It’s not what it looks like! As previously reported, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s beloved Full House character, Michelle Tanner, will be busy working in NYC’s fashion industry on Netflix’s revival of the hit ’90s show. But Jeff Franklin, the executive producer of Fuller House, insists the subtle reference in the first episode on Fuller House isn’t a jab at the Olsen twins.
“It wasn’t meant to be a dig,” Franklin told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, California, on Sunday, January 17. “It was meant to be a playful wink.”
The siblings are the only original cast members not returning for the Netflix series, which debuts on February 26.
“I tried, we all tried, to persuade them to come and play,” Franklin added. “They decided not to at this time, but we’re hopeful at some point in the future that they may change their minds and come back and reprise Michelle.”
Fuller House will center on D.J. Tanner-Fuller (Candace Cameron Bure), who is raising her three sons after becoming recently widowed. Her sister Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) and childhood friend Kimmy (Andrea Barber) move into her home in San Francisco to help out. The cast also includes original members Bob Saget, John Stamos, Dave Coulier and Lori Laughlin.
Franklin added that the “door is always open” for the Olsen twins if they want to return, joking, “We only need one of ‘em!”
Fuller House debuts on Netflix on February 26.
