Netflix brought the extended Tanner family back to the small screen in 2016 for the spinoff sequel Fuller House, which stars several of the actors who made Full House so much fun during its original run. The spinoff was a big hit for the streaming service, which ordered a Season 2 almost immediately after the first debuted. We've known for a while now that a Season 3 was in the works for some point in 2017, the year that just so happens to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the the original Fuller House premiere in 1987. Now, we know the exact date of the premiere, and it celebrates the big anniversary magnificently.
Fuller House Season 3 will launch on Friday, September 22 on Netflix, which is exactly 30 years to the date from the Full House series premiere, which hit the airwaves on September 22 in 1987. A third season airing in 2017 was already a pretty fabulous way to celebrate the milestone, but how many of us could have guessed that Netflix would manage to match the exact date? It's a stroke of luck that September 22 happens to be a Friday, as Netflix seems to prefer releasing full seasons on Fridays.
It sounds like Netflix has gone to no small amount of effort to match the Fuller House Season 3 premiere with the Full House series premiere. Unlike the first and second seasons of Fuller House, the third season will be split into two batches of episodes that are slated to released months apart, which is an interesting twist considering that Season 3 was given an order of 18 episodes as opposed to Seasons 1 and 2, which only ran for 13 episodes each.
Although the Season 3 split does mean that we'll have fewer episodes we can binge-watch right off the bat, two half seasons of nine episodes each is still pretty great. Besides, Netflix totally could have held on to the first nine episodes, released the full season in December, and completely missed the 30th anniversary. I'd say we're the winners in this situation. Netflix has not yet announced the exact premiere date for the second half of Season 3. We can say that it will be in December; since Season 2 debuted on December 9, so we may be able to count on a release early in the month. We'll have to wait and see.
Now we have to start crossing our fingers that Michelle Tanner will somehow appear in Season 3. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have reportedly said no whenever they were approached about returning to acting to reprise the role of Michelle, but who knows? Maybe the 30th anniversary milestone was enough to coax them away from their fashion empire for a cameo or two. While we haven't heard anything about an Olsen or two on set, there's no reason why it couldn't have been kept a secret for a surprise. Even if the odds aren't great, we can always hope. If they don't appear, we can at least expect more hilariously awkward nods at their absence.
Check out our breakdown of what we know so far about Fuller House Season 3 for a peek ahead, and swing by our 2017 Netflix premiere schedule for a look at what you can stream before the show returns on September 22.
