Kenan Thompson has landed his next TV classroom—and this one comes with Stewie Griffin, time-traveling inventions, and one of his former Saturday Night Live castmates.
The longtime SNL cast member has joined the voice cast of Stewie, Fox and Hulu’s upcoming Family Guy spinoff. Deadline reports that he’ll play Royal, one of Stewie Griffin’s new friends, who brings a “Hell no” attitude to the dangers created by Stewie’s adventures.
Thompson will be joined by SNL alum Vanessa Bayer, who voices Morgan, a teacher seemingly more interested in partying than supervising her students.
The pair spent seven seasons together at SNL, from Bayer’s arrival in 2010 through her departure in 2017. They also shared the Studio 8H stage with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane when he hosted the Season 38 premiere on September 15, 2012. MacFarlane appeared with Thompson and Bayer in that episode’s memorable puppet-class sketch.
In Stewie, the title character is expelled from his old preschool and sent to a decidedly less prestigious replacement. Stewie soon begins using his inventions to take his classmates on adventures through space and time.
MacFarlane will continue to voice Stewie while also playing Bean, a largely nonverbal classmate. The cast also includes Mike Henry, Melissa O’Neil, Jessica Lowe, and Aaron Lee.
The role is hardly Thompson’s first trip to the recording booth. His voice credits stretch back more than a quarter-century and include The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Mighty B!, The Smurfs, Nature Cat, Wonder Park, Trolls World Tour, and The Grinch.
Thompson’s voice role in the new series is not expected to interfere with his work at SNL, where he recently completed his 23rd season, extending his record as the longest-running cast member in the show’s history.
Created by MacFarlane and Kirker Butler, Stewie has received a two-season order and is scheduled to premiere on Fox during the 2027–28 television season, with episodes streaming on Hulu the following day.
Stopped watching 15 years ago yet I see it gets under a million viewers now and is not even on Sunday night anymore.