It's the end of an era — or at least, it might be.
After 25 years of explosive mayhem, Family Guy fans just witnessed something they never thought possible: the Giant Chicken may have clucked his last.
That’s right, Ernie - Peter Griffin’s oversized, absurdly persistent arch-nemesis - appears to be dead for real this time — and it wasn’t even Peter who took him down.
It was Meg.
The Longest Running Joke That Never Quit… Until Now?
Since 1999, Ernie the Giant Chicken (voiced by Danny Smith) has swooped into Family Guy with one goal — ruining Peter’s day.
What started in season two’s 'Da Boom' as a squabble over an expired coupon turned into a full-blown rivalry involving skydiving fistfights, train-wreck brawls, and enough property destruction to bankrupt Quahog several times over.
Every battle followed the same chaotic rhythm: Peter and Ernie would clash in a cinematic, often multi-minute slugfest that left cities in ruin and ended with Ernie seemingly dead… only for his eyes to pop open again seconds later and filled with vengeance.
The show’s creators leaned into this self-aware loop, turning the chicken fights into meme-worthy spectacles that fans loved and widely discussed.
Yes, it seemed that Ernie was an indestructible fixture of Family Guy.
Until now.
Meg vs. Ernie: A Match Nobody Asked For
In Season 23’s episode 'The Chicken or the Meg', the show flipped the script in a way no one saw coming.
Meg, often the show's favorite punching bag, finds herself in the weirdest of situations — falling for Ernie’s son, Nugget, on a dating show. Naturally, Peter loses his mind over his daughter dating the son of his nemesis. In rebellion, Meg moves in with the chickens.
That’s when the feathers really start flying.
After tensions boil over, Ernie and Meg square off. What starts off as a classic-style fight scene ends with a shocking visual: Meg calmly walks out of the house holding Ernie’s severed head. His body, of course, does the obligatory run-around-without-a-head routine... because he's a chicken. Get it?
Anyway, as the camera lingers and zooms in on Ernie's head, fans waited for the signature eye twitch that always signaled the giant chicken's return.
But it never came.
So… Is He Really Dead?
That’s the million-dollar question.
Family Guy has a history of shocking character deaths that don’t stick. I'm sure we all shed a tear over Brian, the Griffin family dog, who was famously run over in 2013. The internet revolted, a petition exploded, and within two episodes, Stewie time-traveled to save his four-legged friend.
Even show creator Seth MacFarlane admitted at the time: “We thought it would create a little bit of a stir, but the rage wasn’t something we counted on.”
Yet Family Guy has shown a willingness to pull the plug when a joke runs its course. Remember Evil Monkey? Gone. Stewie’s mission to kill Lois? Quietly retired. Even the infamous Herbert has been sidelined. Meg might’ve just added one more to the list of permanently retired punchlines.
Losing Ernie feels like losing a piece of Family Guy’s DNA. His brawls with Peter weren’t just gag filler — they were absurdist, high-octane detours that mocked action movies and stretched the bounds of animation itself.
But times change. TV evolves. Even Family Guy, despite pretending it doesn't care about continuity, has slowly started retiring its longest-running gags. The death of Ernie could signal a new era—less reliant on decade-old bits and more willing to flip its own formulas.
Will Ernie stay dead? Maybe. Maybe not. But if this really is the end, it's a shockingly poetic way to go — at the hands of the one Griffin who’s always been underestimated and overlooked.