‘Family Guy’ Creators Talk Time-Traveling to Season 1 in Jesus-Themed Finale

Oh, God. The enfant terrible of animated comedies is delivering unto us a Season 22 finale of biblical proportions. Because after Family Guy’s near-quarter of a century on the air, nothing is sacred!

“I never thought I’d hear myself say this as a writer,” confesses Richard Appel, a showrunner alongside Alec Sulkin, “but the Standards and Practices department at Fox is easy to work with and pretty good with us.”

Due in part to the sheer success of the cartoon, as well as its consistent ability to push the envelope without inspiring boycotts (anymore), Guy has gotten away with decades of gags other shows wouldn’t dare to attempt—like tonight’s trip back to the days of Jesus. A travesty, you say? Even the respected drama The Chosen has a sense of humor—witness its Jesus (Jonathan Roumie) cracking jokes!

The episode kicks off with Brian the dog (voiced by series creator Seth MacFarlane) falling for a devout vet tech (Mae Whitman). When he pretends to be pious himself, things suddenly go from holy-roller rom-com to something far more irreverent. “We call that an Act 1 mislead,” reveals Sulkin. “You go a little bit down a road with something that seems like it could be a Family Guy story, and then it turns into something else.”

Brian’s new girlfriend refuses to engage in premarital hanky-panky for fear of eternal damnation, though, so the incensed horndog has a novel solution. He hops into the time machine that Stewie (also voiced by MacFarlane) built back in Season 1. The lothario’s goal: to alter the past so he can score in the present.

Before you can say “Thou shalt not time travel,” the pooch has landed in Israel circa A.D. 30 (above), and he’s soon joined by Stewie in a misbegotten crusade to stop Jesus (voiced by exec producer Sulkin) from creating Christianity. Lordy.

Family Guy, Season 22 Finale, Wednesday, April 17, 9:30/8:30c, Fox