Fuller House Isn’t Over Just Yet

On Dec. 6, the final season of Fuller House hit Netflix. But it's not actually the end of the show quite yet. 

Fuller House season 5 is actually split into two nine-episode parts. After the December drop, the nine final episodes of Fuller House will premiere sometime in 2020, according to the show's Twitter page.

Previous seasons of Fuller House have aired anywhere from three months to a year apart from each other. But considering that filming on Fuller House wrapped for good in mid-November, the wait probably won't be too long. Season 3 was similarly split into two nine-episode halves and they aired exactly three months apart. By that metric, fans may be able to expect the rest of season 5 by March 6. 

When the back half of season 5 drops, that really will be the end of the show for good. Netflix did not give a reason for cancelling the series after five seasons, but reports indicate that it was on the chopping block for a while. According to TV Line, Fuller House was almost cancelled after season 4 last year, but eventually it was granted a final season to wrap up the storylines. Candace Cameron Bure, who plays DJ on the show, posted to Instagram after the Fuller House cancellation news earlier this year. "We would love to do the show forever and ever, but I guess it wasn't in the cards," she wrote in a comment under the farewell season announcement. "I am happy that we can give the fans a proper ending, however I wish we didn't have to give one at all."

Unlike some series that are unceremoniously canned, she is right that at least fans will get a proper ending for the Tanner/Fuller family. One reason that Netflix may have decided to cancel the series is because of viewership. Although the company doesn't traditionally release its own ratings, Fuller House didn't manage to crack the top 20 most-watched shows on Netflix, according to data collected by analytics firm Jumpshot released in late 2018. It also wasn't one of the top 10 most-viewed original series according to Netflix's own data released in October.

Whatever the true reason for cancellation one fan theory can be crossed off the list: No, Lori Loughlin's legal troubles didn't have any impact on the decision. The show was cancelled back in January 2019, two months before Loughlin was charged in connection with the widespread college admissions scandal. (She has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.) Plus, it's unlikely that the trial would have affected the show in the first place: Loughlin played Aunt Becky on the show, but was already only on it every once in a while, as most of Fuller House focused on DJ, Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin), and Kimmy (Andrea Barber) and their families versus the adults from the original Full House.

When filming wrapped in November, Entertainment Weekly reported that the whole cast (minus Loughlin, who will not be featured in season 5 and has deleted her social media accounts), paid tribute to Fuller House on their Instagram pages. Among them, Cameron Bure posted a video of her singing the show's theme song with Sweetin and Barber:

John Stamos, who played Uncle Jesse, posted a cast photo alongside a caption thanking Netflix for taking a chance on the series after all the other networks passed. And Barber thanked the fans who have watched since the very beginning 32 years ago when the show was still Full House.

It was clearly a bittersweet goodbye for the group, but it's not quite goodbye yet for fans. After the December episodes, 2020 will bring nine more to wrap the series up for good. You know, unless it gets rebooted again down the road into Fullest House or something. Stranger things have happened.