With the departure of Maddie Ziegler from the American dance competition reality show “Dance Moms” on Lifetime during its Season 6 finale, the popular TV series has lost its brightest star.
While the remaining young dancers in the show with the likes of Nia Frasier-Sioux, JoJo Siwa, Kendall Vertes, and a few others are good dancers, they’re not as great as Maddie in “Dance Moms” whose mere presence on the dance floor already commands admiration.
“Dance Moms” did not just lost Maddie Ziegler, the TV show also lost her sister Mackenzie and their outspoken mother Melissa Gisoni, which is obviously a big blow to the TV series, plot-wise.
So the producers and showrunners had to think and act fast if they want to sustain fan interest in the upcoming seventh season of “Dance Moms” without its biggest star.
The show is also faced with another major debacle as dance leader Abby Lee Miller is facing fraud charges and her case is now being heard in court continuously. There are even reports saying that Abby Lee Miller might decide to quit the show for good as well because of her personal legal issues.
However, critics no longer believe Miller because right after the Season 5 of “Dance Moms” last year, she also claimed that she shall no longer return to the show because the TV series owe her a significant amount of arrears representing her unpaid salaries.
But as it turned out, it was just a bluff on the part of the dance leader to be able to collect her money before she starts filming. Eventually, the network settled its arrears to her and she was back to her old dominant self as dance leader until she was charged with fraud before the start of Season 6 for declaring bankruptcy even though she was not bankrupt.
A possible returnee
According to reports, Season 7 of “Dance Moms” may feature the return of Chloe Lukasiak. The rumors started swirling when Lukasiak recently posted on her Instagram account detailing about a special announcement on May 31, reports The Bitbag.
Both Maddie Ziegler and Chloe Lukasiak are currently campaigning after both getting nominated in the “Choice Dancer” category for the upcoming Teen Choice Awards.
The rivalry between Chloe and Maddie could be a good springboard for the Abby Lee Dance Club to consider convincing the former bright star of “Dance Moms” to return. Although some critics think that bringing Lukasiak will derail the strategy of the show to continue developing up and coming stars.
Until the end of Season 4 of “Dance Moms” late in 2014, Chloe Lukasiak was the biggest star of the show. When she decided to leave after the end of the fourth season because she and her mom can no longer tolerate the degrading remarks and methodologies of Abby Lee Miller, it was the turn of Maddie Ziegler’s star to shine. Maddie became the face of “Dance Moms” in Seasons 5 and 6.
If the show will stick to its mantra, it should no longer take on Chloe but just develop from its existing roster of young dancers or develop new ones. The decision to bring back Chloe only means that the producers are worried about the negative repercussions about the departure of Maddie and they cannot afford to let the show’s ratings dip for the upcoming Season 7.
Cameo appearance
Maddie Ziegler may have already left “Dance Moms” officially but she did without severing her ties with the producers, Abby Lee Miller, and the rest of the cast.
For such reason, there are reports coming out this early that Maddie may actually return to “Dance Moms” Season 7 not as a regular cast member but only for a cameo appearance, reports the Parent Herald.
However, critics believe that these are just mere speculations considering the hectic schedule of Maddie both on films and on TV once she left “Dance Moms.”
Maddie is part of the cast of the film “The Book of Henry” along with Naomi Watts, Sarah Silverman, Dean Norris, and Lee Pace, under the direction of Colin Trevorrow, the director of the 2015 box-office hit “Jurassic World.”
The show started to slowly die when Chloe Lukasiak left. She was the biggest and brightest light if the show. She represents kindness and inspiration to many people and to the sport of dancing. Dance Moms biggest mistake was to let Chole leave and lifetime biggest mistake has been not giving Chloe a TV special.