Fuller House Season 2 has been coming together over at Netflix for some time, and the new episodes are expected to bring back some more familiar characters from the show's original run. However, a couple of those characters are going to be coming with changes, as Nelson Burkhard and Kathy Santoni will be played by different actors when the characters make the big return. Following a bit of an outcry, original actor Jason Marsden explained why he won't be playing Nelson Burkhard on Fuller House. His reason is a bit surprising, if I do say so myself:
Yes, it's true I will not be reprising my role of Nelson on Fuller House... I just want to say, watch Fuller House, it's a great show. The producers the casting members, the writers of Fuller House, all tried their darndest to get me on the show... It was my choice not to appear on Fuller House and it was a tough one, believe me. A couple months ago, I got an invitation to appear at Dragon Con in Atlanta. I made the choice in a matter of convenience and the convenience was, I could drive to Atlanta to Tennessee.
While for some, returning to a fondly remembered TV series might seem like an easy choice, for others, returning to play a character from the past isn't the easiest task. For Jason Marsden, it looks like new opportunities take precedence over a show that is based on nostalgia, as does ease of use. In a flurry of Twitter videos, the actor explained that he was given the opportunity to reprise the role but that the much closer Dragon Con took precedence when push came to shove. It's a decision that not all of us would have made, but it's certainly one that seems to have been weighed and measured by the actor before it was decided.
The good news? This isn't Fuller House putting one over on us. While Jason Marsden couldn't speak for Anne Marie McEvoy, who played Kathy Santoni during Full House's original run, he did say that a lot of people involved with the show attempted to woo him into returning. So, if you've been a little miffed with Netflix about the recastings, don't be. This very much seems to be a personal choice.
However, the Season 2 episode in question featuring the two characters' returns should be a doozy. The episode will see DJ meet up with her former classmates at a high school reunion. While Fuller House doesn't earn all the points for being innovative, it does know how to remind fans about its TV past, and a high school reunion for DJ should be pretty memorable--especially since not a lot has changed with her high school friends.
Unfortunately, we have a little while to wait to find out whether or not the new actors will capably fill the old actor's shoes. Fuller House isn't expected to return to the schedule until sometime--hopefully early--in 2017. You can check out more details about the upcoming episodes with our what we know guide. To find out what is hitting Netflix over the next couple of months, check out our Netflix premiere schedule.
