Oscar nominee Sam Elliott will succeed the late Adam West in the position of mayor of Quahog in animated series “Family Guy”.
West died in 2017 and the series paid tribute to the late actor within the series in which his character of Mayor Adam West dies and the city renames James Woods High School to Adam West High.
Executive producer Richard Appel tells EW they wanted to take the time to respect Adam and so are only now getting around to including another character to become the city’s new key official – one who was as “original and unexpected and comedically fun and fresh”. Appel says:
“In having a conversation about ‘How do you replace him?,’ the universal belief was: he’s irreplaceable. And then the next question is, ‘Do you find a new mayor?’ In the world of Family Guy, he had an important role, and a role that was necessary for a lot of stories. Sam has a voice that – obviously he’s a movie star but he also has a voice made for radio, and Sam Elliot quickly became our first choice.”
Elliott will play Mayor West’s cousin in the animated series, whose first and middle names are Wild (so he’s named Wild Wild West). The new West comes to Quahog when Peter becomes unhappy with the candidates in consideration for the job and decides that the town needs a celebrity figure who is fun.
“Family Guy” returns for its new season on September 27th.