"Fuller House" is getting even bigger: The Netflix original series has officially been renewed for a third season, and has also received an expanded episode order.

News of the renewal broke just in time for last month's Christmas holiday, with the "Full House" sequel series announcing the news on its social media accounts. Season two of the show premiered on Netflix on December 9.

Jeff Franklin -- the creator of both "Full House" and "Fuller House," who recently purchased the iconic San Francisco house used for exterior shots of the Tanner/Fuller home on the two series -- followed up that announcement with one of his own, revealing on New Year's Day that instead of the traditional 13 episodes that made up seasons one and two of "Fuller House," season three would be getting 18 installments. Franklin made things official with a post on Instagram.

Happy New Year! Looking forward to season 3 -- 18 episodes -- Back to work on Monday!

A photo posted by Jeff Franklin (@fullerhouseguy) on

According to Variety, viewership has actually been down since season two launched, with Symphony Advanced Media (an unofficial chronicler of Netflix viewing data) reporting that the audience for the season two premiere was 67 percent smaller than that of the season one premiere (a 3.32 rating in the coveted 18-49 demo, versus the debut season's 10.16 rating). Despite those grim numbers (which Netflix has said in the past are inaccurate), the streaming service apparently wants to see more from the Tanner and Fuller clans, and this upped episode order confirms the company's faith in the series.

No word yet on when season three of "Fuller House" may premiere. According to Fuller, production on the new episodes starts this week.

[via: Fuller House/Twitter, Jeff Franklin/Instagram, Variety]