‘Fuller House’ creator calls Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s absence a “giant bummer”

There has been an outcry of disappointment from Full House fans about Michelle Tanner’s absence on the reboot of the beloved '90s sitcom, and turns out Fuller House creator misses the Olsen twins too.

In an interview with Vulture, Jeff Franklin was asked about Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s decision not to be a part of the new series, and while their participation did not affect the creation of the series, he admitted he was upset.

“That was a giant bummer, but their participation was never a precondition for doing that show,” Franklin said. “I hoped that they would come back and do one episode but I didn’t think that they were going to be regulars.”

In the premiere of Fuller House, Michelle’s absence is explained with a nod to Mary-Kate and Ashley's real life career.

“Well, Michelle sends her love but she’s busy in New York running her fashion empire,” Bob Saget’s Danny Tanner said. The whole cast then looked straight at the camera and the audience laughed. The deadpan to the camera was John Stamos’ idea.

“I thought, let’s just be simple and look at the camera,” Stamos said. “And it’s not a dis by any means. I just thought it was funny to go, ‘We get it, too.'”

Fuller House is available to stream on Netflix now, and we reviewed the pilot here.