Candace Cameron-Bure explains why Michelle isn’t in Fuller House‘s final season. The Full House spinoff series centers on the Tanner sisters, DJ (Candace Cameron Bure), and Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin), as well as their long-time friend and neighbor Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber), who technically takes the spot as the third Tanner daughter. Apparently, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who played the youngest Tanner sister in the original show refuse to sign up for the Netflix project.

Instead of dancing around the idea, Fuller House immediately gave an explanation for Michelle’s absence in the first season. It turns out that she’s now based in New York running her own fashion empire – this references the twins’ current real-life job as owners of fashion labels The Row and Elizabeth & James. There were sporadic references to the character throughout the spinoff’s five-year-run, but never an indication that she’ll somehow show up. Nevertheless, viewers still hoped that Netflix can pull off a surprise cameo, but as fans now know, that’s not the case.

Speaking with Insider in light of the release of Fuller House‘s final nine episodes, Cameron-Bure, who also served as a producer to the Netflix show, reveals that they didn’t even ask the Olsens to partake in the show’s farewell season. Given how many times they were turned down, they figured that the twins will maintain their position until the end. “No. We didn’t try. It was made very clear to us early on that they did not want to be a part of the show, so that ended,” she explained.

While Michelle didn’t show up in Fuller House’s final season, there were a couple of references to the character. In the midseason finale, Danny (Bob Saget) commented about Kimmy taking Michelle’s spot as his third daughter. Subsequently, Kimmy broke the fourth wall in the penultimate episode with a remark about the character not showing up for the wedding just to set fans expectations leading up to the finale. Over the years, Fuller House started mentioning her less and less, with most references to her a straight jab regarding the Olsens’ refusal to make even the briefest cameo. There wasn’t even a mention about DJ and Stephanie reaching out to their sister as part of the wedding preparations. The fact that side characters such as Gia (Marla Sokoloff), CJ (Virginia Williams), and Vicky (Gail Edwards) showed up on the wedding day but not their own family member only further highlighted Michelle’s absence.

Obviously, Netflix and Fuller House‘s producers can only do so much with regard to asking either of the Olsen twins to reprise the role of Michelle. At the same time, it’s also understandable if Mary-Kate and Ashley are set on not returning in front of the camera as they lead a pretty private life. What’s bumming a lot of fans is that instead of actively dealing with Michelle’s absence, it felt like the show just decided to cast the character to the side despite her significance in Full House. That’s not exactly on-brand for a franchise that pushes the importance of family.