Family Guy lost a beloved character with the death of Adam West, who played a fictionalized version of himself as mayor of Quahog from very early in the long-running series. The show chose to kill off Mayor Adam West rather than recast the role, and Family Guy has been without a mayor for quite a while. Now, a new mayor is coming to town in Season 19, and Adam West's replacement is definitely A+. Prepare for veteran cowboy actor Sam Elliott on Family Guy!
Sam Elliott, who received an Oscar nomination for his role in A Star is Born, is likely best known for playing cowboys in a variety of projects over the years, including Tombstone, The Big Lebowski, and Netflix's The Ranch. His character in Family Guy will hail from the West, and he won't be playing a fictionalized version of himself like Adam West did. Elliott's new character will have what could be the perfect name: Wild Wild West.
Yes, the new mayor will be none other than the dearly departed Mayor Adam West's cousin, whose first and middle names are both "Wild." The new member of the West family comes east to Quahog in Family Guy when Peter Griffin decides that Quahog needs a fun celebrity figure to hold the office of the mayor, and the crop of candidates just wasn't working. Enter: Wild Wild West! Family Guy executive producer Richard Appel explained the process of landing Sam Elliott for the new mayor of Quahog, telling EW:
He was reluctant. He just felt like he didn’t want to play himself. Which made us go back thinking, 'Well, all right, is there someone else?' And we thought, 'Wait a minute, that note is a smart note. Because that was more what Adam West was doing. And the new mayor shouldn’t be another real-world celebrity playing himself within our fictional world. So we kicked around a bunch of ideas and then said, 'What if we refashion this as Wild West for Sam Elliott and create this new character?' And he responded very well to that idea.
Sam Elliott didn't want to join Family Guy right off the bat because he didn't want to play a version of himself, while that is obviously what Adam West did during his years on the show. The character wasn't named "Adam West" for nothing! All it took was for the Family Guy team to tweak the character from a fictionalized version of Elliott to an in-universe celebrity named Wild Wild West, and Elliott was on board.
That's not to say that Wild Wild West won't be recognizable as Sam Elliott, and not just because of his unforgettable voice. A first look at Wild Wild West on Family Guy proves that the new mayor character will have more than a few similarities to the voice actor. Take a look!
Hello, Sam Elliot! It should definitely be interesting to see how far the similarities between the real-life Elliott and Family Guy's Wild Wild West go when he makes his debut as the new mayor. Family Guy returns for Season 19 on Sunday, September 27 at 9:30 p.m. ET on Fox, following the premieres of The Simpsons, Bless the Harts, and Bob's Burgers. Sam Elliott's first episode as Wild Wild West will air in November.
Family Guy stands as one of the relatively few major network shows that will return to the airwaves on schedule in the 2020-2021 TV season, but there will still be plenty of options. Be sure to check out our 2020 fall TV premiere guide for what to watch and when to tune in.
