protected function fill_descendants( $comments ) {
		global $wpdb;

		$levels = array(
			0 => wp_list_pluck( $comments, 'comment_ID' ),
		);

		$key          = md5( serialize( wp_array_slice_assoc( $this->query_vars, array_keys( $this->query_var_defaults ) ) ) );
		$last_changed = wp_cache_get_last_changed( 'comment' );

		// Fetch an entire level of the descendant tree at a time.
		$level        = 0;
		$exclude_keys = array( 'parent', 'parent__in', 'parent__not_in' );
		do {
			// Parent-child relationships may be cached. Only query for those that are not.
			$child_ids           = array();
			$uncached_parent_ids = array();
			$_parent_ids         = $levels[ $level ];
			foreach ( $_parent_ids as $parent_id ) {
				$cache_key        = "get_comment_child_ids:$parent_id:$key:$last_changed";
				$parent_child_ids = wp_cache_get( $cache_key, 'comment' );
				if ( false !== $parent_child_ids ) {
					$child_ids = array_merge( $child_ids, $parent_child_ids );
				} else {
					$uncached_parent_ids[] = $parent_id;
				}
			}

			if ( $uncached_parent_ids ) {
				// Fetch this level of comments.
				$parent_query_args = $this->query_vars;
				foreach ( $exclude_keys as $exclude_key ) {
					$parent_query_args[ $exclude_key ] = '';
				}
				$parent_query_args['parent__in']    = $uncached_parent_ids;
				$parent_query_args['no_found_rows'] = true;
				$parent_query_args['hierarchical']  = false;
				$parent_query_args['offset']        = 0;
				$parent_query_args['number']        = 0;

				$level_comments = get_comments( $parent_query_args );

				// Cache parent-child relationships.
				$parent_map = array_fill_keys( $uncached_parent_ids, array() );
				foreach ( $level_comments as $level_comment ) {
					$parent_map[ $level_comment->comment_parent ][] = $level_comment->comment_ID;
					$child_ids[]                                    = $level_comment->comment_ID;
				}

				foreach ( $parent_map as $parent_id => $children ) {
					$cache_key = "get_comment_child_ids:$parent_id:$key:$last_changed";
					wp_cache_set( $cache_key, $children, 'comment' );
				}
			}

			$level++;
			$levels[ $level ] = $child_ids;
		} while ( $child_ids );

		// Prime comment caches for non-top-level comments.
		$descendant_ids = array();
		for ( $i = 1, $c = count( $levels ); $i < $c; $i++ ) {
			$descendant_ids = array_merge( $descendant_ids, $levels[ $i ] );
		}

		_prime_comment_caches( $descendant_ids, $this->query_vars['update_comment_meta_cache'] );

		// Assemble a flat array of all comments + descendants.
		$all_comments = $comments;
		foreach ( $descendant_ids as $descendant_id ) {
			$all_comments[] = get_comment( $descendant_id );
		}

		// If a threaded representation was requested, build the tree.
		if ( 'threaded' === $this->query_vars['hierarchical'] ) {
			$threaded_comments = array();
			$ref               = array();
			foreach ( $all_comments as $k => $c ) {
				$_c = get_comment( $c->comment_ID );

				// If the comment isn't in the reference array, it goes in the top level of the thread.
				if ( ! isset( $ref[ $c->comment_parent ] ) ) {
					$threaded_comments[ $_c->comment_ID ] = $_c;
					$ref[ $_c->comment_ID ]               = $threaded_comments[ $_c->comment_ID ];

					// Otherwise, set it as a child of its parent.
				} else {

					$ref[ $_c->comment_parent ]->add_child( $_c );
					$ref[ $_c->comment_ID ] = $ref[ $_c->comment_parent ]->get_child( $_c->comment_ID );
				}
			}

			// Set the 'populated_children' flag, to ensure additional database queries aren't run.
			foreach ( $ref as $_ref ) {
				$_ref->populated_children( true );
			}

			$comments = $threaded_comments;
		} else {
			$comments = $all_comments;
		}

		return $comments;
	}