2018 has been a wild ride regarding all things Roseanne. The revival was breaking ratings records right off the bat, and it scored a quick renewal for a second season. Then, less than a week after the season finale aired, the show got the axe from ABC after star Roseanne Barr fired off a controversial tweet that she later claimed was the result of taking Ambien. Despite all of the negative buzz surrounding the series and its star in the wake of the cancellation, ABC is apparently not 100% ready to give up on the Conner family. Sara Gilbert could star in a Darlene-centric spinoff.
The spinoff is reportedly (and fittingly) called Darlene, according to TVLine. It would center on Darlene and presumably continue to chronicle her struggles as a single mom and all the difficulties (and sitcom shenanigans) that she faces in her lot in life. Sara Gilbert was one of the people responsible for getting the ball rolling on the Roseanne revival, and she was among those named as actors willing to explore the possibility of a spinoff without Roseanne Barr on board. The prospect of a spinoff was not deemed especially likely only days ago, but it's probably safe to say that a Darlene-centric spinoff is the way to keep Roseanne fans hooked to ABC.
A spinoff revolving around Darlene would leave the door open for other Roseanne revival stars to reprise their roles, barring Roseanne Barr, who almost certainly will be nowhere to be seen in any spinoff. John Goodman has said that he's not upset about the fact that the controversy surrounding the cancellation of Roseanne means that he won't score an Emmy anytime soon, but perhaps he'd jump at the opportunity to appear on a Darlene series and deliver laughs as Dan Conner one more time.
A spinoff could allow the revival writers to get back to work on a similar series, and members of the cast and crew who spoke out in the aftermath of the controversy criticized Roseanne Barr for her comments, so they may not have burned any bridges with ABC. A show all about Darlene could even open the door for David to come back again. Johnny Galecki previously stated his willingness to appear in more episodes in a second Roseanne revival season, and the same would presumably be true for Darlene.
All of this said, there are no guarantees that a Darlene-centric spinoff will ever hit the airwaves. At the time of writing, ABC had not yet commented on the potential series, so there's no official word on if and when such a show could hit the airwaves. The cancellation of Roseanne does leave an open block in primetime for the fall, but there may not be enough time to put a Darlene project together and have it ready for TV by that point, even if it does get a series order. A big question for the series would be what happened to Roseanne that she's nowhere to be seen. Would the Roseanne franchise actually kill the character off?
We'll have to wait and see. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in TV news, and be sure to swing by our summer TV premiere guide for what you can watch sooner rather than later.
