After the utter shock that was 'Roseanne' being abruptly cancelled in the wake of accusations of racism against Roseanne Barr, there's been endless rumours that a spinoff series - minus Roseanne's on-screen character - is in the works.
Deadline has now been reporting that there's cautious optimism among the cast and writers of the series that ABC can work out a deal to keep Roseanne Barr firmly out of the proceedings and continuing on without her.
The general idea is to keep the second season focused solely on Roseanne's daughter Darlene, played by Sara Gilbert, and bring back all the original cast for it - including Laurie Metcalf, John Goodman, Sarah Chalke and so on. The only catch to all of this is that ABC and independent production company Casey-Werner would need to pay off Barr for her ownership and backend.
Charlie Sheen, after being booted off 'Two And A Half Men', faced a similar problem and eventually sued for $100 million, eventually coming out with a settlement of $25 million for his troubles. Given how successful 'Roseanne' was in the ratings, there's every chance Barr could seek a similar figure from ABC.
Barr could even file a lawsuit to stop the production of it in the first place, as she created the characters in the first place. As it stands, Barr is still in damage control mode and trying to claim that she thought Valerie Jarett - the woman she insulted with a racial slur - was white.
ABC have made no official statement beyond the cancellation notice, and cast members such as John Goodman appear to be remaining schtum on the subject.
