Arthur has been cancelled. The classic animated kid's show centered around a young aardvark and his various animal friends will come to an end after its 25th season.
While I've no doubt a lot of the 20-somethings reading this will have grown up with Arthur on their TVs, I do have to admit I had no idea the show was still in active production. Still, it's with a slight pang that I find out Arthur will definitively wrap up on PBS Kids when its final season launches towards the end of 2022, making the longest-running children's animated series in the history of American television.
If Arthur has you feeling all warm and nostalgic, why not take a look at some of the classic Flash games from the 00's below?
The show's original developer Kathy Waugh confirmed the news in an interview on the Finding DW podcast alongside voice actor Jason Szwimmer (thanks, Variety). She didn't mince words, and made it clear she thought the network had made a big mistake.
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"Arthur is no longer in production. We had our wrap party two years ago," Waugh said. "I think [PBS] made a mistake, and I think Arthur should come back and I'm know I'm not alone in thinking they made a mistake. I don't know if it was a ratings issue or if it felt like it needed to be retired. To me, it felt evergreen, like it was never going to end but it did end, we finished the last episode [of] Season 25 two years ago."
Waugh developed the series from its original debut way back 1996 from the original books by Marc Brown, who created the character in 1976.
"Arthur is the longest-running kids animated series in history and is known for teaching kindness, empathy and inclusion through many groundbreaking moments to generations of viewers," executive producer Carol Greenwald said in a statement to Variety.
"In the winter of 2022, the 25th and final season of Arthur will debut. Arthur will continue to be available on PBS Kids for years to come. Producer GBH and PBS Kids are continuing to work together on additional Arthur content, sharing the lessons of Arthur and his friends in new ways."