The actors are reportedly still expecting a payday for the canceled season.
Roseanne may have been canceled, but several of the sitcom’s stars could still be looking at big paydays.
John Goodman, Sara Gilbert and Laurie Metcalf reportedly negotiated a big pay bump for the reboot’s second season. According to The Hollywood Reporter, each negotiated a deal for $300,000 an episode (up from $250,000 per episode last season) — and are still expecting to be compensated for the season since “their options were exercised.” A source told the outlet that if ABC doesn’t pay them for the season, they’ll lawyer up. Any possible compensation for the writers, however, is up in the air.
ABC Entertainment Prresident Channing Dungey announced on Tuesday that Roseanne had been canceled after Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet about Barack Obama’s former White House adviser Valerie Jarrett hours earlier. “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” Barr tweeted, referring to Jarrett, who is black and was born in Iran. Barr later deleted the tweet.
The 65-year-old actor — who played Barr’s onscreen husband, Dan Conner, on the show — also seemed OK with ABC deciding to suspend its Emmys For Your Consideration campaign for the first season of the reboot. “I wasn’t gonna get an Emmy anyway,” Goodman said, shrugging. “I’ve been up there [11] times already, and if I didn’t get one, I’m not gonna get one.”
Barr, meanwhile, has praised Goodman and Metcalf, calling the pair “two of the greatest actors in the world” on Twitter on Wednesday, but appeared less thrilled with Gilbert, who publicly condemned her racist remark.
