After 25 years, we said to ‘hey’ to Arthur and the gang for the last time, as the beloved TV series came to end — but not before showing us a flash-forward revealing what Arthur, Francine, Buster, DW and the gang would be like all grown up.
According to Variety, Arthur is the longest-running kids’ animated series on television. Starting in 1996, the family show is based on the ‘Arthur’s Adventure’ book series by Marc Brown. It was announced in July 2021 that the 25th season of Arthur, which airs on PBS, would be its last.
The flash-forward came at the end of the final episode, which was live-streamed on the PBS Kids YouTube channel on February 21, simultaneous to its airing on PBS. In a pretty meta moment for the series, grown-up (and bearded) Arthur was revealed to be a graphic novelist, with his first book being… about the adventures he and his friends had as a child. As for the rest of the characters, we also got a glimpse into their grown-up lives too
DW is now a cop (no shocks there), Buster is a teacher, Francine runs a sneaker company, Muffy is running for mayor, Binky is the weatherman and George is now manager of the Sugar Bowl.
In a statement to Variety, PBS said: “New content from ‘Arthur’ will continue rolling out in 2022 and beyond, including a podcast, video shorts that tackle timely and compelling topics and digital games. The 25 seasons of ‘Arthur’ (250+ episodes) will continue to be available on PBS Kids.”
The series finale of ‘Arthur’ has released with all of the show’s characters now being adults.
Watch: https://t.co/ZvpGWxAvaA pic.twitter.com/IJZEBsVNiK
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) February 22, 2022
Carol Greenwald, Senior Executive Producer of GBH Kids, also said to Variety: “It’s been a privilege to work with an extraordinary and talented team to bring Arthur to public television audiences for more than two decades,” said Carol Greenwald, Senior Executive Producer of GBH Kids, in a statement. “We’re excited about Arthur’s next chapter — sharing the stories and experiences of Arthur and his Elwood City community to the media platforms where the next generation of kids and families will connect with them for years to come.”
For those based in the UK, all 25 seasons of Arthur are not currently on any streaming services. However, a large number of episodes are on Amazon Prime Video and BBC iPlayer.
In the meantime, if your kids are struggling with a lack of Arthur content, check out this collection of best family movies starring animals!