A reboot of the popular Max and Ruby cartoon, which airs on Nickelodeon in the States, has decided to finally give an answer to an internet meme that had surrounded the show for years. Amid other changes made to the show's familiar format, the siblings' long-missing parents will finally be incorporated into the show.

Just where were Mr. and Ms. Bunny this whole time?

The popular Canadian cartoon, which had been based on characters created by American writer Rosemary Wells, features a pair of rabbits, the titular Max and Ruby, a brother and sister team who suspiciously live on their own.

While various adult characters appear on the show, including a grandmother of the two who often visits but explicitly does not live with them, Max and Ruby’s parents have never appeared on the show.

Over the years, fans had speculated and joked over what had happened to the missing rabbits, their noted absence becoming something of an internet meme. In the earlier seasons, photographs of adult rabbits could be seen in the background of various scenes, leading fans to assume that they were meant to represent the parents.

Social media often featured supposed ‘conspiracy’ theories over what happened to the parents, ranging from them having died, the show simply taking place while they were at work, or, with the characters being talking rabbits, Max and Ruby simply livingon their own at a young age.

The controversy became prominent enough that Wellsherself finally had to give an explanation, writing in a released statement that children “resolve their issues and conflicts differently” when left to their own devices, and without parental supervision, meaning that the absence of the parents simply served as some dramatic license.

Changes employed in a sixth-season reboot

The cartoon has recently made a 2016 comeback after a hiatus from 2013, serving as the show’s sixth season. However, the show has decided to finally go against its five-season tradition by finally bringing in Max and Ruby’s parents into the series proper, as visible, talking characters.

According to reports, their father is explained to be the son of their grandmother.

Added to that, the addition of the two previously missing characters is not the only notable change made in the newer episodes. In the first five seasons, as a running joke, while Max could talk, he could only say one word per episode segment, usually something important to the plot, and otherwise functioning as a pantomime character. While his silent actions have still been somewhat retained, the newer episodes will also allow him to speak in sentences. Reportedly, the show will also feature a new opening sequence. Just as the absence of the parents became something of an internet meme, social media has also showcased various fans and viewers being shocked by the changes employed by the rebooted show.