The beloved series was the longest running children's animated series in the history of American TV.
It's time to say goodbye to everyone's favorite aardvark! Arthur is officially leaving PBS Kids after season 25. The beloved animated TV series, which was originally based off of the Arthur Adventure books, will air its final season in winter 2022.
Carol Greenwald, the executive producer of Arthur confirmed the news to ET in a statement.
“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. In the winter of 2022, the 25th and final season of Arthur will debut," Greenwald tells ET. "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.
The news first broke in an interview on the Finding DW podcast with Kathy Waugh, who developed the show from the books by Marc Brown.
“Arthur is no longer in production. We had our wrap party two years ago,” Waugh told podcast host Jason Szwimer, a previous voice of Arthur's headstrong sister, D.W. “I think [PBS] made a mistake, and I think Arthur should come back and I know I’m not alone in thinking they made a mistake. I don't pay attention that much to things like ratings, so I don’t know if it was a ratings issue or if it felt like it needed to be retired. To me, it just felt evergreen, like it was never going to end but it did end, we finished the last episode, season 25 two years ago.”
She went on to explain that though they had wrapped, there was still more Arthur to expect in the future.
"As far as I understand, not all the shows have aired," she said. "There's still a few yet to be aired, but they've all been produced."
As Greenwald pointed out in her statement, Arthur is the longest-running children's animated series in the history of American TV, premiering in October 1996.
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