Is A Golden Girls Reboot Happening? The Revival Rumors, Explained

"The Golden Girls" is basically the perfect sitcom, following the antics of four mature women who share a house in Miami, Florida. The series began in September 1985 and ran for seven seasons before ending in May 1992, and it's only grown in popularity since it first aired. It's a blast to tune in to see what the hilariously horny Blanche (Rue McClanahan), bubbly airhead Rose (Betty White), sarcastic divorcee Dorothy (Bea Arthur), and her smart-mouthed mother Sophia (Estelle Getty) get up to in each episode, and it's pretty easy to hit play on one and end up watching an entire season before you know it. It's really no surprise that the series has found new fans in the streaming era, so when there were rumors of a Disney+ reboot of the series sometime in 2024, people went bonkers. 

Some fans were furious about the idea of doing "The Golden Girls" without the original cast, while others were thrilled at the chance to have more "Golden Girls" goodness, even if it meant bringing in new blood. It turned out to be a big hoax, but left people wondering: could there ever be a "Golden Girls" reboot? And why did the original series end in the first place? Let's take a look. 

Unfortunately for fans of the ladies of the lanai, the whole reason everyone got excited about a "Golden Girls" reboot was a Facebook post by YODA BBY ABY, just one of many accounts known for creating hype for fake movie sequels and TV reboots. The post contained a mocked-up image for a reboot on Disney+, starring Lisa Kudrow as Rose, Tina Fey as Dorothy, Maya Rudolph as Blanche, and Amy Poehler as Sophia, and fans weren't sure what to think. 

While each of those ladies is very talented, they just don't fit the roles they're assigned. Poehler playing Fey's mother might be kind of odd, though the original Sophia, Estelle Getty, was actually younger than her onscreen daughter Dorothy, played by Bea Arthur. Getty was made into a little old lady through the magic of makeup, so Poehler theoretically could have done the same. Alas, the whole thing was a hoax, and there is no such series in development. 

"The Golden Girls" was still very popular when it came to an end in 1992, but Arthur felt that the show had started declining in quality. According to her son, Matthew Saks, Arthur believed that "the ideas had started to run out" and while she was "not unhappy," she was 70 years old and had other things she wanted to do with her time. It's understandable that Arthur would want to cut back on the amount of acting she did in her golden years and spend some time enjoying at least a partial retirement. Her only notable role post-"Golden Girls" was as Dewey's (Erik Per Sullivan) babysitter on one of the best episodes of the Fox sitcom "Malcolm in the Middle." Sadly, she died in 2009 at the age of 86.

Over the years, some people have guessed that she might have quit the show due to a feud with co-star Betty White, but that's likely not the case. While White has said that Arthur was not friendly to her — and Saks backed that up, saying that his mother "unknowingly carried the attitude that it was fun to have somebody to be mad at" — their "feud" has generally been thought to have been blown out of proportion. In her memoir, co-star Rue McClanahan said that while things got "pretty spicy" from time to time, what mattered was that "the chemistry worked." It sounds like Arthur was just a bit too much like her character, who frequently looked down her nose at Rose and her silly stories. Hey, at least Arthur got to have a truly magical friendship with actor Angela Lansbury, proving she wasn't impossible to get along with.

After Arthur departed "The Golden Girls," the series ended with Dorothy getting married to Blanche's uncle, Lucas Hollingsworth (played by "The Naked Gun" star Leslie Nielsen). She and Lucas moved to Atlanta, while Sophia decided to stay behind in Miami with Rose and Blanche. In an attempt to keep the "Golden Girls" magic going, there was a short-lived spinoff series called "The Golden Palace," which followed the ladies after they buy and run a hotel called, you guessed it, the Golden Palace. Arthur appeared in two episodes for a plot revolving around Sophia, but otherwise the show focused on the trio and new cast members Don Cheadle and Cheech Marin. 

Unfortunately, "The Golden Palace" just didn't capture the same joy as "The Golden Girls," despite having the same creator and much of the same team, and it was cancelled after just one season. 

There are no plans for a "Golden Girls" reboot now, but is there a possibility that we could ever see one? According to series creator Susan Harris, it's never going to happen. She told Entertainment Weekly in 2017:

"They've wanted to do 'Golden Girls' the Musical and re-do 'Golden Girls,' and we've always said no because 'Golden Girls' would not be 'Golden Girls' without that cast."

