According to Deadline, Seth MacFarlane (The Orville, The Cleveland Show) and the showrunners for Family Guy and American Dad will be exiting the shows until the Writers Guild of America get a new deal with the studios. Along with MacFarlane, Family Guy’s Rich Appel (King of the Hill, The Simpsons) and Alec Sulkin (Seth Macfarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, Dads) as well as American Dad’s Brian Boyle (Veronica’s Closet, Friends) and Matt Weitzman (Off Centre, Damon) told 20th Television that none of them would be working on their Fox network television series’ as long as the WGA is still on strike.
MacFarlane was a supporter of the last WGA strike in 2007 and has been seen on the picket lines since the guild went on strike on May 2, according to Deadline.
Deadline reports that representatives for 20th TV and MacFarlane had no comment on the showrunners’ exit.
It is likely that there will be little immediate impact on Family Guy and American Dad. Family Guy finished airing its 21st season on May 7 and American Dad, which started its 20th season on March 27, has about 3 months of scripts prepared.
Fox renewed Family Guy for a 22nd and 23rd season in January and renewed American Dad for a 20th and 21st season in December 2021.
According to Deadline, Sulkin, Boyle, Weitzman, and Appel were individually sent letters last week informing them that they had to show up for work “non-WGA duties.”
Also according to Deadline, MacFarlane and his Fuzzy Door Productions have not received a suspension letter from 20th Century Fox Television. MacFarlane shifted in 2020 from a longtime overall deal with the company to a five-year and $200 million agreement with NBCUniversal.
Family Guy first aired on Fox on January 31, 1999, and American Dad aired its first season on February 6, 2005.