Over the course of its 16 seasons, Family Guy has never shied away from shocking its audience. But on Sunday's episode, it upended what long-time fans of the show thought they new about one of member of the Griffin family.
Turns out that Stewie Griffin's British accent is completely fake.
In speaking with child psychologist Dr. Cecil Pritchfield (voiced by Sir Ian McKellan), Stewie said he has pretended to sound British to mask his true identity. "Everything about me is this carefully constructed persona designed to keep people at arm's length," he told the doctor. "This isn't even how I really talk...The accent is no more than an affectation—a coat of armor to get me through the day. Just an image I cultivated so I could feel special."
Stewie's actual voice, provided by series creator Seth MacFarlane, sounds like a higher-pitched version of Brian Griffin, the family's dog (also voiced by MacFarlane). The young child said revealing his "real voice" was a "relief." But he quickly reverted back to his faux accent after Pritchfield suggested that using his real voice would allow him to fit in. "But I don't want to be like everybody else," Stewie said. "I don't want to be like them, like any other zero in this miserable town, like my family...I don't want to be like any other person."
Sunday's episode, titled "Send in Stewie, Please," aired with limited commercial interruption. Since it was a Stewie-centric episode, no other recurring characters made appearances except for Brian at the tail end. The episode also delved into Stewie's underlying issues with his bisexuality, but by the therapy session's conclusion, he decides to conceal his "real" identity.
Stewie's bisexuality has been hinted at throughout Family Guy's 16 seasons. During a Thanksgiving-themed episode in 2014, he almost came out to his family and friends because he felt "comfortable enough" to admit the truth. But Stewie was cut off mid-declaration.
In 2009, MacFarlane confirmed Stewie is gay. "We had an episode that went all the way to the script phase in which Stewie does come out," MacFarlane said. "It had to do with the harassment he took from other kids at school. He ends up going back in time to prevent a passage in Leviticus from being written: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is an abomination.'"
The episode was scrapped as the showrunners wanted to keep Stewie's sexuality "vague," especially since he's only supposed to be 1 year old.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Dory Jackson is a New York-based entertainment journalist from Maryland. She graduated from Randolph-Macon College—in May 2016—with a focus in Communication ... Read more
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