Laurie Metcalf, John Goodman Open to 'Roseanne' Spinoff, Source Says

Roseanne may be canceled, but fans are still holding out hope for a spinoff sans Roseanne Barr, [...]

By Libby Birk

Roseanne may be canceled, but fans are still holding out hope for a spinoff sans Roseanne Barr, whose racially insensitive tweet ultimately resulted in the end of the veteran sitcom.

A potential spinoff would feature former Roseanne stars John Goodman (Dan Conner), Laurie Metcalf (Jackie Harris) and Sara Gilbert (Darlene Conner), the Daily Mail reports, with one source telling the news outlet that Gilbert has been dealing with the cast and crew amid the fallout.

Gilbert will reportedly be speaking with writers and producers later this week in a meeting that had already been planned prior to the show's cancellation announcement, a source told the Daily Mail.

Another source said that Goodman and Metcalf would be open to filming with one another as well as Gilbert, provided the idea for the spinoff is right for the series.

Nothing has yet been presented to either actor yet, the source added, and the group would not likely discuss future plans until after Metcalf finishes her run in Three Tall Women on Broadway.

Representatives for ABC did not respond to the Daily Mail's request for a comment.

Fans have been lobbying for a spinoff centered around Metcalf's character Jackie with a fan-made poster touting the tagline, "You watched it for her anyway." Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel pitched an idea for a Goodman-based spinoff Tuesday night.

"Hear me out, just because Roseanne is gone, it doesn't mean the whole show has to go. The show must go on! That's what we say in show business. And with that said, I have an idea that I think makes this work for everyone," Kimmel said.

The show then aired a fake trailer for a Roseanne spinoff focused solely on Goodman's character Dan. The trailer was met with cheers and a round of applause from the audience.

All three stars will be paid for their 13-episode season regardless of whether or not they film, with their $350,000-per-episode contracts equalling just over $4.5 million each in potential pay, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

With that combined figure of almost $15 million just for those three stars, it makes sense why the network would want to retain some of the Roseanne actors even after axing the show, as reported by Entertainment Weekly this week.

ABC is reportedly considering keeping the supporting cast around because the network's best interest may lie in finding a way to milk its money owed to the cast with something that can generate more ad revenue.

Meanwhile, Tom Arnold, Barr's ex-husband and former cast mate and co-writer on the first four seasons of the sitcom in the late '80s and early '90s, said that the cancellation could cost ABC $1 billion in lost ad revenue and salaries.

"ABC lost maybe $1 billion from this; this show was grinding out money hand over fist and they lost it all because somebody didn't say, 'Get that phone out of her hand,'" Arnold told THR. "She's not going to go on TV and say these things. But you put that phone in her hand and she is a loose cannon."

Arnold told THR that he thinks Barr may have tweeted the racist remark as a way out of a second season of the rebooted Roseanne, where he says she felt taken advantage of.

"It had to happen," Arnold says of the show's abrupt end. "And I am going to tell you the truth, she wanted it to happen, if you saw how her tweets escalated this weekend. If it hadn't happened yesterday, this season would have been so awful for everyone every day because she would have felt like she was [being] taken advantage [of], just like when I left the show."

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