Family Guy Just Revealed a Huge Secret About Stewie

This week's episode of Family Guy promised to reveal a big secret about Stewie, and it did. It's just not the secret you thought it would be.

"Send in Stewie, Please" was an unusual episode by Family Guy (and all broadcast) standards in that it aired without commercials, but it was a huge episode for fans of the raunchy comedy because of what we learned. Stewie's British accent? It's fake.

The news came during Stewie's therapy session with Dr. Cecil Pritchfield (guest star Ian McKellan). Naturally, most of the session saw Stewie turn the tables Dr. Cecil and psychoanalyze him, rather cruelly, but in the end, Stewie admitted he put on an affectation because he didn't want to be like everyone else. It's part of Stewie's narcissistic tendencies; he simply wanted to stand out.

And his real accent? It sounded like your standard suburban New England speak. And it was weird. Of course, Stewie couldn't let the only person who knew his secret live, so when McKellen's character had a heart attack, Stewie didn't get the doc's pills as requested and let him expire right there. Later, Stewie woke up from a dream implying that this could have all been a fantasy and we shouldn't be updating the Family Guy wiki just yet. So was it all real?

"Stewie understands the confusion; he believes that all time spent with him is like a dream - a beautiful, well-dressed dream with killer abs," Family Guy showrunner Rich Appel told TV Guide. "But, no, this episode was not Stewie's dream."

Many probably predicted that the episode would discuss Stewie's mysterious sexuality. He's shown tendencies toward homosexuality, heterosexuality and bisexuality in the past, and given that McKellen -- who is openly out as a gay man -- was a guest star, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to put this question to rest. But we probably won't ever get an answer about Stewie's sexuality.

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"Stewie does discuss his sexuality in this episode, but it's not used as the key to his nature or character because - whatever his sexuality may or may not be - it's just a part of him," Appel explains. "At the same time, while who he is was determined at birth, it's important to remember that he's still a pre-sexual being (as are most of the writers on Family Guy)."

So what other big character reveals are coming next?

"Now that Stewie has revealed a big, dark secret about himself, next up will be the cashier from McBurgertown," Appel says. "Our fans literally know nothing about him. Nor do we, of course, so we've got our work cut out for us."

Family Guy airs Sunday nights at 9/8c on Fox.