Abby Lee Miller’s Cancer Diagnosis Officially Put A Pin In A ‘Dance Moms’ Return
Reports indicate that Lifetime’s Dance Moms is canceled after months of an unknown fate and it seems that Abby Lee Miller’s cancer diagnosis is the reason that the series is officially over. Miller left the series last year and Dancing with the Stars professional dancer Cheryl Burke stepped in to finish the season, but there were apparently talks happening with Abby to resurrect the show and focus on the mini dancers. What led to the Dance Moms cancellation instead?
According to Radar Online, production was working on revamping Dance Moms in a way that would focus on the younger dancers featured in recent seasons with Abby Lee Miller back at the helm. It seems that Miller was willing to return as long as the older girls, Chloe Lukasiak, Cameron Bridges, Kendall Vertes, Nia Sioux Frazier, and Kalani Hilliker were no longer involved.
Even as Abby left prison and was hit with a cancer diagnosis, production kept working on getting a deal in place. Reports reveal that there was even talk of doing a spinoff that would focus on Abby’s battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. That series would focus on Miller’s hospital and treatment experience, allowing her to show a different side of herself and provide a different angle to the franchise.
Unfortunately, Miller’s cancer battle has apparently been so difficult that production feels that it’s impossible to move forward with either show. They are said to feel that doing Dance Moms with anybody but Abby would be toxic and her health is apparently so poor that it’s unclear whether she’ll survive the battle.
People details that the Dance Moms star has had a handful of chemotherapy treatments to attack the cancer, but she has many more ahead of her. As the American Cancer Society details, this type of cancer can often be successfully treated if it is found at an early stage. So far, Miller has not shared any specifics about her diagnosis or its staging.
Dance Moms fans probably will not be entirely surprised to hear that Lifetime is canceling the series. The older girls have all branched off to do their own thing now, with Chloe, Kendall, and Kalani currently touring together as “The Irreplaceables” and Nia tackling a gig on the soap The Bold and the Beautiful. As for the younger dancers, they are keeping busy with competitions and projects of their own as well.
Will Abby Lee Miller beat her cancer and perhaps make a reality television comeback down the road? Her fans are certainly hoping so and they’re doing what they can to lend their support to the Dance Moms star via social media as she shares updates.
