Family Guy Fans Petitioning to Bring Brian Back to Life After Shocking Death

"Brian Griffin was an important part of our viewing experience," a fan wrote on the Change.org petition

Family Guy fans refuse to just sit back and accept what happened during last night's episode.

During the Fox series' all-new episode Sunday, viewers were hit with a shocking death that nobody would have ever seen coming—Brian, the smart, funny and witty family dog, was hit by a car and killed, and as you might have expected, that wasn't OK with a lot of people.

So the fans decided to do something about it.

Aaron Thompson of Tuscaloosa, Ala., launched a Change.org petition early Monday to bring the beloved dog voiced by Seth MacFarlane back to life, and within hours, the petition collected 1,500 signatures.

"Brian Griffin was an important part of our viewing experience," Thompson wrote on the site. "He added a witty and sophisticated element to the show. Family Guy and Fox Broadcasting will lose viewers if Brian Griffin is not brought back to the show."

The petition links to a Facebook page dedicated to the late character (RIP Brian Griffin From Family Guy), which has already gained more than 91,000 likes.

During last night's "Life of Brian" episode, the show killed off the sophisticated talking dog, when he was struck by a car and run over as he prepared to play in the street with Stewie. Although there was hope he'd survive, his injuries proved to be too severe.

"This was an idea that got pitched in the writers room and it sort of caught fire, and we thought it could be a fun way to shake things up," executive producer Steve Callaghan told E! News of Brian's death.

"As soon as this idea came up, we started talking about what the next couple episodes could be and we got very excited about the way this change will affect the family dynamics and the characters."

But why Brian?! "It seemed more in the realm of reality that a dog would get hit by a car, than if one of the kids died. As much as we love Brian, and as much as everyone loves their pets, we felt it would be more traumatic to lose one of the kids, rather than the family pet."

The Griffins have already added a new dog named Vinny into the family, voiced by The Sopranos' Tony Sirico.