Stewart, the corgi who portrayed Captain Raymond Holt's dog Cheddar on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, has passed away at the age of 13. The sad news was confirmed by Stewart's owner, who took to Instagram to confirm that Stewart spent his final day at his favorite place (the beach) before being peacefully put to sleep by their veterinarian.

Introduced in season 1's "The Party", Cheddar is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi owned by Holt and his husband, Kevin Cozner, and has appeared in several famous Brooklyn Nine-Nine episodes to date. Starting in season 4, Cheddar became a staple of the show's annual Halloween heist episodes, and even played a role in season 6's replacement heist episode, "Cinco de Mayo". His other famous appearances include season 3's "Cheddar" (where Cheddar's accidentally set loose while Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago are house-sitting for Holt) and season 5's "Jake & Amy", in which Cheddar is meant to be Jake and Amy's ring bearer, but passes out after eating their wedding cake (itself, modeled after Nakatomi Plaza from Die Hard).

After being portrayed by multiple dogs in his previous appearances, Stewart took over the role of Cheddar in season 4. His owners posted the following message to confirm his passing this week:

Brooklyn Nine-Nine's first five seasons aired on Fox, but the show was cancelled in May 2018 and acquired by NBC shortly thereafter. The latter network had actually passed on the original Brooklyn Nine-Nine pilot years earlier and is also the home of the cult comedy series The Good Place, which is run by Brooklyn Nine-Nine co-creator Michael Schur. Brooklyn Nine-Nine enjoyed a significant ratings boost following its premiere on NBC in January and has since been renewed for a seventh season that will air in 2019-2020.

It's not clear yet how the Brooklyn Nine-Nine writers plan to handle Stewart's passing, or whether it will impact the series at all. Cheddar, as mentioned, has been played by different pups in the past, so the show's writing staff may elect to either bring in a new dog to portray him or simply not have Cheddar appear in the immediate future (if ever again). On the other hand, Brooklyn Nine-Nine hasn't been afraid to explore dramatic storylines in the past, and even tackled the death of Charles Boyle's dog in the season 3 episode "9 Days". That's to say, the series may decide to have Cheddar pass away and give the excellent doggo - and, by proxy, Stewart - the fitting, touching, onscreen sendoff that he deserves.

R.I.P. Stewart

Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 7 doesn't have an official premiere date yet.