interviewed Appel and Sulkin about some ideas Son of the Family's Halloween special, especially when it comes to the casting process. Showrunners also looked back at the previous decade Son of the Family and the reasons why the show has been so successful for longer than that.

The Secret to Bringing Rupert to Life Explained by Family Guy Showrunners

“Such a classically trained actor who comes with his own accent just feels right for Stewie's partner.”

Screen Rant: Many months have passed with Rupert rarely saying a word, and now he has an entire guest star and storyline dedicated to him. Can we talk about resurrecting it, maiming it a bit?

Richard Appel: We are always looking for something fresh and new. It's not the first time Rupert has spoken, but it's certainly the first time he's played such a sustained role.

One of our show's longtime writers, Gary Janetti, did a series in England with Ian Macallan and Derek Jacobi. Unlike most cartoons, we knew we had a relationship with Derek Jacobi, and the idea of ​​taking a classically trained actor with his accent was a natural fit for Stewie's partner.

Screen Rant: Can you talk about the idea behind this Halloween special? Are there any particular horror stories that he was inspired by? Obviously with Rupert we see a piece Child's play yes, but is there anything else you're shooting?

Alec Sulkin: There's a bit of a Single White Woman element where Rupert kind of tells Stewie, “If I can't have you, no one can.” It doesn't necessarily feel like a Halloween trope, but more like a horror movie.

But I think when we realized we could get Derek Jacobi, Rich made it—which sounds weird to say in 2024 because he's not exactly on everyone's mind, but he's just a fantastic actor and he really had fun with the role.

I think with Glen Powell in one of the stories and Derek Jacobi in the other, it felt like, “Okay, we're covering our bases here.”

Glenn Powell stars as Patrick McCloskey, Quahog's Pumpkin Content Champion

“I thought, apologies to Glenn, 'Who could play better?'”

Screen Rant: At what point in the process did Glen Powell come in? Did you always know he would be voicing this character? Did you have that vision and vision, or was it like, “this guy's blowing up, let's go for it?” you said

Richard Appel: I know him a little bit and have known him for several years. I remember he made Top Gun: Maverick before COVID and it kept getting delayed and everyone who saw it knew it was going to do very well. And he's just a great guy.

When I was getting ready to read this episode, I literally ran into it or saw it by accident. I thought, I'm sorry to Glenn, 'Who better to play? He was a lot of a gamer like Derek Jacobi and he came to the office.

She arrived at the office unannounced, and as if that wasn't enough fodder, she brought along her adorable dog, who she frequently posts on Instagram with. Word spread, and even in a home environment after work, people started flocking around the recording booth. He was absolutely friendly with everyone.

Family Guy's 25-year legacy shows no signs of slowing down

“That's in large part due to our smart, resourceful and hilarious writers.”

Screen Rant: Celebrating 25 years Son of the Familyand continues to this day. It's still a relevant, important, ubiquitous part of pop culture. How do you do that?

Alec Sulkin: It was a pleasure to co-host the show with Rich, who has been on the show longer than I have. But I've been there with him for almost nine years and I think we're doing well in that area. By the way, in no other capacity – we are terrible miners.

To be honest, I was thinking about it today. It's just that we have very smart and funny writers, and times change and comedic tastes change. I think people have this notion that “Family Guy was their grandfather and they're immune to it all.” But, no, we had to change with the times. Maybe not as much as some shows, but that's largely due to our smart, resourceful and hilarious writers who can sense the changes in society and find the funniest way to do them on Family Guy. I think that's a big part of why we're still here.

Richard Appel: I'd just go with it and say that from his early years – and I wasn't there for most of the early years – Seth was fearless. 25 years ago, people still respond to a kind of fearless comedy today. Sometimes people say, “You're an equal opportunity,” 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 stories and telling them in a realistic way, and reality isn't always so sensitive to someone's reaction to things. In fact, we all know it isn't.

The three longest-running comedies currently on the air are The Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park. What do these shows have in common? I think the great thing about animated shows is that we have at least 35 characters like The Simpsons. It's just simple math that the number of stories you can tell and the type of stories you can tell increases. Unlike a typical sitcom, we have characters that represent different walks of life. They have a limited budget, so there are seven actors. It just helps to give the world a novel character.

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.

25th anniversary Halloween special Son of the Family It will premiere exclusively on Hulu on October 14th.