Fuller House’s Final Season Snuck In A Cheeky Goodbye To Michelle Tanner

Even a triple Tanner-Fuller-Gibbler wedding wasn't enough to lure Michelle back for the final season of Fuller House. And in the words of Stephanie Tanner, how rude! Okay, it's not really rude; Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen made it clear from the moment the reboot began that they've left acting behind. The former child stars are now successful fashion designers with two major lines to run (The Row and Elizabeth and James), and given that they were 8 when Full House ended, it's understandable they're not quite as attached to the nostalgia factor as their co-stars. 

Still, seeing Stephanie and D.J. walk down the aisle without so much as a shoutout to Michelle in the series' final episode is jarring. No one really expected the Olsens to make a last minute cameo, but Michelle could have at least sent her sisters a note on their big day. Instead, the season's lone shoutout to the youngest Tanner sister came in the penultimate episode, "Something Borrowed."

In the episode, Kimmy, Stephanie, and D.J. head to the attic in hopes of finding something borrowed to wear on their joint wedding day when Kimmy spots Michelle's old bike. "Hey, how long are you going to keep Michelle’s bike?" Kimmy asks. "If she hasn’t come for it by now, she’s not coming." In true Fuller House fashion, Andrea Barber delivers her line with a smirk at the camera. 

Michelle was an integral part of Full House, but after the twins turned down the opportunity to appear on the show, Fuller House forged on without them. While some fans struggled to accept the Olsens' decision, their TV dad understands and supports them. In a 2017 interview with Entertainment Tonight, Saget served up some Danny Tanner-style wisdom.

"People should do what they want with their lives, and when they're 9 months old and they get a job, [they have a right to stop doing it]," he said. "I love them very very much, Ashley and Mary-Kate, and they love what they do and acting is not what they want to do."

The twins, who are notoriously private these days, never made an official comment on why they declined to appear on Fuller House, but executive producer Bob Boyett offered some insight on the matter in a 2016 interview with People when he shared that Ashley in particular has no interest in returning to acting.

"Ashley said, 'I have not been in front of a camera since I was 17 and I don't feel comfortable acting,'" he revealed. "Mary-Kate said, 'It would have to be me because Ash doesn't want to do it, but the timing is so bad for us." 

Despite Fuller House running for five seasons on Netflix, the timing never was right for Michelle Tanner to return. But as the extended Tanner family likes to say: The door's always open. Maybe when the inevitable Fullest House reboot happens 10 years from now, the Olsens will finally tell the fans "you've got it, dude" and bring the prodigal Tanner sister home. Until then, the She-Wolves have officially signed off without any help from the missing member of their pack.