Fuller House: Why Stephanie’s Baby Was Barely On The Show
Fuller House season 5 ended with Stephanie having her daughter, Danielle, but unlike the other kids, she was barely featured in the final year — why?
Fuller House’s final season barely included Stephanie’s baby, Danielle — why? With the Netflix series mirroring the premise of Full House, it groomed its three main lead to be the parallels of Danny, Jesse, and Joey. For Stephanie, that meant starting as the rock and roll and carefree aunt the same way Jesse was in the original show. But eventually, she realized the joys of putting down roots and leaving her partying days behind when she began a romantic relationship with Jimmy Gibbler.
While she and Jesse started in a similar situation, Fuller House updated Stephanie’s story with the revelation that she’s supposedly physically unable to conceive. So despite wanting to start a family of her own, she assumed that it was never for her. Fortunately, Kimmy volunteered to be a surrogate for her and Jimmy; and after nine months, baby Danielle was born at the end of season 4. This was quickly followed with Stephanie’s engagement to her future husband.
Considering how much time and effort Fuller House put into Stephanie’s pregnancy arc in season 4, it’s odd that Danielle was barely featured in its final year. While the spinoff didn’t put as much focus on its young kids as Full House, the newborn kid was quickly forgotten after the first episode of season 5. However, this was apparently by design as the show makers purposefully limited her screen time because she was being saved for Fuller House season 6; it’s no secret that people involved in the project were fully expecting the show to be renewed for at least one more time, and Danielle was going to be a bigger part of that last hurrah. Obviously, that didn’t happen so the show ended with Danielle underutilized.
Granted that the final episodes of the Netflix series were focused on wrapping the older cast’s respective arcs, the show could’ve still made sure that Danielle factored in the show. Instead, she was mostly out of sight, leaving viewers to wonder where she was and who was taking care of her. She didn’t even factor in the wedding of Stephanie and Jimmy, which didn’t make sense considering her dad decided to propose shortly after her birth. If anything, the writers knew that the series was ending before they began production for Fuller House season 5, the least they could do was amend the script to make her more visible.
This only backs up the idea that Netflix should’ve ordered another season of Fuller House for a much better ending. Despite starting off mostly as a knock-off in comparison to Full House, the spin-off sequel show had slowly started to find its own footing and come out of its parent series’ shadow. With DJ, Stephanie, and Kimmy all married, it could’ve put the focus on the kids, including Danielle. That way, the franchise would have a chance of being revisited again in the future with the focus on its current young cast.
