Here’s Exactly Why ‘American Dad!’ Moved Back to Fox

American Dad! is coming back to its home network at Fox next year after the network gave the Seth MacFarlane animated comedy a whopping four-season renewal (along with The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Bob’s Burgers). Now we know why Fox decided to swipe the series from its second home.

Fox was the original broadcaster for the series, which centers on a right-wing CIA agent who is raising his family alongside a quirky alien, and ran on the network from 2005 until 2014 when it moved to TBS until March 2025. Now, Fox is bringing the show back, and on a conference call Sunday (May 11), the executives of the network revealed why.

In response to a reporter’s question about why the series was picked up by the network (and whether that was contingent on the renewals of the other three shows in the “Animation Domination” lineup), CEO Rob Wade explained, “Obviously, we’re really delighted to have our partnership with our friends over at Disney and Hulu extending that for the next four years, and so we’re very proud of it, as we’ve said of ‘Animation Domination,’ but we’re also looking ways to strengthen it.”

Then, Fox Entertainment President Michael Thorn offered more details and said, “Look, we pride ourselves on being the home of the best animation on television, whether it’s our legacy shows or our new shows and it’s kind of simple. We got a chance to have another show with Seth, and we took it, so it’s simple. He’s a great partner for us, and it just kind of extends our reach to our very passionate animation audience, and they’re great characters and it just complements our lineup in a terrific way.”

Wade then jumped back in to add, “It was opportunistic as well. Obviously, it was on TBS and it became available, so we were delighted.”

Fox also announced that the show will premiere with Season 22 at Fox starting in 2026.

American Dad!, Season 22 premiere, 2026 TBD, Fox, streaming Hulu

– Reporting by Meredith Jacobs