On Monday, after 25 seasons, the popular PBS Kids show Arthur ended. The show originally premiered in 1996, following the life of an 8-year-old aardvark named Arthur Read and his family and friends, aimed at children aged four to eight years old. According to executive producer Carol Greenwald, Arthur is the longest-running kids animated series in history. The show is known for teaching kindness, empathy, and inclusion through many groundbreaking moments to generations of viewers. Greenwald also said that reruns would continue to be available on PBS Kids.

Over the summer, screenwriter Kathy Waugh shared during an interview on the “Finding DW” podcast that PBS Kids planned to close the series out. Waugh told the podcast that Arthur was no longer in production and the cast and crew had their wrap party two years ago. Waugh also shared that she felt that PBS was making a mistake, and she felt that Arthur should come back.

As far as why the show was ending, Waugh says she didn’t know if it was a rating issue or the network felt the series needed to be retired. To Waugh, the show felt evergreen, like it was never going to end. Waugh developed the series based on popular books by Marc Brown. The show won four Daytime Emmys for outstanding children’s animated program. The show also won a BAFTA Children’s Award.

In 2019, Marc Brown told People Magazine that the hit show succeeded through the years because its producers always found new ways to expand the minds of its viewers. Brown went on to say, “When we began Arthur 22 years ago, the plan we began with was to make children want to read. And it worked! So each year, the writers and the producers sit down to decide what kind of subject matter we want to deal with. After 22 years, you think, ‘We’ve done it all!’ Yet, here was another opportunity! It still excites me that we can come up with stories that are going to be interesting and helpful to children.”

Arthur’s final episode, titled “All Grown Up,” aired on February 21, 2022, on PBS and took place 20 years into the future, recounting the lives of Arthur, his sister D.W., Buster, Brian, Muffy, and Sue Ellen in their 20s. In a flash-forward, the show reveals that Arthur became a graphic novelist who published his first book. The group reunites at Sugar Bowl Café, the dessert parlor they went to as kids, and Arthur shows the group what he’s working on while the group shares what they’ve been doing.

D.W. is a police officer, Binky is a news reporter, Buster is an English professor, and Francine works for a sneaker company. George runs a business (he bought the Sugar Bowl), and Muffy becomes a politician running for mayor of Elwood City. Over the years, Arthur has explored numerous social issues. It most recently drew headlines with a 2019 episode, which discussed the same-sex marriage between third-grade teacher Mr. Ratburn and Patrick, the chocolatier.

Arthur is a show that touched the hearts of many children worldwide. Though we’ll miss new episodes of Arthur, PBS hinted on social media that everyone’s favorite aardvark isn’t going away, and new content is on the way, like digital shorts and podcasts.