Everything We Know About Big Brother's Suspected All-Star Season, Including Cast Rumors

It's been 14 years since "Big Brother" offered up an all-star season, though there have been plenty of returning Houseguests in subsequent seasons.

With a new season looming amid coronavirus production restrictions, the rumor mill is swirling about a possible "All-Stars 2" edition for Season 22, with Us Weekly among several outlets confirming that their sources are saying this is the plan.

The latest comes in the form of one former winner lamenting that he's not been contacted about appearing. Sure, that might feasibly cast doubt on the whole thing, but Season 15 winner Andy Herren actually seems pretty bullish that the all-star season is happening -- he just won't be part of it, apparently.

Season 15 is easily the most controversial season of the modern era, making headlines week after week for racist comments made by members of the cast -- with CBS facing scrutiny for not airing or addressing them for the longest time.

Herren has been pretty openly confident that this season is going to be an all-stars edition, and he's got plenty of details that make it unlikely the network isn't at least considering it.

The speculation for part of this decision was that by courting former Houseguests rather than newcomers, the network will have a much easier and faster time with casting as these people are all known commodities.

COVID-19 shutdowns had already delayed Hollywood television productions, and if "Big Brother" wants to hit its usual premiere marks, there's a lot of work to be done. For one, they need to make their production compliant with the new restrictions. Freeing up casting concerns opens more time to focus their efforts in those areas.

Herren has offered several details over the past week or so, per TV Fanatic, saying that CBS is offering former Houseguests $40,000 just to walk through the door. He then joked he'd be willing to pay them to be part of the season.

The reality star even went so far as to say he'd DM a list of the former Houseguests he says he knows have gotten calls to anyone who can confirm they've donated to a Black Lives Matter cause.

Names thrown about publicly by Herren include Dan Gheesling (BB10 Winner, BB14 Runner-Up) and Derrick Levassaur (BB16 Winner).

Meanwhile, the rumor mill is confident that Levassaur, Josh Martinez (BB19 Winner), Paul Abrahamian (BB18 Runner-Up, BB19 Runner-Up) and Ariana's brother Frankie Grande (BB16 5th Place) have actually all signed already, per SoapDirt's CBS insider.

Elsewhere, Kemi Fakunle (BB21 11th Place), who had a very rough time in the "Big Brother" house last season facing several instances of bullying and racism and purportedly even being told by production to talk in a more stereotypical way, got her fans buzzing with a cryptic tweet last week.

Could Kemi be looking at a second once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on an all-star season of "Big Brother"?

Even outside of COVID-19, this would be a perfect opportunity for "Big Brother" to return to the all-stars format after 16 years. For one thing, there have been so many great players since Mike "Boogie" Malin won the last all-stars, fans would love to see them again.

Boogie even seemed to confirm the all-stars season with a video of his own where he promised fans they'd see familiar faces, just not his. He then threw in a dig at Chris "Swaggy C" Williams (BB20 15th Place), who along with wife Bayleigh Dayton (BB20 11th Place) are also among those rumored to return. The pair has continued their reality TV careers on MTV's "The Challenge."

The main reason it's the right time for an all-stars season is because, like "Survivor," "Big Brother" is celebrating it's 20th anniversary this year. In fact, the very first season kicked off on July 5, 2000, so even a delayed start into July 2020 would be kismet for the venerable franchise.

This year, July 5 falls on a Sunday -- but it's also only three weeks away. Could Julie Chen and CBS be ready to hit the air by that time? With the current plant to sequester Houseguests for 14 days over coronavirus concerns, that would give them this week to finalize casting -- so it's still totally possible!

Unless, of course, everything is already finalized and in the works and the network is just waiting to drop a bombshell on fans with a full cast announcement closer to the season's launch date.

Whatever the case may be, fans have been speculating madly about this for weeks and dropping some of their dream cast suggestions on social media, as well as supposed spoiler cast lists.

Check out some of their picks below, including a few former players (and one fan-favorite "Survivor" alum) eager to get in the mix: