The premise of Fuller House, Netflix’s Full House sequel, has evolved between the show’s original conception and the start of filming began last week. Candace Cameron Bure, who plays DJ, was originally going to be a pregnant widow but now she’ll just be the latter, the actress revealed to THR. Producers decided that starting the series with the death of DJ’s husband preceding his unborn child husband with one in the oven would be a downer; basically, a pregnant DJ would be too “heavy.”
“We didn’t start it off quite so heavy, so some more time has passed than they originally intended,” explained Cameron Bure Wednesday at a TCA event. Although the pregnancy was nixed, DJ won’t have any fewer children. “The baby’s been born,” she said.
With the two tweens DJ was already set to have, plus the baby, she’ll be in the exact same position as her father, Danny (played by Bob Saget), at the start of the original series, Full House: widowed with three young children. Like her dad, she’ll get by with a little help from her friends (and family). Best friend Kimmy (Andrea Barber) and sister Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) will move in with DJ to support her.
Over the course of the series, we’ll learn about her character’s late husband, possibly through flashbacks. What we do know now is that he wasn’t DJ’s first love, Steve (Scott Weinger). “Rest assured, Steve is not dead,” said Cameron Bure. Not only is he alive and well, he’ll return for the reboot in the present, not in flashback form.
Fans of the original will also recognize the tone of the show. “Tonally, it will feel the same as the original Full House,” shared Cameron Bure, who added that Fuller House will be “heartfelt and funny and family-friendly.” It’ll also be “current,” and full of teachable scenarios. Cue the poignant music — no Full House lesson was complete without it.
That’s an odd premise, considering that the original show, which wrapped in 1995, existed in a starkly distant TV landscape. It will be interesting to see how, or if, the producers of the sequel address the new climate.
Fuller House will debut on Netflix in 2016.
