Jodie Sweetin says she is incredibly grateful to be given to opportunity to once again portray her Full House character, Stephanie Tanner, in the show’s spinoff, Fuller House. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, she talks about how excited she is as well.
When asked if she ever believed she’d once again play the role of Stephanie Tanner, Jodie Sweetin had the following to say.
“For a really long time, this is something we had hopes for—and I had gotten to a place where I was like, “You know what? If it happens, it happens.” I had no control over it. Jeff Franklin and I had a conversation yesterday, and we realized the first time we met and talked about bringing Full House back as a spinoff series was like, 2007 or 2008. Now that it’s actually happening, it’s almost too good to be true. To be able to do a series with people I love—who are like family—to play a character I loved so much and to be able to do that in this point in my life when things are going so well for me and I have a completely different perspective on things…I’m really, incredibly grateful,” she said.
Now that the Full House girls are all grown up, different characters will play the lead roles on Fuller House.
“It’s based around D.J., Stephanie and Kimmy, so there’s still going to be that really fun dynamic, which I’m looking forward to—Stephanie and Kimmy being arch nemeses, and teaming up to help D.J. [a pregnant, widowed mom of two]. It will be very similar, certainly, to the first Full House, but we’re definitely trying to bring it back as a little more modern take,” Jodie Sweetin explains. “Stephanie has sort of been the wild world traveler, and I’m looking forward to bringing to life Stephanie as she is today and creating a real backstory for her. She’s a free spirit, and that will be obvious in the character she’s become.”
Jodie Sweetin was just five years old when she first appeared on Full House. Now she has a daughter who is nearly that age.
“I was barely 5 when I started working on Full House, and Bea will be 5 in August. It’s crazy. I look at her and I’m like, I was working at this age, doing this whole crazy Full House life. What a trip,” she says. “She’s my little twin. She does remind me of myself a little bit at that age. She’s a funny little person, for sure. Both of my kids have my sense of humor—they’re definitely entertaining.”
Sweetin never lost touch with many of her Full House cast mates, and that will likely make creating the spinoff even easier.
“I’ve kept in touch with pretty much everybody,” she says. “I work in drug and alcohol treatment right now, and my office is actually right next door to where John Stamos was filming his new show. I heard about it from crew that worked next door. I called him and was like, “We’re literally sharing a parking lot right now.” So I stay in contact with Bob [Saget] and John. I’m really close with Dave Coulier and his wife Melissa. My family and I go over there for barbeques, for dinners, Super Bowl parties. Candace and I have remained close, and Andrea. It’s just crazy how much these people have been an integral part of my life.”
Are you excited to get back in touch with the Full House cast members who will reprise their roles on Fuller House? In addition to Jodie Sweetin, Candace Cameron Bure and Kimmy Gibbler, John Stamos will make guest appearances in his role as Uncle Jesse. For now, however, many of the rest of the original cast members–Lori Loughlin, Bob Saget, the Olsen twins, and Dave Coulier–are uncertain as to whether or not they’ll return.
Netlfix has ordered 13 episodes of Fuller House thus far, meaning that in 2016, names like Jodie Sweetin, Candace Cameron Bure, and Andrea Barber will once again be on everyone’s lips, and in all the celebrity publications.
