the series was renewed for seasons 20 and 21. The 20th season is scheduled to premiere in 2023. Premise The series focuses on the eccentric upper middle class Smith family in a fictionalized version of Langley, Virginia and their four housemates: Father, husband, CIA agent, Republican, and breadwinner Stan; his wife and homemaker/housewife, Francine; their leftist, hippie, college-aged daughter, Hayley; and their dorky high-school-aged son, Steve. There are four additional main characters, including Hayley's boyfriend and later husband, Jeff Fischer; the family's unusual goldfish, Klaus, who has the brain of an East German athlete; Roger, the alien, who is a deceitful, treacherous, self-serving master of disguise; and Roger's ex-tumor son Rogu. Stan's boss Avery Bullock, the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is a recurring character. Cast and characters Voice cast The voice actors are not assembled as a group when performing the lines of their characters; rather, each of the voice actors perform their lines privately. The voice actors have stated that because of their personalities and tendency to goof off when together as a group, they would never get anything completed if they performed their lines collectively. Main characters American Dad! centers on the absurd circumstances, adventures and domestic life of its title character Stan Smith, his immediate family, and their four housemates. Adding to all the ridiculousness and absurdity are the various personality traits of all the show's eccentric main characters, listed as follows: Seth MacFarlane voices Stan Smith (father/husband) and Roger Smith (alien) Wendy Schaal voices Francine Smith (wife/mother) Scott Grimes voices Steve Smith (Stan and Francine's son) Rachael MacFarlane voices Hayley Smith-Fischer (Stan and Francine's daughter) Dee Bradley Baker voices Klaus Heisler (the Smiths' man-in-a-fish-body pet, and Roger's ex-tumor son Rogu) Jeff Fischer voices Jeff Fischer (Hayley's boyfriend, then husband) Patrick Stewart voices Deputy Director Avery Bullock (Stan's boss) Production Origins and comparison with Family Guy and All in the Family When asked what first spurred the idea for American Dad! Seth MacFarlane answered, "It was right after the [2000] election, and me and co-creator Matt Weitzman were so frustrated with the Bush administration that we would just spend days bitching and complaining, and we figured we should channel this into something creative and hopefully profitable." In early February 2005, Barker stated, "About a year and a half ago, Seth called and asked if Matt and I would be interested in working on a