Harris is pretty spot-on, because the chemistry between the four leads is what made "The Golden Girls" work. The writing can be somewhat mixed, with a few truly great episodes scattered throughout, but the girls themselves are the draw. There's a perfect mix of camaraderie and snark, and the very same lines delivered by a different cast would likely feel much too mean. It would be great to see some more comedies about older women, but trying to capture the lightning in a bottle of "The Golden Girls" again is pretty close to impossible. Everyone was just too perfect in their roles, from Arthur's grumpy Dorothy to White's light-hearted Rose. 

We might not be getting any new "Golden Girls," but there are seven seasons and 180 episodes to choose from, which is pretty great. For physical media fans who need to own "The Golden Girls," there are several complete series DVD and Blu-ray sets, but for everyone else, the show is available to stream on Hulu. ("The Golden Palace" is available on both streaming services as well!) Fans can grab themselves some cheesecake and settle in for a whole bunch of cozy television courtesy of Rose, Dorothy, Blanche, and Sophia, who are sure to bring both heartwarming moments and truly brutal burns. If you're not sure where to start, check out our guide to the 25 best episodes of the series, but really there's no wrong place to join in on the fun. 

On a visit to  "Late Night with Seth Meyers," Rudolph shared her feelings about both the idea for a "Golden Girls" reboot and the fake poster, which she had some harsh words for. While she thought that the proposed reboot idea was "fascinating," she didn't appreciate the way that the poster had been edited. She was especially irritated with how her friend Poehler had been depicted, saying (in her joking, deadpan manner): 

"I just want to say, for Amy: whoever did this, f*** you. But I have other ideas! F*** you, dude, whoever did it, but great idea."

Poehler was more heavily digitally aged than the other actors since she was supposed to be the elderly Sophia, so Rudolph is just defending her friend from the funky faux wrinkles. Some other people were genuinely angry, however, and the artist told the Daily Beast that he received a number of death threats for the poster. That's more than a little extreme, no matter how big of a "Golden Girls" fan you are. What would Rose think?

Despite the fact that it's one of the best sitcoms of all time, "Golden Girls" had a few stinker episodes. Among the worst was the season 2 episode "Empty Nests," which was intended to serve as a backdoor pilot for a spin-off about the girls' neighbors: a couple (played by Paul Dooley and Rita Moreno) whose marriage was on the rocks due to empty nest syndrome in the wake of their teenage daughter leaving for college. 

The plan was for the spin-off to premiere fall of that same year, but it was canned due to poor reception of the episode. The series was completely overhauled and "Empty Nest" debuted a year later in October 1988. It followed pediatrician Dr. Harry Weston (Richard Mulligan), the girls' neighbor, whose adult daughters move back in with him after the death of his wife. The series also starred Dinah Manoff and Kristy McNichol as daughters Carol and Barbara Weston, with occasional appearances from White, Arthur, and McClanahan early on. The show ran for 7 seasons and Getty joined for the final two after "The Golden Palace" ended in 1993. 

"Empty Nest" spawned its own spin-off, "Nurses," which followed the nurses at Weston's hospital. "Nurses" ran for three years, from 1991 through 1994, and it featured a number of episodes where characters from both "Empty Nest" and "The Golden Girls" appeared, connecting the whole "Golden Girls" expanded TV universe. 

Hulu is going to try and give fans a "Golden Girls" replacement with "Mid-Century Modern," a multi-camera comedy from "Will & Grace" creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, along with "American Horror Story" creator Ryan Murphy. The series will star Nathan Lane as Bunny, who lives with his mother Sybil, played by Linda Lavin. Bunny's best friends — ex-Mormon himbo Jerry (Matt Bomer) and dignified fashionista Arthur (Nathan Lee Graham) — decide to move in with Bunny and Sybil at their Palm Beach home after an unexpected death. The four will form a new coterie of clapbacks just like Dorothy, Sylvia, Rose, and Blanche, and will hopefully fill the "Golden Girls"-shaped hole in many of our hearts.

"Mid-Century Modern" was picked up just three months after being taped in front of a live audience (with "Cheers" and "Taxi" director James Burrows directing), which bodes well for it being a lot of fun. The show will likely have a 2025 release date, though nothing official has been revealed. That cast is brilliant, so here's hoping we all get to laugh at this found family sooner than later. We need a little multi-cam silliness in our lives.