Arthur's final episode has everyone in tears

After 26 years and 25 seasons, animated children's series Arthur has officially come to an end.

Arthur, an adaptation of author Marc Brown's Arthur Adventure book series, premiered on PBS in 1996. The show followed the lives of an anthropomorphic aardvark named Arthur Reed and his friends and family. 

The children's series explored serious topics like divorce, cancer, dyslexia, and made headlines around the world for featuring a same-sex marriage. "I think in many ways, he helped us all grow up," Brown told USA Today.

The final episode, titled All Grown Up, not only wrapped up Arthur's story but contained several small surprises for long-time fans of the show.

Towards the beginning of the episode, creator Marc Brown makes a special cameo as a library patron who gives Arthur a book on how to draw. Click on "see more" on the tweets below to read the tweets.

The show then fast-forwards some 20 years into the future, with the beloved cast of characters depicted as fully grown adults.

Many were touched to learn that avid reader Arthur Reed became an author after all. The graphic novel, simply titled Arthur, begins with a chapter called Arthur's Eyes, which was the very first episode of the series to air.

"Not me sobbing over the fact that Arthur Reed followed his dreams and is living his authentic life with his best friends supporting him all the way... he earned that," one user said.

"I grew up with this show for so long and to see them all grown up with successful careers makes me feel a sense of pride," said another.

Original voice actor Michael Yarmush, who played the aardvark until season five, returned to voice 28-year-old Arthur.

Luckily, reruns of the series will continue to air on PBS. For more, check out our list of the 100 best TV shows of all time.