Fuller House: Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen absence discussed by cast

Everywhere you look, there’s a familiar face on the set of Fuller House. And while original cast members Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who spent eight seasons sharing the role of Michelle Tanner, aren’t among them, you won’t catch anyone in their TV family crying, “How rude!”

In this week’s PEOPLEcover story, which takes fans behind the scenes of Netflix’s Full House spin-off, the cast and creative team weigh in on the twins’ decision not to reprise the role that shot them to stardom. The Olsens’ focus as of late has been on designing fashion labels The Row and Elizabeth and James.

“Lori [Loughlin] was talking to me about the twins and said, ‘They just won a CFDA award,'” John Stamos tells PEOPLE. “And I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s like winning an Oscar.’ It was them and Tom Ford. I get where they’re at.”

Executive producer Bob Boyett adds that the Olsens were hesitant to return to acting after so much time away — echoing the explanation Stamos offered during a recent appearance on The Howard Stern Show — though he clarifies that Mary-Kate was more open to the idea than her sister.

“They’re family members,” Dave Coulier says. “But I think they have a different perspective. When we get together and we reminisce, they were babies [at the time]. So they don’t share those same memories. I can’t really speak for them, but I would understand why they don’t have the same sentiments that we all do.”

That family atmosphere was apparent on PEOPLE‘s visit to the set.

“We never stopped loving each other,” says Stamos. “That magic you saw? It’s still there because it never stopped from the day that we ended the show.”

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Head to PEOPLE for more from the issue, on newsstands Friday.