After 25 years, the beloved PBS Kids staple, Arthur, is no longer in production. Series developer Kathy Waugh revealed the news to voice actor Jason Szwimmer on his Arthur-themed podcast, Finding DW.
Adapted from Marc Brown's classic children's book series which launched in 1976, the show has been on the air since 1996. Waugh was part of the original development team that brought the show to television screens, and has written several episodes over its 25 year run. She shared that the upcoming 25th season, set to launch in the winter of 2022, will be the last for the series. "Arthur is no longer in production," she explained to a shocked Szwimmer. "We had our wrap party two years ago."
It's devastating news to anyone who grew up watching the titular aardvark and his pals in Elwood City, enough to make us ball our fists like so many Arthur memes. "I think they made a mistake, PBS, and I think Arthur should come back and I know I'm not alone in thinking they made a mistake," Waugh elaborated. "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." The good news is, there's still some Arthur on the horizon.
"In the winter of 2022, the 25th and final season of Arthur will debut," Executive producer Carol Greenwald confirmed in a statement to Variety. "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."
Waugh did have some insight on that additional content. "PBS – and I wrote a couple of the scripts — decided to do some PSAs on various issues like voting, handwashing, pandemic-related issues," she said. "I used the Arthur characters, so they're still around." Between those PSAs and the upcoming 25th season, we're not out of Arthur content just yet.
The final season of Arthur will air in the winter of 2022. New episodes of Szwimmer's Finding DW podcast are released every Tuesday.